2013 Tesla Model S: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed Nov 18, 2021 · Electrical · CA · fire

Car was charging in the garage on Dec 30, 2020 when at 5:25 AM a message was sent to my phone that the charging had been interrupted but not completed. 12 minutes later at 5:37 AM a message was sent that the Alarm on the vehicle had been activated. 2 minutes later the second Tesla in the garage sent a message that the alarm had been activated. None of these messages were seen at the time since we were asleep in the back of the house, but the car alarm did wake us up. Hearing the alarm woke us and soon after we heard smoke alarms from teh garage and throughout the house. When we walked to the front of the house, we could see flames from the garage to the top of the second story. We immediately exited the house. The attached article and video describes the situation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2021/08/04/tesla-fire/ Both Tesla cars and half the house was destroyed by the fire. Tesla never came to the house to inspect the car that started the fire. To date it has not been examined and Tesla takes no responsibility for the damage. They advertise that the battery is warranted and that they will cover any damage caused by a faulty battery, but have refused to do anything.

Filed Feb 14, 2021 · Fuel system · 35,000 miles · NE · crash

I was backing out of my garage and the left rear end of my car hit a car parked behind me. My car immediately sped up in forward direction in an arc causing me to hit just inside garage on the left . I tried to brake and to put it into park and nothing was working. It finally went into neutral and quit hitting the garage. There was lots of smoke and I thought car was on fire. There was lots of burned rubber under my left rear tire causing the smoke. None under right side. There were workers at the house (car behind me) and they said it was the car doing it. I wasn't sure what was happening. I called tesla that day and a total of 5 times and was told I would be contacted by special team in about 6 weeks and that they would be able to download what happened from computer. I have not heard anything from tesla. My car was checked out at the tesla shop in council bluffs after body work done and they said they were unable to check computer as to what happened and that would be done by tesla engineers. My insurance company has not been able to get any information either. They asked me to report unexplained acceleration on this site. It did $23,000 in damages to my car and $25,000 to my house and knocked it off foundation in affected corner. If both tires had been spinning I don't think I would be here as I would have gone straight through garage and flying as it is a one story drop to the back. I want to know my car is safe before driving again and have not been able to find out why incident happened.

Filed Oct 28, 2019 · Electrical, Fuel system · 64,611 miles · WA

Re: the federal safety agency action number: dp19005 - investigation subject : battery management software updates after most recent firmware update (exact date unknown -- sometime late this summer)-- supercharging speed appears to have been limited. It now takes 2-3x the amount of time to charge when traveling. I tested multiple superchargers for my trip which occurred on during the weekend of 9/2. I am fully aware of conditions that can slow the speed (stall sharing, high soc, low/high battery temp, etc). None of these conditions were present -- yet my charge speed was limited during all charging sessions and across multiple locations/dates/times during this trip. I've brought this concern up on 2 separate occasions: 1. 9/5/19 - was told "tested on supercharger and verified vehicle charging at expected rate, no further action required" 2. 10/3/19 - verbally - spoke to mobile service technician while performing service at my house. He did not confirm or deny my charge rate was limited. I am concerned that my battery charge rate is limited due to a fire risk, as the software update was released after cars caught on fire this year.

Filed Oct 9, 2019 · Electrical, Fuel system · 70,000 miles · IL

This is in regards to the federal safety agency action number: dp19005 - investigation subject : battery management software updates tesla pushed a software update to our cars in april/may of this year that substantially reduces range and power using a voltage cap that also removed about $30,000 worth of paid upgrades to range and horsepower (electric cars need volts for both range and power, so tesla's reduction took substantial value out of the cars affected). Tesla claims they downgraded our cars "out of an abundance of caution" after a series of cars caught fire while parked (non-collision, non-physically damaged vehicles, that caught fire for apparently for no reason - some after being unused for several days). Tesla initially claimed the update was removing features we paid for "out of an abundance of caution" but now tesla will not tell us whether or not the issue is safety related. This is a critical omission, because there was never any the federal safety agency recall notice posted, or service bulletin, or otherwise safety related official information. Thousands of tesla owners are choosing to skip the update, because it can instantly reduce the value of our cars by half and make them unusable if people bought the range upgrades out of necessity. Distances that were able to be driven before the update are impossible afterward. Purchases were calculated on this and the range upgrades were made for the additional range the software update removes. Please go forward with this investigation. I would like to know: 1) is there a safety issue? 2) does the update address a warranty problem? 3) is my hardware faulty? Will it be repaired? Why was it reduced? 4) are people that don't connect their car to wireless internet at risk from not being updated?

Filed Oct 7, 2019 · Electrical, Fuel system · 120,000 miles · CA

On or about june 24, 2019, my parked car's software was forcibly updated without my prior knowledge, without any prior notification and without my authorization. This forced software update reduced the nominal capacity of my battery by 16.02%. On june 23, 2019, my 100% state of charge (soc) would charge each cell in my battery pack to 4.2 volts, resulting in a rated range of 256 miles. Upon entering my parked car on june 24, I discovered that tesla "capped" the battery such that each cell would only charge to approximately 4.09 volts, resulting in a rated range of 215 miles at a 100% soc, or a rated range loss of 41 miles. They also slowed the charging rate by over 50%. Four tesla cars that were parked recently caught fire. After the fourth fire, tesla issued an over the air (ota) software update preventing the full charging (e.g., to 4.2 volts for each cell) of the battery pack, limited the amount of current that can be "pulled" from the battery pack at any one time, resulting in a loss of acceleration. Tesla stated the update was "out of an abundance of caution" after the occurrence of several non-crash fires. Tesla unilaterally took this action of issuing a "fire-safety update" without informing the car owners of the reason for the update, why said update should be installed and the effect on the car once the update was installed. In my case, the update was forced on my parked car via an ota update on june 23 (or 24) without prior notification to me nor requesting my approval nor informing me of the consequences of installing the update (reduced range, power, etc.), tesla said that they were releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released. See, for example: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/16/18627746/tesla-fire-battery-software-update-model-s-x https://jalopnik.com/tesla-is-updating-battery-software-after-a-model-s-catc-1834794877

Filed Oct 4, 2019 · Electrical · 63,000 miles · MD

On or about june 24, 2019, my parked car's software was forcibly updated without my prior knowledge, without any prior notification and without my authorization. This forced software update reduced the nominal capacity of my battery from 74 kwh to 68 kwh. On june 23, 2019, my 100% state of charge (soc) would charge each cell in my battery pack to 4.2 volts, resulting in a rated range of 257 miles. Upon entering my parked car on june 24, I discovered that tesla "capped" the battery such that each cell would only charge to approximately 4.09 volts, resulting in a rated range of 226 miles at a 100% soc, or a rated range loss of 30-31 miles. Four tesla cars that were parked recently caught fire. After the fourth fire, tesla issued an over the air (ota) software update preventing the full charging (e.g., to 4.2 volts for each cell) of the battery pack, limited the amount of current that can be "pulled" from the battery pack at any one time, resulting in a loss of acceleration. Tesla stated the update was "out of an abundance of caution" after the occurrence of several non-crash fires. Tesla unilaterally took this action of issuing a "fire-safety update" without informing the car owners of the reason for the update, why said update should be installed and the effect on the car once the update was installed. In my case, the update was forced on my parked car via an ota update on june 23 (or 24) without prior notification to me nor requesting my approval nor informing me of the consequences of installing the update (reduced range, power, etc.), tesla said that they were releasing a fire-safety update, but officially no safety update was released. See, for example: https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/16/18627746/tesla-fire-battery-software-update-model-s-x https://jalopnik.com/tesla-is-updating-battery-software-after-a-model-s-catc-1834794877

Filed Oct 4, 2019 · Fuel system · 85,000 miles · CA

On june 27, 2019 I brought my car to a tesla service center for maintainance unrelated to the battery or drive unit. During the visit tesla downloaded a new software revision to my car that immediately limited range, power, charge rate and battery capacity. I noticed this and brought the car back to have the battery checked for damage, not knowing that tesla had purposefully throttled my battery. Tesla told me that my car was limited via software because of age and offered no further explanation. I felt this was unacceptable and began to search for the reason tesla would limit my battery. This is when I found out that several tesla's in the age range of mine had spontaneously caught fire and many others had been limited via the same software update as mine. Tesla needs to replace these faulty batteries, not limit the use. That is not the appropriate solution.

Filed May 7, 2017 · Electrical · 2,000 miles · CA · fire

In 2014 a tesla caught fire in a toronto garage. This case was included in the federal safety agency investigation into the issue of fires in teslas. Tesla has claimed that the battery of the car was not involved in the fire and that the fire was probably caused by faulty house wiring. Http://www.autofocus.ca/news-events/news/tesla-investigates-cause-of-toronto-garage-fire snip: 'in this particular case, we don't yet know the precise cause, but have definitively determined that it did not originate in the battery, the charging system, the adapter or the electrical receptacle, as these components were untouched by the fire,' said a tesla spokesperson. A video has now showed up in which the purchaser of that car shows the state of the interior. There is no doubt whatsoever that the battery did ignite: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srmqbrb_lmm it appears t hat tesla has been telling lies and deliberately covering up the issue of fires. There have been many more fires since that that one. I have compiled a summary of some suspicious tesla fires: http://teslabears.club/t/great-balls-of-fire whilst that collection does contain some humorous posts I can assure you that I am entirely serious about this safety issue. I request that you reopen the fire investigation.

Filed Aug 19, 2016 · Steering, Suspension · 15,000 miles · CA · fire

Here is an auction listing of a tesla that has caught fire. Http://salvage-bid.com/result.php?VIN=[xxx] the pjhotographs show that the lh top ball-joint has pulled out from the steering knuckle. This is not the result of the fire because those parts are solid metal and neither the steering knuckle nor the wishbone have melted. The suspension failure is consistent with the pattern of similar failures that appear to have been the cause of crashes. Please investigate this recurring failure information redacted pursuant to the freedom of information act (foia), 5 u.s.c. 552(b)(6).

Filed Jun 2, 2016 · Suspension · 20,000 miles · CA · crash · fire

Here is another model s for sale as a salvage wreck http://www.copart.com/us/en/lot/24419056?searchid=213897253 the front lh top ball joint has separated from the steering knuckle and there is no collision damage forward of the wheel that would have caused this failure. The car has then caught fire and burned out. This ball joint failure looks very similar to the other 2013 incident which has already been listed on your database. Date complaint filed: 04/28/2016date of incident: 04/24/2016component(s): steering , suspensionreference number: 10862066consumer location: connellsville, pa all products associated with this complaint expand details close help 0 available documents crash:no fire:no number of injuries:0 number of deaths:0 manufacturer: tesla motors, inc. Vehicle identification no. (VIN): p09340... Summary: my front wheel hub assembly came loose from the upper control arm causing a lose of steering. Here is a youtube video of that badly worn ball-joint https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgdkzmlzqog there must be many teslas on the roads with these ball-joints ready to fall apart. No warning has been issued to owners. Please investigate

Filed Jul 10, 2014 · Airbags, Electrical · CA · crash · fire · 7 injuries

A stolen tesla crashed in west hollywood, killing the driver. Photos seem to suggest that the driver side air bag may not have deployed. Allegedly light poles split the car in half. The light poles seem to be the breakaway type. Suggesting there may be a structural weakness that allowed the tesla to break in half, fracturing the battery, catching pieces of battery on fire, and exploding battery cells, sending flaming shrapnel through the neighborhood.

Filed Dec 29, 2013 · Electrical · CA · fire

Allegedly: a tesla owner awoke to the smell of burning electrical. She called 911. A fire fighter was injured responding to the garage fire. Fire investigators suspect that the origin of the fire was the wall socket or the tesla universal mobile connector from the tesla charging system plugged into the wall outlet. I've seen evidence of many of tesla's charging connections fail. Even if the connection failed at the wall socket, I wouldn't rule out the tesla design as a cause or a contributing factor. The design of the typical tesla charging configuration puts undue stress on the wall socket, which could contribute to a failure of a wall socket. In my opinion some of the tesla charging connections are not robust enough for the potential currents involved. Many of tesla's charge connections are known for producing excessive heat.