A Tesla Model S caught fire in a garage in San Francisco (TSLA)
A Tesla Model S sedan caught fire in a garage in San Francisco, the San Francisco Fire Department tweeted on Friday. The incident was reported around midnight on Friday.
Firefighters saw smoke near the vehicle's rear right tire, though the vehicle was not charging at the time. The fire was extinguished, and the vehicle was removed from the garage. The garage was not damaged.
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A Tesla representative said the electric-car maker had not yet received any indication that the fire was caused by issues with the vehicle.
"Tesla cars are approximately 10 times less likely to experience a fire than gas cars," the representative said. "In this instance, we have not received any information to indicate that this fire was a result of any issues with the car itself. Still, we believe that even a factor of ten fewer fires per vehicle for electric cars is too many, and we aspire to be as close to zero as we can."
Vehicle fires have become a point of contention for Tesla due to incidents that have occurred after collisions or without any visible impact. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has said the company's vehicles are less likely to catch fire than gas-powered ones, but data from the National Fire Protection Association suggests the opposite.
Friday's incident followed reports of another fire involving a parked Model S that occurred in April in Shanghai. Tesla said on its Weibo account that it was investigating the incident.
You can read Tesla's full statement about Friday's incident below:
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Tesla cars are approximately 10 times less likely to experience a fire than gas cars, which are involved in about 200,000 cases of fire per year in North America and well over one million worldwide. Based on our work investigating the causes of car fires, we know that there are many external factors that can cause a fire to occur, including building fires, vehicle damage, improper maintenance by unauthorized mechanics, aftermarket modifications, improper vehicle charging, and even arson. In this instance, we have not received any information to indicate that this fire was a result of any issues with the car itself. Still, we believe that even a factor of ten fewer fires per vehicle for electric cars is too many, and we aspire to be as close to zero as we can. We are always learning from our fleet and constantly evaluate whether there are over-the-air updates we can deploy to make our cars even safer than they already are.
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