
Emergency Response to the Tesla Model 3 [video] - CaliforniaKarl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2X_WorH4pUw
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nimbius
Interesting. Tesla seems like a lot more cumbersome vehicle to perform dash
evolution/extrication due to the presence of the high voltage battery.

for example, in a traditional vehicle, a dashbeam blowout is performed using a
higher speed ram. Without this, you have to make 3-4 more cuts to the vehicle

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n65nm5yQKs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-n65nm5yQKs)

Tesla model access for the rocker channel is also inconsistent and a little
scary. Rocker cuts made to the X for example _seem_ to be permitted, however
in the model S they might be lethal. I really wish they had more in the series
on this.

disclosure: I was a volunteer firefighter for a few years after highschool.

~~~
datpuz
Considering that Tesla's cars are significantly less likely to flip,
significantly less likely to catch fire, slower to burn when they do catch
fire, and the safest cars ever tested by the NHTSA ...is it fair to say that
the added extraction complexity is somewhat of an acceptable trade-off?

~~~
dsfyu404ed
>significantly less likely to catch fire, slower to burn when they do catch
fire

Citation please. This directly contradicts the anecdotal experience of
literally everyone I know who deals with crashed vehicles (10 < sample size <
20, ~66% tow truck drivers). Compared to other EVs Teslas definitely seem to
be the most flammable. Everyone who handles crashed cars seems to regard a
mangled Tesla as a hot potato unlike a Prius, Leaf or ICE car.

The NHTSA stuff and crash safety I believe, that's well documented by
reputable sources (e.g the NHTSA). Nobody except Tesla and their fan-base
seems to be saying EVs are less flammable on a per crash basis though and even
then nobody says point blank that crashing a Tesla is less likely to result in
fire than crashing something else.

Edit: I am specifically talking about the likelihood of fire per serious
crash. Not average number of fires per vehicle or per mile.

~~~
toomuchtodo
"/r/teslamotors: Are Teslas historically more likely to catch fire? I did an
Excel and the answer won't surprise you." [1] [2]

[1] [https://i.redd.it/h7qse91ostt21.png](https://i.redd.it/h7qse91ostt21.png)

[2]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/bg2rib/are_tes...](https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/bg2rib/are_teslas_historically_more_likely_to_catch_fire/)

Disclaimer: Model S, X Owner

~~~
umvi
Maybe the fact that rich, educated people drive Teslas, and poor, uneducated
drivers don't accounts for it (my hypothesis is that rich, educated drivers
have fewer accidents on average since they are less likely to DWI, etc)?

To control I would want to see what % of Tesla _crashes_ catch fire compared
to ICE _crashes_.

~~~
close04
Driver status aside (no idea how to judge that), stats for regular vehicles
rarely include only less than 5 years old, premium cars. A 15 year old
unmaintained clunker is probably more likely to catch fire in case of an
accident. I would imagine that considering models from the same years and same
price range might paint a different picture.

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Someone1234
I wonder if we'll see more standardization in electric vehicles so that fire
departments don't need specific vehicle training to know what to cut and
where.

Although we haven't seen that yet with hybrids (that also contain potentially
hazardous batteries) that have been around longer.

~~~
imglorp
I wonder this too.

Military jets have a "RESCUE" lever by the canopy to disarm the ejection
seats. I wonder why cars don't have something standard and simple like that.

If every car model needs unique training on what secret cuts to make in what
order, that's a fail.

~~~
Animats
Most US electric cars now have a cable marked with a yellow and red first
responder cut point tag. You can see that briefly in the video. You cut the
cable on both sides of the tag, so that the remaining ends can't touch, and
the battery is isolated. There are where-to-cut guides.[1]

[1]
[https://www.ncdoi.com/OSFM/RPD/PT/Documents/Coursework/EV_Sa...](https://www.ncdoi.com/OSFM/RPD/PT/Documents/Coursework/EV_SafetyTraining/EV%20EFG%20Classroom%20Edition.pdf)

~~~
imglorp
I think you also want to disable unfired airbags after the car has stopped
crashing. There are cases where rescuers leaned in on passenger side, putting
pressure on seat, and had the airbag deploy on them. I think there's other
concerns that cutting door sills can cause deployments.

Oh and killing the engine would be good too.

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Rebelgecko
Imagine if first responders had to watch a 20 minute video for each of the
several hundred models of cars that are on the roads. Doesn't seem like a
scalable approach.

~~~
brooksgarrett
We don't. It's a cool video for a training night but really it's a pretty
standard dash roll. Electric cars present a very real danger but so do ICE.
High pressure fuel lines with pumps that don't shut down. Diesel engines which
"runaway" with air intake leaks.

Every call is a special situation where you start with a baseline tactic and
evolve the approach as needed. 20 minutes is overkill but the whole time we
were watching it here we were discussing extrication in general. "Would you do
this or that? What would you look for here? Did you see their step cribbing
placement?" The Tesla responder guide is awesome and available online and is
all you "need" to know where and what to cut. The video is more a conversation
starter.

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jedberg
I know it's necessary for safety, but it always makes me sad to see cars
destroyed for crash tests and fire safety testing.

~~~
JCBird1012
If you look closely, it appears the Model 3 they used in the dash displacement
later on in the video had some damage on the sides — it may have already been
salvaged or totaled.

At least they made good use of a basically dead vehicle assuming that's true.

