A man was stopped at a highway intersection when smoke started filling his Tesla Model Y.
One of the most damaging and bad-for-business stories around Tesla (TSLA) – Get Tesla Inc Report in recent years have been the engine fires.
News coverage of a mother of five dying after being trapped inside a Tesla during a raging fire, or firefighters having to use over 30,000 gallons of water just to put a Tesla fire out, have prompted outrage.
That has lead to a push for a petition for an investigation that was later rejected by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
What Happened In Vancouver?
The latest man to become trapped inside a burning Tesla is Jamil Jutha of North Vancouver, Canada.
As Jutha told Canadian news outlet CTV News, he was stopped at a highway intersection when his Tesla lost power and all of its electric components stopped working.
“The doors wouldn’t open,” Jutha told CTV. “The windows wouldn’t go down.”
Minutes later, smoke started filling the cabin.
While Tesla doors have a manual release option in the case of an emergency, Jutha panicked and kicked opened the window in order to get out.
He said he was not able to figure out the manual option in a state of panic and saw kicking out the window as the fastest way to get to safety.
“Of course, there’s always going to be panic in a moment when you feel trapped,” Jutha said. “I kicked through the window, climbed out and called 911 right away.”
After calling 911 and seeking help from some highway workers nearby, Jutha was able to escape without injury.
The car has been handed over for an investigation to determine the cause of the fire for insurance purposes.
“We’re very fortunate that this individual had the wherewithal and the strength to kick the window out,” said local fire chief Brian Hutchinson.
Jutha, who had bought the Model Y only eight months ago, said that he is now shopping for a new car.
Tesla did not immediately respond to TheStreet’s request for comment on the situation.
Why Have There Been So Many Tesla Fires?
In many ways, the fire risk is not unique to Tesla.
The high-voltage, lithium-ion batteries used in all electric vehicles can short and turn into a raging fire that is larger than those typically seen with gas-powered engines.
While electric engine fires are not more common, they generally blaze strongly and are more difficult than their gas counterparts.
Research by insurance firm AutoinsuranceEZ found that electric engines have a 0.03% chance of catching fire, while for gas engines that chance goes up to 1.5%.
“We’ve had a long time to fully understand the risks and hazards associated with petrol and diesel cars,” Paul Christensen, a professor of electrochemistry at Newcastle University, told CNBC in January.
“We’re going to have to learn faster how to deal with the challenges with electric vehicles. But we will.”
But while car fires occur in only 25 out of every 100,000 electric vehicles sold, the ones that do occur often become a battleground amid those who want to see the world go electric and those who don’t.
Conservative groups and automative industry lobbyists will often use the fires to point to why people should choose gas-powered cars instead.
This, in turn, has settled fear into the mind of some consumers.
Google searches of “how often do electric cars catch fire?” have been rising steadily since 2018.
Tesla shares were up 1.14% at $674.41 on May 23 but are down over 44% year-over-year.
