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In Case of Electric-Car Fire, Half of Fire Departments Are Unprepared
https://www.msn.com ^ | 10/10/2020 | Sebastian Blanco

Posted on 10/10/2020 10:57:31 AM PDT by RomanSoldier19

The National Transportation Safety Board says the U.S. is woefully unprepared to deal with EV fires, which require different strategies than gasoline vehicle fires.

31 percent of fire departments don't train for EV fires, and half say they don't have special protocols in place to deal with EVs after a crash, the agency's report found.

Note the caveats, though. There are more than 29,000 fire departments in the U.S. This survey only asked for information from 32 of them.

If you have been reading Car and Driver for a while, there's a decent chance you remember the news when a Tesla Model S caught fire in 2013. Or that the NTSB was investigating Tesla fires in 2019. Or when a Porsche Taycan went up in flames earlier this year.

You might remember those things, because electric-vehicle fires make headlines. Of course, the reality is that, according to the U.S. Fire Administration (USFA), an average of 171,500 highway vehicle fires happened in the United States each year from 2014 through 2016, and the vast majority of them were in gasoline-powered cars.

Nonetheless, electric vehicles are still a shiny new thing to many people, and when something goes wrong with them, we notice. Automakers build safety systems into their battery packs, including rapid discharging in the event of a crash, but fires still happen, just as they can with gasoline-powered vehicles.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: automotive; autonomousvehicles; electric; ev; fire; ntsb; porschetaycan; tesla
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To: EEGator

You forgot boats.


21 posted on 10/10/2020 11:38:52 AM PDT by Ed Condon (subliminal messages here in invisible ink)
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To: Spktyr

” If the electric lock mechanism jams, you cannot open that door. If the electric lock mechanism jams on all the doors, you’re screwed.”

True for any car. Doors are automatically unlocked in an accident per design.

Compare to manual door locks. The do not unlock automatically thus preventing access from the outside.


22 posted on 10/10/2020 11:41:40 AM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: EEGator

“Worst investments:
New cars
Time shares
Young women”
~~~~~~~~

That’s why you do a short term lease.
;)


23 posted on 10/10/2020 11:43:25 AM PDT by sevlex
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To: TexasGator

Doors are *not* automatically unlocked per design in an accident in most cars even today.

What I don’t think you’re getting is that these cars do not have a manual override if power to the door locks are cut or the controls fail. There’s no knob or flap you can hit or pull to open the lock mechanism.


24 posted on 10/10/2020 11:44:54 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: TexasGator

Except they didn’t. Check cites on the incident.


25 posted on 10/10/2020 11:45:30 AM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: sevlex

“That’s why you do a short term lease.
;)”

I have a friend that took seven short term leases.

After his seventh divorce, he said never again.


26 posted on 10/10/2020 11:52:10 AM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: SunkenCiv

“...fires still happen, just as they can with gasoline-powered vehicles.”

That they do.

One way to help prevent an engine bay fire is to keep the engine and surrounding accessories clean and free of leaves/pine needles, ect.


27 posted on 10/10/2020 11:57:30 AM PDT by 2CAVTrooper (BLM= Baby Lives Matter)
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To: Spktyr

“Doors are *not* automatically unlocked per design in an accident in most cars even today.”

Manual locks don’t but electric locks do.

“What I don’t think you’re getting is that these cars do not have a manual override if power to the door locks are cut or the controls fail. There’s no knob or flap you can hit or pull to open the lock mechanism.”

On the Tesla the same ‘flap’ that electrically unlocks the door from the inside also unlocks the door manually.


28 posted on 10/10/2020 11:57:34 AM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Spktyr

“Except they didn’t. Check cites on the incident.”

Unrelated to EV power train.


29 posted on 10/10/2020 12:01:40 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Ed Condon

True. I forgot to include my rules.
1. Don’t buy a boat, have a friend with a boat
2. Don’t buy a dog, have a friend with a dog
3. Always just be friends with at least one hot chick, she has hot friends.


30 posted on 10/10/2020 12:12:44 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: TexasGator

Ummmm, if you check the original post, that’s exactly what I said. I said that both electric and gas cars made in recent years have the problem so it was unfair to blame the electric car specifically.

Did the electric car wipe your reading comprehension skills? :P


31 posted on 10/10/2020 12:14:38 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: TexasGator

Er, no, electric locks don’t in much of the industry. Mostly it’s German cars and not even all of those do it. Structural integrity issues upon additional hits is why.

You might want to ask Tesla about the locking mechanism. I know for a fact it doesn’t in the Model S because my boss’s door lock solenoid failed and the flap wouldn’t unlock the door. IIRC, the mechanical door release is actually under the seat and all but impossible to get to in a crash.


32 posted on 10/10/2020 12:17:20 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Spktyr
Reliability is my Honda Accord, American muscle is a 1971 Chevelle SS. :)

An aside, I was driving next to an Aston Martin DB9 today. That is a very nice looking vehicle.


33 posted on 10/10/2020 12:18:57 PM PDT by EEGator
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To: EEGator

The thing for me is, I grew up in the 80s and 90s where “American muscle” was an oxymoron and a lot of the cars of the 80s were faster than most or all of the classic muscle cars. Also about the time where we finally learned that the old SAE Gross HP ratings were lies.

In the 2000s I had a situation at a client’s place where we ended up proving that a restored Chevelle 454SS was slower and had less wheel horsepower than the receptionist’s Honda Accord V6. And I got a steak dinner out of it. :D


34 posted on 10/10/2020 12:23:33 PM PDT by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: RomanSoldier19

And during a power failure? when all cars are battery powered, and there’s a power failure, than all cars stop. I’m betting the ruling elite won’t be driving battery powered cars, but will have something that runs on gasoline while the ordinary people, who they scorn, walk home.


35 posted on 10/10/2020 12:29:17 PM PDT by I want the USA back (4 More years! DJT!)
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To: Spktyr

“Er, no, electric locks don’t in much of the industry. Mostly it’s German cars and not even all of those do it. Structural integrity issues upon additional hits is why.”

My Mustang does, same with my wife’s Lexus. Some vehicles have a six second delay to keep the doors locked during the accident.


36 posted on 10/10/2020 12:31:03 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: Spktyr

“You might want to ask Tesla about the locking mechanism. I know for a fact it doesn’t in the Model S because my boss’s door lock solenoid failed and the flap wouldn’t unlock the door. IIRC, the mechanical door release is actually under the seat and all but impossible to get to in a crash.”

You might want to ask Tesla!

https://tesla-info.com/doc/model_s_owners_manual_north_america_en_us_2020_4.pdf


37 posted on 10/10/2020 12:39:01 PM PDT by TexasGator (Z1z)
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To: EEGator

Rent them!


38 posted on 10/10/2020 12:45:28 PM PDT by Taxman (MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AGAIN!)
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To: RomanSoldier19

The most common protocol is to stand down and let the fire burn itself out.


39 posted on 10/10/2020 1:07:37 PM PDT by Kirkwood (Follow your Inner Trump)
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To: TexasGator
Yes. This issue keeps coming up on FR Tesla threads. The confusion might be due to the fact that the method of opening the rear doors following loss of power differs from that for the front doors.

From page 14 of your linked owner's manual for a Tesla Model S:

Opening Interior Doors with No Power

If Model S has no electrical power, the front doors open as usual using the interior door handles. To open the rear doors, fold back the edge of the carpet below the rear seats to expose the mechanical release cable. Pull the mechanical release cable toward the center of the vehicle.


40 posted on 10/10/2020 1:19:15 PM PDT by TChad
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