2 dead in Tesla accident "Noone wasdrivingthe car" 15

[MartinLe]

https://www.click2houston.com/news/...er-fiery-tesla-crash-in-spring-officials-say/

“no one was driving” the fully-electric 2019 Tesla when the accident happened. There was a person in the passenger seat of the front of the car and in the rear passenger seat of the car.

the vehicle was traveling at a high speed when it failed to negotiate a cul-de-sac turn, ran off the road and hit the tree.

The brother-in-law of one of the victims said relatives watched the car burn for four hours as authorities tried to tap out the flames.

Authorities said they used 32,000 gallons of water to extinguish the flames because the vehicle’s batteries kept reigniting. At one point, Herman said, deputies had to call Tesla to ask them how to put out the fire in the battery.

 

[SwinnyGG]

SwinnyGG do you have a Tesla?
Just asking because I can think of many cars where it would be possible to crawl over from the front to the back, and I can think of equally as many where you couldn't.

I don't own one, but have 2 good friends that do - I've ridden in their cars quite a bit, and driven both a P100D model S and a model 3. I'm relatively familiar with the interior.

I'm roughly 3" taller than the average height for an American male, and I'm pretty close to the peak of the bell curve as far as body weight. I was an athlete in college so I can move when I need to. I'm confident that if I so desired, I could get from the driver's seat of a model S or model 3 into the back seat without opening a door. I think I could do it in 10-15 seconds without working too hard. There would definitely be footprints in places in the interior where feet are not supposed to be; if I were going to do it in my own car I'd slip my shoes off first. But if I was dumb enough to climb out of the drivers seat of a moving sports car, I suspect I wouldn't mind doing it without shoes on.

Of course, being that these were Americans (and affluent americans.... Tesla is a giveaway for that) it's a distinct possibility that the gentlemen were 'not small'. Could go either way.

 

[RedSnake]

I can't read Swedish.

O Sorry, I posted the link for the crash test video, I thought it would only be that coming up
I have not thought about they do them with or without fuel in them.
Probably without.
Of course the electric motors are not running when the tests are done on a electric cars, so that maybe makes it less likely or maybe there is no real batteri in the test cars.

They will probably have to extend the testing for this things, but they maybe have to have other facilities for that.

Well I have crawled around cars too, because of doors not opening where they should.

Still have a hard time seeing why any one would do something like that.
He was a doctor as far as I can tell.
Not shore if that makes it more or less likely..

Best Regards A



“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[IRstuff]

The photo shows the frame of the front driver seat intact and vertical, so anything, post-crash, that might have propelled the driver into the back seat would have had to push the driver THROUGH the seat cushion (highly improbable, given the amount of cushion and seat cover, and would likely have decapitated the driver to fit through the frame), or over the seat (also improbable, since there's not enough clearance between the top of the seat and the roof of the car, particularly with the head rest frames intact as well).

I would have to argue that the most likely scenario is that the driver used some sort of implement to push the accelerator pedal, or it was pushed by the passenger, and possibly the passenger manipulated the transmission and also held the steering wheel to fool the capacitive touch sensors into thinking the driver was present in the front seat.

TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!

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[SwinnyGG]

maybe there is no real batteri in the test cars.

I can say with 95% percent certainty that there was an actual production intent battery in any official IIHS crash safety tests; complete vehicles are required. Of course there may be preliminary tests with prototypes, but for actual certification production intent vehicles are required.

Although, caveat to that - when vehicles are crash tested they are typically emptied and flushed of fuel. It wouldn't surprise me if Tesla crash test vehicles had complete battery systems installed, but zero charge during the test which would affect fire hazard potential in the same way that testing a car without any fuel does.

 

[GregLocock]

https://insideevs.com/news/501729/number-tesla-vehicle-fires-2020/

Usual bad statistics, not compensating for confounding factors, but a 10:1 ratio in favor of Tesla is fairly conclusive that batter fires aren't a huge deal, on average.

Cheers

Greg Locock


New here? Try reading these, they might help FAQ731-376

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[verymadmac]

Hmm, maybe Tesla's are just harder to steal and just newer, the UK fire-service notes that 2/3's of car fires are non-accidental, throw in poor DIY repair related fires on old beaters etc and 1:10 doesn't very flash at all without better data.

Plus all this that doesn't account for the fact that they are much much harder to put out.

 

[JStephen]

Some fire info:

https://www.yahoo.com/autos/tesla-fire-texas-crash-not-234300789.html

 

[SnTMan]

So it essentially burned up in 10 min. No worries then

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[dik]

So it should be cheap! What do you expect for $7/hr...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[itsmoked]

More likely alternative.
Owner picks up friend.
Tells friend, "You drive". (Every new Tesla owner that's wanted to show me their car has done exactly that.)
In this case though the owner then goes around to the passenger side but - gets in back.
Once in motion.
He directs the friend to slide over to the passenger seat.

Keith Cress
kcress -

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[SnTMan]

dik, unfortunately sloppy work exists across then entire price spectrum, as this Failure Forum proves over and over

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[JayMaechtlen]

Putting out a ordinary gasoline car is non-trivial too, as there are so many things that can explode or launch projectiles.
The old bumper absorbers, all the gas struts, the air bags, etc.
Plus all the interior is combustible, even aside from the fuel tank.
Basically you protect surrounding property and let it go.

Jay Maechtlen

http://www.laserpubs.com/techcomm

 

[dik]

I'm a strong advocate of you generally get what you pay for...

Rather than think climate change and the corona virus as science, think of it as the wrath of God. Feel any better?

-Dik

 

[SnTMan]

Huh. Consumer Reports says can Tesla operate in AP with no one occupying the drivers seat.

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[drawoh]

SnTMan,

This is not quite what I expected from your text...

Consumer Reports engineers easily tricked our Tesla Model[ ]Y this week so that it could drive on Autopilot, the automaker’s driver assistance feature, without anyone in the driver's seat [—] a scenario that would present extreme danger if it were repeated on public roads. Over several trips across our half-mile closed test track, our Model[ ]Y automatically steered along painted lane lines, but the system did not send out a warning or indicate in any way that the driver's seat was empty.

The words "robot" or any variation of "automatic pilot" should not appear on a dashboard or any other control unless it is a reliable robot control. "Driver assist"? "Mother in Law"?

--
JHG

 

[RedSnake]

"Mother in Law"? ;-)
I agree words like robot, autopilot means something totally different to me then Drivers assist.
But all such systems can be manipulated if you put your mind to it.
Still don't understand why two middle aged men, would try something like that.

BR A

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.“
Albert Einstein

 

[Tomfh]

Tesla's Autopilot is not much more than a fancier cruise control, and had it been marketed as such, the expectations and abuses would be solely the fault of the drivers.

I drive with cruise control and I’ve driven Automated Tesla. It’s chalk and cheese. Teslas are self driving cars that are being Beta tested in the real world. That’s how Musk operates. He’s on the cutting edge.

 

[SnTMan]

First, I can't believe they didn't incorporate some kind of dead-weight-in-the-drivers-seat sensor. After all they are very common. Maybe just no software implementation. Still, seems practically criminally negligent to me. But then I'm kind of a simpleton.

Teslas are self driving cars that are being Beta tested in the real world. That’s how Musk operates. He’s on the cutting edge.

Yean, but who gets cut? I have kind of ranted before about all this "Beta" testing goes on these days. I doubt some of it is even Alpha. But, somehow, if it involves software or smartphones or blah, blah, you are excused from the kinds of standards that apply to $100 lawnmowers.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am not anti-Musk, anti-Tesla, anti-tech in general. I am against stupid stuff that doesn't work and is presented as otherwise.

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[Tomfh]

I’m not defending it. I don’t believe Teslas ought to be able to sell these cars that sort of drive themselves.

 

[SnTMan]

Tomfh, I wasn't attacking you, my apologies if it came across that way.

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand