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2020 S560 Sedan, 2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, '24 BMW I7 on order...
Tesla Model S crashes & “Burst Into Flames?”
A news story that two teens were killed when their Model S hit a concrete wall and “burst into flames.” What would cause the fire? The batteries? There isn’t any gasoline in these things, so what? Oil? http://www.foxnews.com/auto/2018/05/...stigating.html
This is one reason MB goes to such great lengths to protect the batteries and hybrid systems in their vehicles. Obviously, anything can happen in an accident, but when I see the amount of safeguards and ways the vehicle can disable and isolate the high voltage stuff, it seems like such complete overkill, but they literally do plan for the worst case scenario and hold safety first. I'd wager you could toss a hybrid benz into the same crash, and no fire or fatalities. Wouldn't say that about most cars though.
2015 S550 Palladium/Deep Sea Blue, 2016 Tesla Model S 70D, 2015 Volvo XC70
Lithium isn't very stable. That's why the FAA has rules regarding lithium on aircraft: link. Here's a video from a 2016 Tesla crash, with lithium cells popping like fireworks: link
Lithium isn't very stable. That's why the FAA has rules regarding lithium on aircraft: link. Here's a video from a 2016 Tesla crash, with lithium cells popping like fireworks: link
OTOH, gasoline isn't great in a crash either.
Gasoline will require exposure to air and then an ignition source, it's actually fairly safe in a vehicle crash situation. The lithium cells are dangerous, yes, but any battery can explode if compromised. I'd wager it's a combination of the high voltage lines being cut in the impact, shorting them together is like triggering a huge arc welder, and will easily ignite anything flammable in the area, which sadly on today's automobiles is almost everything in them.
Kids speeding in a car, Crash in turn. Get killed. Unfortunately happens way too often. Could have easily been me or my friends when we were young. Just lucky. More a function of the driving than of the car.
What was truly heartbreaking is a kid in our city went to get his tennis gear out of the back of the family van and the seat folded over on him and trapped him. He called 911 twice telling them he needed help and they never looked in the van. His family found him dead in the van 6 hours later.
Other Teslas have caught fire due to the Lithium Ion batteries.
2020 S560 Sedan, 2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, '24 BMW I7 on order...
Originally Posted by ItalianJoe1
This is one reason MB goes to such great lengths to protect the batteries and hybrid systems in their vehicles. Obviously, anything can happen in an accident, but when I see the amount of safeguards and ways the vehicle can disable and isolate the high voltage stuff, it seems like such complete overkill, but they literally do plan for the worst case scenario and hold safety first. I'd wager you could toss a hybrid benz into the same crash, and no fire or fatalities. Wouldn't say that about most cars though.
The safety of MB cars is “THE” major argument I use to justify spending six figures on a daily driver. As beautiful as I think the Tesla Model S is, I just can’t imagine that a Silicon Valley “tech start up” company can produce cars nearly as safe, as well engineered or well built as a major, German company that has been building cars for over a hundred years. I hope Tesla is successful and turns the corner to become a very profitable company, but for me, I feel so much more secure, knowing that decades of German “tick-tock” precision engineering have been calculated into every single nut and bolt that holds my car together. When I look out across the hood and see that little 3-Pointed Star, it makes me feel that I’m ready to venture out into the craziness known as Southern California Traffic.
2020 S560 Sedan, 2019 SL450, 2019 E450 Luxury Trim Wagon, '24 BMW I7 on order...
Originally Posted by MBNUT1
Kids speeding in a car, Crash in turn. Get killed. Unfortunately happens way too often. Could have easily been me or my friends when we were young. Just lucky. More a function of the driving than of the car.
I can vividly remember the first time I ever had a hard liquor drink. I was working nights at a department store, going to college. Another young guy working there invited a bunch of us to his folk’s home (folks were out of town) for a party on a Saturday night. Well, I had my first rum & Coke. After about five of them, I wasn’t feeling well & decided to go home. I jumped in my 1963 Corvette convertible and “drove” home. The next day at work, a buddy who had left the party just before me, said that when I hit a double-dip intersection, that my car literally FLEW over the second dip with all four wheels in the air. I’d like to say that this was the first and last time this happened, but like many young guys, it wasn’t. I’m so thankful that I made it through my 20’s in one piece and never got in an accident. I pray daily for the safety of my grown children and grandchildren. I have both daughters driving GL’s. At least they are in “tanks,” should a young idiot—like I was—run a red light.
Last edited by Streamliner; 05-09-2018 at 10:02 PM.
The safety of MB cars is “THE” major argument I use to justify spending six figures on a daily driver. As beautiful as I think the Tesla Model S is, I just can’t imagine that a Silicon Valley “tech start up” company can produce cars nearly as safe, as well engineered or well built as a major, German company that has been building cars for over a hundred years. I hope Tesla is successful and turns the corner to become a very profitable company, but for me, I feel so much more secure, knowing that decades of German “tick-tock” precision engineering have been calculated into every single nut and bolt that holds my car together. When I look out across the hood and see that little 3-Pointed Star, it makes me feel that I’m ready to venture out into the craziness known as Southern California Traffic.
I was involved in a very serious head on collision in my first CL, and it's amazing what a 15 year old car can withstand with absolutely zero injuries to the occupants. Granted, this was not a cheap or small car when it was new, but it survived a direct hit from a new car with no damage that would put any risk to the occupants. All airbags worked as designed, seat belt snatched me into the seat hard enough to bruise my stomach, but other than a sprained ankle from me trying to get my foot on the brake as the car was hitting me, no damage to me at all. MB takes safety very seriously, almost to a fault with some of these stupid recall campaigns that are so far fetched, they would never actually be a problem. That's just the way they are.
When I went to brand immersion in Alabama, the museum next to the SUV factory has a huge display with many of the patents for safety tech that MB has held over the years. Unlike most commercial businesses, they have sold the rights to every safety patent to any other manufacturer for $.01, because they do not want the safety to be even just with MB, they want to design and build the safest cars on the road and strongly support anyone else with that same goal. Yes, MB does a lot of strange things, but seeing some stuff like that makes you appreciate the engineering that goes into these cars that much more.
When I went to brand immersion in Alabama, the museum next to the SUV factory has a huge display with many of the patents for safety tech that MB has held over the years. Unlike most commercial businesses, they have sold the rights to every safety patent to any other manufacturer for $.01, because they do not want the safety to be even just with MB, they want to design and build the safest cars on the road and strongly support anyone else with that same goal. Yes, MB does a lot of strange things, but seeing some stuff like that makes you appreciate the engineering that goes into these cars that much more.
This one of the reasons I love Mercedes. Safety was a key metric when my dad bought his first one as his father was killed in a car accident (He may have had a heart attack). My dad was later broadsided in his 1959 180 when he fatigued from working and going to school at night ran a red light. Thankfully the car protected him and I and my siblings were not rendered fatherless. Mercedes pioneering of the safety cage did its job.
2015 S550 Palladium/Deep Sea Blue, 2016 Tesla Model S 70D, 2015 Volvo XC70
Originally Posted by ItalianJoe1
When I went to brand immersion in Alabama, the museum next to the SUV factory has a huge display with many of the patents for safety tech that MB has held over the years. Unlike most commercial businesses, they have sold the rights to every safety patent to any other manufacturer for $.01, because they do not want the safety to be even just with MB, they want to design and build the safest cars on the road and strongly support anyone else with that same goal. Yes, MB does a lot of strange things, but seeing some stuff like that makes you appreciate the engineering that goes into these cars that much more.
I had no idea, thanks for sharing. BTW does "brand immersion" mean you work (or worked) for MB?
If they were going 60 mph in a 30 mph zone which caused them to hit a solid concrete wall, it is a miracle that the back seat passenger survived. The fire could only be caused by the batteries exploding. Once a few batteries started to burn, the heat would cause all of the remaining batteries to also rapidly ignite. Once this happens, there is no effective way for a fire department to extinguish the fire. It is likely that the front of the vehicle was crushed sufficiently to pin the front seat passengers. Vehicles are tested by the government for a front end collision with a solid object at 35 MPH. The impact force for a 60 MPH crash is almost four times that of 35 MPH. No vehicle can survive this impact without serious deformation of the passenger section. Most likely, the front seat passengers died from impact prior to the spread of the fire.As reported, the rear seat passenger only survived because he was thrown free from the vehicle. The back seat area probably didn't collapse as much as the front seat. I doubt if the driver of a W222 S Class could survive this type of crash.
I had no idea, thanks for sharing. BTW does "brand immersion" mean you work (or worked) for MB?
Yeah I'm a tech at a dealership.
MB does a brand immersion program for many outside people as well, half of the group there with me were not MB empolyees but vendors or some other type of relationship. It's a cool 2 day thing including a tour of the factory where they build the SUV and US production 205s, plus a driving day at Barber motorsports complex nearby with some very interesting technical demonstrations. We got to autocross CLA/GLA 45s in the rain, which was quite fun. Look up some of the videos on youtube, the instructor driven 63 doing a race start and donuts is always good.
My 2015 S 550 Coupe was hit by a young guy who ran a red light at extremely high speed this past Tuesday. There is no doubt that my Mercedes protected me from very serious injuries. So glad I ordered a 2018 S 560 Sedan a few months ago to replace this car. It should arrive in early June, about the same time the Coupe gets out of the shop.
Last edited by WorldExplorer; 05-13-2018 at 03:11 AM.
Reason: Text didn't stick
05-09-2018, 08:56 PM
