The Myth That Tesla's Are Catching On Fire Needs To Be Put To Rest

There are still reports that Tesla vehicles are catching on fire far more than other vehicles and this is simply not true.

Are Tesla vehicles catching on fire

One of the interesting things about Tesla is how often the media reports that their vehicles are catching on fire. The media is showing and portraying that Tesla vehicles are dangerous and catching on fire all the time, and this is simply not true.

From 2012 to 2021, there was about one Tesla catching on fire for every 210 million miles traveled. For most other vehicles, this is about one fire for every 19 million miles traveled.

Even if a Tesla vehicle does catch on fire, it is not going to explode like an internal combustion engine (gas) car would. The fire would develop slowly and give time for the occupants to get out of the vehicle. Tesla vehicles are known for their safety, and there is an emergency door opener on every Tesla door.

Another important distinction here is that the media often just reports on EV fires and doesn't report on the numerous gas car fires that happen every year. Gas is much more flammable than an EV battery or drive train.

There is an article from CarAndDriver that further explains this, and one thing that was very clear was the overestimation of the claimed percentage rate for fires given by the AutoinsuranceEZ company. It found that actually, hybrid vehicles had the most fires of all vehicles and fully electric vehicles had the least fires.

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What vehicles are catching on fire

Even more important here is that cars are not catching fire all the time. Of all the millions upon millions of cars on the road, there were an average of 117,400 fires each year between 2013 and 2017. With just over 261 million registered vehicles in the U.S., fires are not the biggest problem with cars, whether they be EV or gas cars. That's just .04 percent.

NHTSA also collects data about vehicle fires and says that only about 5 percent of fires in a vehicle are crash related. This puts to rest further worries that a crash with an EV or a gas car is likely to cause a fire. It's more likely to cause a fire than if the car is just sitting there, yes, but still unlikely.

I would love to see the media report that statistic - that just .04 percent of any cars are catching on fire, and the number for a Tesla or EV compared to all Tesla vehicles and EV's is going to be even less.

Do you have a worry that your EV or Tesla is going to catch on fire? Do you believe the statistic that only .04 percent of cars in the U.S. catch on fire each year?

In Related News: Tesla Autopilot ranked 7th by Consumer Reports

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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.

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