Posted on 09/19/2025 9:00:10 AM PDT by Signalman
A 43-year-old man and two nine-year-old children have died after being ‘burned alive’ when they became trapped inside a Tesla.
The car went up in flames on September 7 after it came off the road and crashed into a tree in western Germany, police said.
The man, and the children, no further details, died at the scene. Another child inside the vehicle was able to get out alive and was taken to a nearby hospital.
A local resident tried to rescue the others but was unable to open the door with the Tesla’s retractable handles, German media outlets report.
Roman Jedrzejewski , who runs a paint shop opposite the crash site in Schwerte, North Rhine-Westphalia, said he sprinted over to the vehicle with a fire extinguisher after hearing a loud bang.
He told local Ruhr News: ‘I wanted to rescue some people.
‘I tried to open the car, but that didn’t work either. It was already so hot from the fire, but the right side of the car was still relatively undamaged.
‘Damn it, I didn’t help. It didn’t work.’
The blaze continued to burn, with local firefighters also struggling to put it out due to repeated flare-ups.
The crash, which police said took place when the Tesla tried to overtake another car, is still being investigated by North Rhine-Westphalia’s Police department.
The district police department stated: ‘Our goal is to fully reconstruct the course of events and clearly determine the cause.’
The country’s automobile association the ADAC warned in April 2024 that retractable door handles could be a safety risk.
They explained that the door handles could remain retracted after electrical supply is interrupted after an accident.
The deadly crash came a few days before Bloomberg uncovered several accidents where passengers became trapped inside a Tesla after an accident.
One off-duty firefighter from Virginia, Max Walsh, found himself unable to open the car’s Model Y doors and to smash in a window with his bare hands to rescue the driver.
On Tuesday, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced an investigation into as many as 174,000 Model Y Tesla after reports that electric door handles could not be opened.
These reports included instances where parents were trying to remove a child from the car.
Tesla vehicles have manual door releases inside, but children may not be able to work or access the releases even if the vehicle’s driver is aware of them.
Tesla’s design chief, Franz von Holzhausen, also told Bloomberg on Wednesday that the company is working on a redesign of the door handles following the reports of incidents.
Seems like a fire extinguisher would bust out a window.
Simple fix. Normally open circuit instead of normally closed. But I’m sure Tesla was forced by regulators to make the circuit normally closed.
“””Seems like a fire extinguisher would bust out a window.””
I’ve heard the windows are very hard to break.
That’s kind of what I was thinking.
100%
“””Car door handles the way God intended them to be... “”
Round keys fits the door and trunk. Square key for the ignition. Works flawlessly.
Tesla doors open using an electric motor, the exterior handles are essentially switches. I’m surprised, given the recessed exterior handles, they are not designed to pop open the doors after an airbag deployment. If the crash took out the electrical system, it doesn’t matter what car you are driving, the doors will stay locked till you open them from inside.
“Round keys fits the door and trunk. Square key for the ignition.”
Dang! You’re a youngster! One key all the way around! Long before that innovation you described.
My fave was the ignition key strategically placed on the dash to shatter your patella in a frontal collision. Of course, that’s if the steering wheel column doesn’t impale your chest first.
“Lord, what fools these mortals be!”
Mechanical, NOT electrical door handles.
What I read so far makes me even less inclined to own a Tesla(or other EV) than usual. And I have never felt inclined to own one.
“Tesla’s design chief, Franz von Holzhausen, also told Bloomberg on Wednesday that the company is working on a redesign of the door handles following the reports of incidents.”
Yeah a major redesign is needed way beyond door handles.
This is from Google AI.
“Incorporating an automatic fire suppression system into Tesla’s battery pack would likely help mitigate thermal runaway and protect occupants in the rare event of a fire. However, it is not a simple solution and faces several significant challenges.
How an automatic fire suppression system could help
Early intervention: An automated system could detect initial signs of thermal runaway, such as a sharp temperature increase, and deploy a suppression agent directly inside the battery pack to cool the cells and stop the chain reaction before it spreads.
Targeted cooling: Instead of firefighters applying large volumes of water to the exterior of the sealed battery pack, an internal system could deliver a cooling agent to the precise location of the overheating cells. This would be a more efficient and effective strategy.
Passenger safety: Deploying a suppression agent and triggering an alert would give occupants more time to safely exit the vehicle.
Reduced fire intensity: While the fire may not be extinguished instantly, the system could significantly cool the battery, reduce the fire’s ferocity, and prevent reignition, making it much safer for emergency responders.
Challenges of integrating a fire suppression system
Difficulty accessing the fire source: The complex, multi-layered, and sealed design of an EV battery pack is intended to protect the cells. This same construction makes it extremely difficult to get a suppression agent inside to the root of the fire.
Ineffective traditional agents: Standard fire extinguishers work by suffocating a fire, but the chemical reaction within a lithium-ion battery produces its own oxygen. Additionally, agents like a Class D powder cannot reach the cells inside the battery enclosure.”
Toxic gases and explosion risk: During thermal runaway, batteries release highly flammable and toxic gases. Trapping these gases with a suppression agent or blanket can increase the risk of an explosion.
Technical and cost complexities: Adding an integrated system would increase the vehicle’s cost and weight. It would require advanced sensors, specialized plumbing, a stored suppression agent, and a new battery management system to handle deployment.
Reignition risk: The fire can smolder and reignite hours or days later due to residual heat, a problem an initial automated discharge may not be able to solve.
The good old days.
Exactly.
Same for me.
Correct.
I would guess that is an assumption based upon the
outcome of law suites.
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