Tesla Motors Model S [Video]: Owner Claims Internet Exaggerated The Sedan S Fire; Incident Smacks Of Dateline GM Truck Explosion

Tesla motors Model S car crash video went viral over the internet last week, with dire results for the company. The shares of Tesla Motors fell by almost 10% by Monday, aided by downgrade rating from R.W. Baird analyst Ben Kallo.

Touted as the ‘World’s Safest Car’, Tesla’s Model S was shown caught up in flames even as the firemen tried to put out the fire. A looker-on recorded the blaze and struggle and the automobile site Jalponik put them up.
Soon the company found itself at the centre of a bludgeoning controversy with no resolution in sight, even as its stock plummeted and the PR team strived to form a solution.

In the release dated October 6, 2013, Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk notified the cause of fire as collision of one of the battery modules with a metal object, most probably metal debris on the road. No one suffered any injuries.

He defended the company’s highly popular Model S saying that the built in safety features prevented the fire from spreading to the interior. The fire spread only when the firefighters punctured the top of the battery to extinguish the flames with a mixture of dry chemical extinguishers and water.

Musk maintained that battery operated cars were still safer than those powered on gasoline.

Meanwhile, the owner of the vehicle, Robert Carlson, had reportedly told Jerome Guillen, director of Tesla’s Model S Programs, in an email that he still believed in the company and the car.

“I guess you can test for everything, but some other celestial bullet comes along and challenges your design. I agree that the car performed very well under such an extreme test. The batteries went through a controlled burn which the internet images really exaggerates,” said Robert in the email which was reprinted on Tesla’s blog.

This is yet another case of (irresponsible) defamation courtesy media. The 1992 Dateline’s ‘staged’ explosion of GM pickup trucks that was broadcast throughout the country bought in a lot of criticism for General Motors. The company’s investigation into the modus operandi of the show revealed that the pickup truck was tweaked to make it prone to fire as part of show.
The only difference in the Tesla Motors' case is that this is an instance of citizen journalism and nobody can hold social media accountable for what it presents and how the viewers react.