They may be actively launching new innovative products for commercial and personal use but it seems that sustaining them, both after-sales and in production, is a much taller order for the electric car company.
A Tesla Model randomly caught fire last weekend in Santa Monica Blvd, California while it sat in traffic. The owner’s family members mentioned on social media that it was not caused by an accident and happened out of the blue.
@Tesla This is what happened to my husband and his car today. No accident,out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over. And thank god my three little girls weren’t in the car with him pic.twitter.com/O4tPs5ftVo
— Mary McCormack (@marycmccormack) June 16, 2018
The driver, who reports claimed to be oblivious to the fire, had to be flagged by on-lookers to get out of the car. In the video, flames were seen spitting from underneath the car as if it were a flame launcher, parked by the side of the road.
When contacted, Tesla said it was an unusually extraordinary occurrence and will launch an investigation into the matter. Local authorities however, have alleged that initial findings indicate a faulty battery as the cause.
Tesla has been under increased scrutiny recently with reports recently concluding that the Model X involved in a fatal accident during Autopilot tests, was accelerating as it hit a barrier on a California highway, killing the driver. With mounting debts and production line delays, Tesla recently had to trim its 46000-strong workforce by 9% to balance the books in a move Elon Musk said was difficult but necessary.
