This week, everyone's been really worked up about the handful of Teslas that have caught on fire. Stocks have plunged. The twitter-verse is all a blaze (yup, that's a pun) with people are worried that this could be the beginning of the end of the fledgling electric car company. But have no fear, Mama's here, your automotive voice of reason.
Tesla's not the first car company to have a couple of flames peeking from under the hood. Just a year ago, Toyota had a recall due to a faulty window function that was producing some fires– did I mention that the recall was for 7.5 million autos? Oh yeah, sorry, my bad. However, I hear Toyota's recovering quite nicely, thank you.
Hipster darling Audi had its own bonfire in Mumbai, India, when the R8 set itself ablaze during a car show. Doh! The were a handful of additional reports– including another R8 catching on fire, this time at a wedding. And this wasn't Audi first brush with the blazes. Maybe you remember the Audi 5000 in the late 80s that not only caught on fire but would sometimes drive itself– most famously into a swimming pool! Sounds fun– dinner and a show.
And although it sounds blasphemous, even Ferrari has had some fire issues. They recalled the 458 and some Californias (no, not because it's ugly) because some nonsense about the tail pipe catching on fire. Whatever. lf I had a 458, tail pipe fires would be the least of my issues.
The point is, cars burn stuff. Whether it's oil, gas, diesel fuel or making electrodes move around– things get hot. This is why smart dogs don't lick tail pipes. And besides, some people are really into flames:
All of this Tesla nonsense is just that. And no I'm not saying that as a part of my shameless campaign to get Tesla to give me a Model X (but it wouldn't be a bad bonus). I am hella proud that this Californian company created a "Car Of The Year" that is both beautiful, luxurious, innovative and eco-friendly. But, haters gonna hate. As for me, I'm grabbing some sticks and a bag of marshmallows and am off to test drive the Model S for the 20th time.