Fiery deaths?

[jerhenderson]

"Two dead in Tesla crash in Texas that was believed to be driverless".

Took the Fire Department about/over 4 hours to put the fire out!

WAY WAY WAY too long to put a car, any vehicle fire out!

Roasted alive?

Why Elon?????

what do you mean, Why Elon?

1) it wasn't 'driverless' - the crash appears to be an act of Darwinism and:
2) whaaaaaaat fire dept tries to put out a fire involving energy discharging from a battery with water. Ummm....seriously...who is training them? you don't put water on a grease fire either.

 

[jerhenderson]

Does Tesla still not have a PR department?
This article was from Oct 2020, but I haven’t seen anything to indicate anything’s changed since.

It seems like accidents like this would be a good reason to have one. With more cars on the road, the odds of someone making a very poor choice go up.

BTW - two souls were lost and they paid the ultimate price for their poor choice. I think a little decorum is warranted. While I have not moved over to the passenger seat on AP, I have done stupid things in my life a handful of times, and just lucky for it to have not gone badly. My condolences to their families.

my condolences go to the first responders that attended the scene.

 

[xodarap1]

I think YES, EVERY Fire Department is trained in handling EV fires, or else every one is malfeasantly INCOMPETENT!

One in front "passenger seat", the other in "back seat".

There is a video on YUCKtube wherein an individual is videoing some of the aftermath. From his perspective the distance away does not seem great.

Tiger woods vehicle never burst into flames and it was down an embankment.

We will see, whether "FSD" or "Auto Pilot" was in play. But definetly human error played a part.

I thought if a person never "grabbed/touched" the wheel, after a certain amount of time elapsed, things wouldn't work?

We will see.

The passenger could touch the wheel to keep it happy. Weight can be put on the driver seat and seatbelt could be fastened behind the driver before activation of fsd. I mean, its really unlikely, but should be possible, no?
Regardless, if people are dumb enough to misuse the system, then they need to be held responsible for the results, not the car.

 

[Crissa]

They'd also need a pole to push on the pedal or something.

It's just confabulism to say it was Autopilot from the scene of the crash.

-Crissa

 

[FutureBoy]

2) whaaaaaaat fire dept tries to put out a fire involving energy discharging from a battery with water. Ummm....seriously...who is training them?

One of these EV fires we are going to get a headline about a car fire where 2 firemen were electrocuted while trying to put out the fire.

 

[FutureBoy]

While I have not moved over to the passenger seat on AP, I have done stupid things in my life a handful of times, and just lucky for it to have not gone badly.

Are you still finding that you do "stupid" things that are life-threatening? I have for the most part learned to stop threatening my own life. I still make stupid mistakes on occasion but I really try to limit the times when such stupidity might result in my death or the death of others. The 2 in this accident were both over 50. I'd like to think that if they have lived this long and managed to gather enough resources to buy a Tesla that they should have been able to curtail life-threatening behaviors. But I find that my thoughts do not always coincide with the experiences of others.

 

[android04]

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/2016_Model_S_Emergency_Response_Guide_en.pdf..

There is a cable that needed to be double cut if accessible. The frunk looked like a mess and if fully engaged, not possible to perform... Other options? Page 13...

Many questions need to be asked and answered about this one...

Cutting the safety loop would not help with the fire. The safety loops are there to ensure that the HV battery is disconnected from all the car's electronics to avoid electrocution of first responders or passengers. In a Tesla crash where the air bags go off, the car also blows a pyro fuse that also disconnects the HV battery from all electronics.

 

[Crissa]

I was surprised they were able to get data from that smoldering hunk of junk. Now we need Elon to admit that he’s watching us all in real-time

It probably calls home the instant it detects a crash.

-Crissa

 

[EVCanuck]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...chief-says-Tesla-fire-example-of-16113029.php

 

[FutureBoy]

https://www.houstonchronicle.com/ne...chief-says-Tesla-fire-example-of-16113029.php

Behind a paywall.

Did find the full title though:

Tesla fire in Woodlands illustrates problems for firefighters
4/20/2021

 

[Bill906]

2) whaaaaaaat fire dept tries to put out a fire involving energy discharging from a battery with water. Ummm....seriously...who is training them? you don't put water on a grease fire either.

A fire department that read the Tesla Emergency Response Guide would. Earlier in this thread @DaveMink shared a link to for the 2016 Model S Emergency Response guide.

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/downloads/2016_Model_S_Emergency_Response_Guide_en.pdf

Page 22, under the heading "Firefighting" Tesla tells emergency responders:

FIREFIGHTING​

USE WATER TO FIGHT A HIGH VOLTAGE BATTERY FIRE. If the battery catches fire, is exposed to high heat, or is generating heat or gases, use large amounts of water to cool the battery. It can take approximately 3,000 gallons (11,356 liters) of water, applied directly to the battery, to fully extinguish and cool down a battery fire; always establish or request an additional water supply. If water is not immediately available, use dry chemicals, CO2, foam, or another typical fire-extinguishing agent to fight the fire until water is available.​

Note, the all caps are Teslas, not mine.

 

[rr6013]

The passenger could touch the wheel to keep it happy. Weight can be put on the driver seat and seatbelt could be fastened behind the driver before activation of fsd. I mean, its really unlikely, but should be possible, no?
Regardless, if people are dumb enough to misuse the system, then they need to be held responsible for the results, not the car.

Best excuse yet to surface why two BabyBoomers found separated - one up front, the other in the back seat of the car.

 

[speach]

Are you still finding that you do "stupid" things that are life-threatening? I have for the most part learned to stop threatening my own life. I still make stupid mistakes on occasion but I really try to limit the times when such stupidity might result in my death or the death of others. The 2 in this accident were both over 50. I'd like to think that if they have lived this long and managed to gather enough resources to buy a Tesla that they should have been able to curtail life-threatening behaviors. But I find that my thoughts do not always coincide with the experiences of others.

No - I'd like to believe I'm only guilty of occasional slight negligence these days. You make a fair point and I agree. What these men did went was reckless negligence.

@Bill906
You are 100% correct. While there are seeming conflicting general rules here (don't put water on an electric fire, don't put water on a lithium fire, and the directive from Tesla to extinguish a battery fire with 3000 gal of water), there really isn't because the directive from Tesla is very specific, and not general.

Electric fires don't go out until the power stops, which is why cutting the power is first. Metal fires can react violently when putting water on them. But in the case of a Tesla, we are talking about a very specific situation. It's is not purely a metal fire or an electrical fire. Another poster said pyro's cut the HV power in an airbag accident, so the power would already cut. I cannot verify that readily, but it makes sense.

If a Tesla battery is on fire already, then putting a fire hose on it is a good idea, because we are not talking about your 5 gpm garden hose. A fire hose is going to deliver between 50 and 150 gpm (depending on source pressure and hose length). It doesn't take long to deliver 3,000 gallons. Additionally (as usual) there is a lot of misinformation. Palmer Buck, the fire chief for the responding FD gave some relevant statements in that Houston Chronical article:

"With respect to the firefight, unfortunately, those rumors grew out way of control. It did not take us four hours to put out the blaze. Our guys got there and put down the fire within two to three minutes, enough to see the vehicle had occupants,” Buck said of inaccurate claims the vehicle burned for hours. “After that, it was simply cooling the car as the batteries continued to have a chain reaction due to damage.” (from that article).

Buck said what is termed in the firefighting profession as “final extinguishment” of the vehicle — a 2019 Tesla — took several hours, but that classification does not mean the vehicle was out-of-control or had live flames. The term is mostly used in relation to structure or wild land forest fires where hot ash that seems extinguished or is buried can later reignite other material and begin burning again.

“We could not tear it apart or move it around to get ‘final extinguishment’ because the fact that we had two bodies in there and it was then an investigation-slash-crime scene,” Buck explained. “We had to keep it cool, were on scene for four hours, but we were simply pouring a little bit of water on it. It was not because flames were coming out. It was a reaction in the battery pan. It was not an active fire.”

 

[EVCanuck]

Behind a paywall.

Did find the full title though:

Tesla fire in Woodlands illustrates problems for firefighters
4/20/2021

I just clicked on Show simplified view on my Mobile Google Chrome.

tl,dr: it took 2-3 min to extinguish the fire unlike 4hrs reported in some MSM FUD

 

[WFrazier]

What no one is talking about is where is the 3rd person. The driver is missing. Were Aliens involved? Is this a cover up of alien abduction? Why don't teslas prevent alien abduction. Why Elon?

I thought a similar thing. Where was the driver, where is the murder investigation? I am pretty sure I saw this in a movie. Mrderer puts sleeping people in the back of a car and rolls it off a dock. Or in this case puts sleeping people in a car and makes it look like it went off the road and caught fire.