
Guest essay by Eric Worrall
Two teenagers died in Fort Lauderdale after being trapped in a Tesla car which burst into flames after a crash.
Federal agency will investigate Tesla crash that killed two young students
By Linda Trischitta, David Lyons, Tonya Alanez, Wayne K. Roustan
Two young men, “as close as brothers,” were supposed to be attending college in the fall. Instead, their families and classmates are mourning them after a fiery crash of an electric car on a curvy road on Fort Lauderdale beach.
Driver Barrett Riley, of Fort Lauderdale, and front-seat passenger Edgar Monserratt Martinez, of Aventura, both 18 and students at Pine Crest School, were trapped in the burning wreck and died in Tuesday’s crash, police and fire officials said. Another passenger, also 18, was taken to a hospital.
The trio was traveling in a Tesla Model S sedan along Seabreeze Boulevard before it crashed into a concrete wall, police said.
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The Tesla does not use a gasoline-powered engine and is powered by a battery. The National Transportation Safety Board said it was sending a team to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday to investigate, to “primarily focus on the emergency response in relation to the electric vehicle battery fire, including fire department activities and towing operations.”
The NTSB said it has a history of investigating emerging technologies to understand their effect on transportation accidents.
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Back-seat passenger Alexander Berry, of Fort Lauderdale, was ejected from the car. Firefighters took him to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was in fair condition Wednesday, the hospital said.
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The chemicals inside battery cells can be corrosive and flammable, said Karl Brauer, executive publisher for Autotrader and Kelley Blue Book. “Electric vehicles are not more prone to fire, but batteries can burn hotter fires that are harder to extinguish,” he said. “Once there is a fire and you melt the battery pack, chemicals come out and when those chemicals come out, the fire can start, even without a spark.”
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The cause of the crash appears to have been irresponsible driving, but given the kid who was thrown from the car survived, it seems likely the kids who burned to death would also have survived if the batteries hadn’t caught fire. Gasoline cars can also catch fire when they crash, but the suggestion that battery fires burn hotter and are harder to extinguish than gasoline fires is a concern.
Well, that is unprecedented.
What were they doing in a car like that?
Where were/are the parents/teachers/guardians.
Arguably, one of the hazards of being rich.
Intelligent & educated not so much
Meanwhile, do you laugh or cry….
So, has Elon got a problem…….. that wouldn’t be fixed by the judicious use of something like asbestos?
Get my point?
Please try not to be like Warmists and become paranoid – try to escape the Magical Thought Bubble.
There is a Big Old World out there, don’t let it pass you by.
“The floor mats on some models could cause the accelerator pedal to stick down”
It was almost certainly a software issue, the car maker probably invented a faulty mechanical issue to limit criticism.
Nope. Happened to me, long before the warning came out. I took my foot off the gas and the car didn’t slow as expected. I realized the mat was partly between my heal and the pedal, reached down, grabbed the mat, and tossed to the back seat. No harm done. Blamed myself for not making sure the mat was staying in its proper position.
The mat had a couple of little eyelets that fit over nubs on the floor to keep it in place. Over time, the mat curled up at the edges, lifting the eyelets over the nubs. Then it was free to slide.
Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
Tesla’s first lesson in automobile manufacturing – People hire lawyers who always go after the bigger wallet, not the true reason or persons at fault…always.
Did anyone question the self driving car in the incident report?
I’m surprised that Teslas have higher accident rates than most other cars.
https://www.inc.com/minda-zetlin/aaa-will-raise-tesla-insurance-rates-30-percent-basically-because-wealthy-driver.html
I would have expected the $70K pricetag of a Model S to prevent most accidents caused by carloads of teenagers doing the stupid things that teenagers do. In olden days most teens drove beaters.
The sooner Tesla becomes insolvent the better.
I can’t wait for the Uber flying cars.
Seems to me that the Tesla is becoming the heir apparent to the pyromaniac Ford Crown Victoria of 15-20 years ago. That model had the nasty habit of burning spectacularly when rear ended in what otherwise might have been a minor incident. The Crown Vic was heavily marketed to police departments and over a dozen officers were killed and many more burned badly in what should have been survivable accidents. The grim joke of the day was that the Vic was not a police interceptor, it was a police incinerator. Obviously the civilian version had more than its share of tragedy as well. In one incident I am personally familiar with, a Phoenix PD Crown Vic and a Phoenix City fire engine by pure chance happened to be waiting at a stop light side by side when the police car was rear ended and burst into flame. A quick thinking fireman grabbed a CO2 extinguisher and knocked down the flames enough for the officer to escape the vehicle unharmed.
I’m no fan of Tesla or Musk, but they are attempting to push the limits of a new transportation technology, and that is never painless.
I know it’s off topic, but seeing Elon’s pre-launch address for today’s launch, I couldn’t help but think he should let the rocket team do the car!!
I hope this latest mod for the Falcon goes well, as it is the baseline for the future of sustained and frequent launches for the U.S. and other countries.
Countdown close, so “Out”
Gums sends…
In a petrol/gasoline tank some of the energy is contained in the fuel and some of it in the air. Put the two together and it explodes. On a good day this happens in the engine.
In a battery or for that matter a super capacitor all the energy is in one place in close proximity, usually very close.
Murphy will always find a way. If it can go wrong it will.
I’m more than happy for those who consider themselves green to use lithium-based energy for their transport for the farce (of global warming) is strong in them.
It’s potentially self-solving problem.
As for me, I’m sticking with petrol/gasoline because as I drive I’m fertilising the plants which is good for the planet.
So will Teslas be joining propane powered vehicles in being banned from underground parking garages? I shudder to imagine the havoc that would be created if one caught fire in an underground lot. How would the FD deal with it, and would the building have to be evacuated until the fire was out (a day or so) and the resulting toxic fumes vented?
I’m surprised nobody mentioned the Dreamliner and the patience of the US regulator for issues regarding Boeing…
My 2¢ as a volunteer fireman on a small rural department; I’m very glad for the discussions, which contain far more information and analysis than the original articles. Very little is ‘off topic’ as it is a big important wide ranging discussion touching many issues. I dread the day we have to deal with something like this, as I dread the day we have a semi-trailer of cyanide compound pellets catch fire. If someone sprays water on that it would release cyanide gas and kill anyone downwind. Or a hybrid vehicle with a 600 volt battery and not being sure where to cut to extract a victim. With my limited experience (and only involving internal combustion vehicles), I’ll make a few points. It’s almost always better to have your seat belt on and be restrained within the vehicle in a collision. Being ejected, or half ejected and having the vehicle roll on you never ends well. In several cases a person had their arm trapped between the roof of the upside-down vehicle and the ground of the ditch. Wearing their seat belt kept the rest of them inside and none of them suffered a serious injury to the arm, although they were very excited until we got them untrapped. High energy frontal collisions result in death, seat belt or no. I don’t mean two cars or a car vs a pickup having a head-on collision at highway speeds, I mean a small vehicle hitting a bus, where everyone in the full car dies and no one on the bus suffers a serious injury, or a car hitting a culvert. I’m not talking statistics, just personal experience here. I’ve been to many vehicle collisions and many vehicle fires but I can’t remember any overlap as a fireman, although there was such a case involving some classmates in high school and another involving a relative. The fires have involved vehicles parked, parked and running or driving down the road, always from either an electrical short or friction. Given all the hazards in a burning vehicle such as exploding struts, shocks, axles, airbags, tires and extreme heat and toxic smokes, fuel explosions have never been a major worry. A fuel spill waiting for a spark is always a concern, but we’ve been fortunate. I was not at the incident, but we did have a fuel tanker overturn when misjudging an approach to a gas station once. Having a leak in your boots was not a good idea that day.
This not very informative as to what was burning. Is it hydrogen? Plus plastic battery cases for fuel? Can design changes fix it? Perhaps an emergency “lever” to open windows or some other exit? Or a system to quench the fire?
If anyone is seriously interested in pursuing further info/training on lithium batteries, please consider attending the Power Sources Conference next month in Denver. See detailed agenda at:
https://www.scomminc.com/pcm/powersources_review/sessionList.cfm
Main page at http://powersourcesconference.com/
Tesla – beautiful dual purpose car, you can drive it for while and when you become bored you can cremate yourself without any problem.