Tesla Model S fires lead to investor lawsuit

[Mother Muckraker]

Full Story:
http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2013/11/08/tesla-model-s-fires-lead-to-investor-lawsuit/

In a fitting finale to a week Tesla Motors executives would rather forget, a law firm announced Friday that it had filed a class-action suit against the electric car maker for allegedly misleading investors over the fire risk posed by the company’s Model S sedan.l

The firm of Pomerantz Grossman Hufford Dahlstrom & Gross accused Tesla of making misleading statements about the car’s safety, in spite of “undisclosed puncture and fire risks” that the law firm attributes to “material defects” in the Model S battery pack.

On Wednesday, a Model S caught fire on a Tennessee freeway after striking a metal towing hitch lying in the road. The hitch punctured the electric car’s battery pack, which lies beneath the floorboards and is protected from the road by a steel shield. It was the third Model S fire in six weeks, and it helped drive down the company’s stock.

[Glassunion]

1. That's a shame.

Hope they get it sorted out.

[Barack_America]

2. Would a gas powered car not burn if a towing hitch hit its undercarriage?

I still feel the Tesla is being held to unrealistic expectations here.

[jberryhill]

3. These types of investor lawsuits are something of a sport

Yes, as posted in other threads on this topic, an ordinary vehicle has a 1 in 1500 chance of catching fire from one thing or another.

[Mother Muckraker]

4. Model S 1 fire per 6667 cars is much higher than the national average of 1/11,555 for 6 week period.

http://www.nfpa.org/research/fire-statistics/the-us-fire-problem/highway-vehicle-fires

250,000,000 cars on the road
2011 187,500 fires

1 in 1,333 chance of catching fire over the course of a year.

There were 3 Model S fires in the course of 6 weeks.

(187,500/52weeks)x6weeks=21,635

250,000,000/21,635= 1 fire every 11,555 cars over the course of 6 weeks

20,000/3= 1 Model S fire out of 6,667 cars over the course of 6 weeks.

This is significantly higher than the national average.

Also, I notice people jump to Elon Musk's defense at the slightest sign of criticism. I'm not sure, but I think it's due to the misconception that Musk is somehow an Obama supporter. He's anything but an Obama supporter. He's a user. He uses Obama to get his $460 million loan to fund his car company. He's in it for himself, not for you or the environment.

Taxpayer Subsidies Helped Tesla Motors, So Why Does Elon Musk Slam Them?
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/tesla-motors-free-ride-elon-musk-government-subsidies

[KeepItReal]

5. Please. The Models S has been rated highy by the NHTSA for safety.

In none of the three Tesla accidents that led to fires has there been any injury to drivers. The vehicle warned them of the hazard and they safely exited the vehicles.

None of the owners of the cars that actually caught fire have expressed any concerns over the cars' safety, much less were inclined to sue.

Tesla stock may be overvalued, and this lawsuit sounds like people trying to recover losses on the TSLA stock correction in the past week.

[Mother Muckraker]

6. Only 1 in 183 car fires ever result in injury. Lack of injury is nothing special.

The drivers' lack of concern for safety has more to do with faith rather than fact.

The "no injury" line is another piece of misinformation put out by Tesla. Only 1 in 183 fires ever result in an injury (see link in prior post). There have been 3 fires and the lack of injury is consistent with car fires nationally. The lack of injury is nothing special.

The issue is the 3 fires over 6 weeks which is far above the national rate and warrants investigation as the NHTSA is doing.

[jberryhill]

7. I don't give a squat about Elon Musk

But your comparison of one model of car to all models of cars would be better if the aggregate of "all cars" was broken down by model, to get some idea of whether this model of car is outside the range of other models in general.

You are also assuming it is valid to compare the last six weeks of this year to a proportional time span of the 2011 annual figure. The assumption you make is the absence of seasonal variation. Is there? I don't know.

It's a fair back of the envelope calculation for discussion purposes, but whether it says anything definite I don't know.