Featured Tesla Catches on Fire After Collision (Speed possibly a factor)

Let me add some more:

• Rumble strips in the 'triangle of death' were already called out for the previous accident that crushed the barrier

Source:

Safety Evaluation of Cable Median Barriers in Combination with Rumble Strips on Divided Roads

The empirical Bayes before–after method was used to evaluate the safety effectiveness of cable median barriers in combination with rumble strips on the inside shoulder of divided roads, using Illinois, Kentucky, and Missouri data. In Illinois and Kentucky, cable median barriers were introduced many years after the inside shoulder rumble strips were installed, while in Missouri, the inside shoulder rumble strips and cable barrier were implemented about the same time. Hence, the evaluation in Missouri estimated the combined safety effect of inside shoulder rumble strips and cable barriers, while the analysis in Illinois and Kentucky estimated the effect of cable barriers installed on roads with existing inside shoulder rumble strips. The combined Illinois and Kentucky results indicate approximately a 27% increase in total crashes, a 24% decrease in fatal, incapacitating, non-incapacitating, and possible injury crashes (KABC), a 22% decrease in in fatal, incapacitating, and non-incapacitating injury crashes (KAB), and a 48% decrease in head-on plus opposite-direction sideswipe crashes (used as a proxy for cross-median crashes). The results from Missouri for total and KABC crashes were very similar to the combined Illinois and Kentucky results. However, the reduction in cross-median crashes in Missouri was much more dramatic—showing a 96% reduction (based on cross-median indicator only) and an 88% reduction (based on cross-median indicator plus head-on). An economic analysis showed that this strategy is cost-beneficial.​

I don't live in California nor do I have easy access to this deadly exit so I don't have an easy way to check for rumble strips. Since there is a traffic sign, probably with power, that would be a great place to put a speed tracking radar that drives some very intense, California HPD lights projected on the road, a camera, and possibly an HPD siren.

The problem with the sloping barrier end-cap is it is likely to roll the car. Less bad than tearing off the front or dealing with the sudden stop, still I can understand a desire to avoid rolling the car.

Bob Wilson

 

We’ll survive. After all, we’ve already done the database errors.

Bob Wilson

 

Actually, hydrogen car drivers? They'd have never made it to that location. No infrastructure. They'd have run out of hydrogen, so it could never have blow sky high.
Are there ANY auto fuels at all that can't catch fire?
sure!


and if that works for ya . . . so much the beter.

That issue pointed out . . . why has the OP, @Dxta posted a 2 month old accident?
just saying ... you had a moron running on autopilot ignoring ALL warning to hang onto the wheel, but they don't ... AND they're not even watching the car veer off the lane divide .... AND the collision barrier wasn't repaired for multiple WEEKS. so how am I missing the drama?
And why isn't this similar scenario news worthy when it's NOT a tesla? ... whether car fire, death, CALtrans repair failure, etc. Did i miss the part where the media mentions statistically LESS - how few people die in a Tesla per billion miles compared to other manufacturers? Geee - i wonder why.
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I am pretty sure his family would be insulted by you calling him a Moron....you think!

 

As to statics, how few Tesla are there to all other brands on the road. So yes Tesla will have a lower accident rate and death rate in overall miles.

 

Not that I am advocating Mercedes Benz, but it is well know in Law Enforcement that many feel Mercedes Benz produce some of the safest vehicles on the road. Some will only by Mercedes Benz.

 

Now I've started noting the end cap, barriers that have not been repaired.

Bob Wilson

 

we have a left exit on rt 3 to plymouth plantation. a very popular tourist spot, off a two lane highway.
speed limit is 60mph. the biggest problem i see is that you have to move into the 'high speed' lane before exiting onto a 50 mph ramp, a very dangerous situation in heavy traffic.

 

Merge is going to get confusing......

More layers to the Florida accident. The car was in a limited mode for top speed but is acceleration also reduced?

"Pat Riley said her brother, James, knew that Tesla loaner cars had an 85 mph maximum speed. So after Barrett was cited in March, his first traffic offense, the father asked Tesla to adjust the car’s top velocity.

“My brother bought the car for my nephew because he wanted Barrett to be safe,” said Pat Riley, of Fort Lauderdale. “He thought other cars were riskier because the gas could cause a fire. How ironic.”

Tesla in fatal crash was altered to limit its top speed, victim’s aunt says - Sun Sentinel

OK, in terms of accidents, I realize voltage leaks can spark or otherwise ignite other materials to burn but it's usually slow; sometimes very, very slow.

So, is the Tesla chemistry more prone to major fire than others? Do the Bolt, i3, and other skateboard designed layouts similar to Tesla's use an armor shield? If not, is it because those chemistries and/or cell designs are less prone to fast fires? I'm not seeing reports like these for non-skateboard designs (Prime, Energi, Volts, etc). Or are those fiery accidents not getting reported (Anti-Tesla media conspiracy theory)?

Or is it simply a side effect of a large powerful battery pack? (bigger gas tank=bigger boom)

 

Sandy Munro also mentioned this problem in his Tesla review:

Pat Riley said she believes that her nephew, who was on his way home from the Galleria mall when he crashed, was trapped after the collision because the electronic doors prevented the victims from exiting.​

When I was flying, I used to say 'FAA regulations are written in blood.' I see this one getting fixed ... FAST.

Bob Wilson

 

same here, pretty creepy.

Maybe Sandy & Pat (rather than make stuff up) oughta take note ... front driver's & passenger's doors as well as both falcon wing doors both have mechanical releases. Maybe these 2 ought to consider some of the additional Dynamics, such as speeding into a collapsed barrier ... & /or numerous (default) autopilot warnings flashing/visual & aversive audible) to STOP letting go of the steering wheel for numerous/extended times. One looks at the car's destruction via the high speed & understand - not too many people are even semi-conscious (if not mortally wounded) after such a hit.
It's intriguing that had this horrible high speed wreck/fire/fataluty been in a Toyota, GM, Ford etc, it would only be a byline - & only due to heavy traffic, maybe on the 3rd page of the local news. But a crash/fire/fatality in an ice car is ubiquitous.
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My understanding is that there are manual releases for the doors, but doesn't mean people know how to use them.

Oh no, cross thread confusion.
The Riley crash was the one in Florida with teenagers on a surface street.

As for the crash in California, have they ruled out the driver having a heart attack or other medical emergency?

 

Munro pointed out only the front doors had a manual, mechanical override. The rear doors are purely electric:

1. Add mechanical door opening hardware - rebuild and replace the rear doors.
2. Add in-door, battery power electronics - rebuild and replace the rear doors.
3. Workaround - install a window breaking hammer/punch on or over each rear door.

Bob Wilson

 

It was the front passengers that didn't get out. They didn't know how to operate the manual override, or even that it existed. Or they were too injured and/or the fire too fast for it to matter.

 

Sensational media. Might have made the local paper if it was an ICE vehicle. But because it is Tesla ... news at 7 and 11.

 

Munro must have read it on an idiots incorrect blog ... making them failures in research too.
Don't make me publish a YouTube on it. We've already tried it multiple times.

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The California left exit is out of a fast lane HOV. I doubt that many slow down at all - it's 70+ fast lane to a high speed ramp over the 101 freeway to the fast lane on the 85 freeway. The real fun occurs when traffic is congested in the non-HOV lanes and open in the HOV lane. You get cars moving back and forth between the 70+ HOV lane and the congested 30 mph (or even stop & go) lane. Non-HOV eligible cars jump into the HOV lane, and duck back in shortly. HOV lanes with limited entrance/exit at least don't have to deal with regular pirate access.

 

Driver/teen got a 112mph ticket on 3 march. Why did he still have a drivers license?! That area is a 30 & 50mph zone, & locals frequently complain about Speeders there. Why did these parents give their immature kid a rocket on wheels?
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ferris buehler.