A Tesla owner in Texas has revealed how his five-year-old S model suddenly exploded in flames last month, renewing old safety concerns about electric sedans.
Usmaan Ahmad told the Washington Post he had just left a road in Frisco on Nov. 23, when he heard a series of heavy metal blows emanating from beneath the 2015 Tesla Model S 85D.
Ahmad, 41, said he approached the side of the road to inspect the source of the noise, when suddenly his car caught fire, with fireballs “firing like a flamethrower” from the front passenger’s wheel. .
Ahmad told Tesla he believes the car’s battery may have exploded, but the specific cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
The horrific incident occurs as one of many similar events that affected the older S and X model vehicles in recent years and that experts believe are related to the car’s battery.
Concerns about the safety of electric vehicles are routinely shipped as they age, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is currently investigating the Ahmad car-related incident, according to the Post.
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Usmaan Ahmad said he pulled ahead after hearing a series of loud bangs emanating from beneath his Tesla Model S. Moments after getting out of the car, he apparently went up in flames “like a flamethrower”.
Ahmad’s 2015 Tesla S model is completely engulfed in smoke moments before firefighters arrived on the scene
Ahmad told Tesla he believes the car’s battery may have exploded, but the specific cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
The NHTSA previously opened an investigation into alleged battery defects that could cause fires in older Tesla sedan and SUV models.
The probe was driven by a lawsuit alleging that the company founded by Elon Musk had manipulated battery technology in older vehicle models from 2012 to 2019 by reducing battery range and extending charging times by fix an unspecified defect.
A lawyer who filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of Tesla owners filed the petition with the agency’s Defects Investigation Office, citing an “alarming number of vehicle fires” that seemed spontaneous.
Although the agency agreed to examine the matter last year, little detail has since been given about the state of the investigation.
For Ahmad, he said he had been driving his Model S for a few seconds before it burned. The business development worker told the Post that his battery was about 60 percent charged at the time and that he had been crossing lightly as he headed home.
He immediately called 911 and firefighters were at the scene within minutes.
Witness Robert Watson also called emergency services after he saw black smoke emanating from the vehicle as he passed by.
“It looked like the back of a jet engine with the afterburner coming out of that front passenger wheel,” Watson told the Post.
There was also another issue, according to Ahmad. While firefighters were working to extinguish the flames, he was said to have been asked how to get into the cabin.
The doors of the S Teslas model are powered by retractable handles that come out when they detect a nearby keychain. Ahmad tried to use the fob but it didn’t work.
According to Ahmad, the firefighter told him he was lucky he got out of the car when he did, otherwise he could have been trapped inside the burning vehicle.
According to Ahmad, a firefighter told him he was lucky he got out of the car when he did, otherwise he could have been trapped inside the burning vehicle.
A scalding march is seen on the ground where Ahmad’s car caught fire
The NHTSA previously opened an investigation into alleged battery defects that could cause fires in older Tesla sedan and SUV models (pictured in the 2015 S model at the Tilburg factory line, the Netherlands)
Firefighters reportedly controlled the blaze in about ten minutes.
The car was completely destroyed by fire and is currently in a lot of insurance.
Ahmad said he is still waiting for news on what caused the fire. However, he told the Post that allegedly Tesla has not been proactive in fire investigation.
He wrote to a Tesla representative on Nov. 25, two days after the fire, and wrote that he assumed the “battery exploded.”
The representative said they were glad he was safe and said the company would study the matter, but it has since been reported that Tesla has cited a number of insurance hurdles that have hampered the investigation.
Ahmad said he hopes the company can get on the path to the problem to ensure this does not happen to anyone else, including his parents, who would own a Tesla Model X SUV.
“I don’t want anyone else to experience something scary,” he told the Post.
Tesla has previously argued that its cars are ten times less likely to catch fire than gasoline vehicles, citing data from the National Fire Protection Association and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration.
However, when an electric car burns out, the duration and intensity of the flame, fueled by chemicals and the extreme heat accumulated in lithium-ion batteries, can make them harder to put out.
In an emergency response guide posted on its website, Tesla writes, “Battery fires can take up to 24 hours to go out. Consider burning the battery to protect it from exposure.
Tesla has also been set on fire amid concerns that its computerized cars have made emergency response more difficult, with features such as door handles.
In South Florida, in 2019, driver Omar Awan died after being trapped inside his 2016 Model S after it caught fire and the electronic door handles could not be extended after a crash.
In South Florida, in 2019, driver Omar Awan died after being trapped inside his 2016 Model S after it caught fire and the electronic door handles could not be extended after a crash.
Awan was burned without recognition and could not be saved. His family filed an illegal lawsuit against the company, alleging that the design feature caused his death, rather than the crash itself.
In 2018, two teens also died in a Tesla fire in South Florida. The family of one of the victims claimed the car battery was defective and sued Tesla.
His family filed an illegal lawsuit against the company, alleging that the design feature caused his death, rather than the crash itself.
His car was later moved to a dam area where the battery was reactivated at least three times, the Florida Sun Sentinel reported at the time.
Similarly, a fatal accident in Fort Lauderdale in 2018 caused the family of one of the two victims to sue Tesla alleging that their son’s vehicle battery was defective.
“The Tesla S sedan had inadequate measures to prevent a fire after the collision and had inadequate measures to contain a fire,” said Chicago attorney Philip Corboy Jr., one of the lawyers representing the parents.
Similar cases of apparently spontaneously flaming S models were also reported outside the United States, including in Shanghai, where a flaming sedan was seen inside a parking lot before exploding.
Similarly, in Los Angeles in 2018, a Model S exploded in flames while in traffic, with a fire coming out of the wheel pit.
At the time, Tesla called the incident an “extraordinarily unusual occurrence.”
Tesla has not yet sent any requests from DailyMail.com to comment on Ahmad’s claims.