Another Model S fire

Re:Another Model S fire by CognitiveLens on Thursday November 07, 2013 @10:26AM (#6689795)

This is probably going to come across a little fanboyish, but I would be interested in knowing the rate of Tesla fires (Mean Time Before Fire?). Cars catch on fire in accidents all the time, so I'm wondering if the Tesla fires are being covered more because it's a magical technology fire and therefore more dramatic than a your usual car-destroyed-in-accident fire.

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Re:Another Model S fire by smackfu on Thursday November 07, 2013 @10:35AM (#6689884)

I would think most gasoline cars catch on fire because there is severe damage to the front-end, the fuel lines are ruptured, and gasoline ends up on the hot engine and ignites. I would think a major advantage of an electric car is that it doesn't have that mode of failure. So replacing it with another mode of failure that also results in front-end fires is... not great.

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Re:Another Model S fire by johnnymonster on Thursday November 07, 2013 @11:01AM (#6690078)

You can see car fire statistics here: http://www.usfa.fema.gov/statistics/reports/vehicles.shtm

44% of car fires happen due to mechanical failure. Wire insulation is 28% of car fires. and fuel in the engine area was 18% of fires.

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Re:Another Model S fire by astrodust on Thursday November 07, 2013 @10:29AM (#6689826)

A lot of them "catch fire" when people can't make their lease payments or want to liquidate an over-priced asset.

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