Toronto: Elon Musk-owned Tesla’s Model Y car allegedly caught fire after powering down while driving, and the driver claimed getting stuck inside the car and breaking the window to get out.
The incident happened last week in North Vancouver, British Columbia.
According to the auto-tech website Electrek, Jamil Jutha was driving in his 2021 Tesla Model Y that he bought just eight months ago when he claims that the vehicle pushed an error notification and then powered down.
He felt the cabin fill with smoke. He told the fire department when they arrived, after being asked if there was someone else in the car.
“I had to smash the window to get out of the car. I kicked through the window. Everything stops. The power didn’t work. The door didn’t open,” Jutha was quoted as saying.
While it is true that the primary way to operate the doors in a Tesla vehicle is through the electronic releases, which do not work in case of a loss of power, every door is also equipped with a manual release in plain view, the report said.
In fact, it is often a problem for people who are not familiar with the car as they use the manual release instead of the electronic release, which enables the windows on the frameless door to go down before enabling the door to be pushed open — ensuring a safer opening of the doors, it added.
After a few minutes of smoke coming out of the car, flames erupted inside the vehicle.
The fire department arrived about five minutes after the car started smoking, and they were able to quickly extinguish the fire.
–IANS