A general perception about Teslas and electric vehicles is that their large battery packs are prone to catching fire in accidental scenarios.
However, in many Tesla vehicle accidents, a very minimal number of incidents were reported to have caught fire. The reasons for these fires may be different than the battery pack’s high voltage sparks.
For an ultimate validation of Tesla battery pack fires in case of an accident, YouTuber Danny Duncan performed a unique test. The influencer sacrificed his previous-generation Tesla Model 3 and pushed it off a high cliff.
This is one of the most brutal forms of putting a vehicle through a safety test, beyond the conventional crash safety testing.
Interestingly and historically, Tesla electric vehicles tested for crash safety by NHTSA, Euro NCAP, and ANCAP have never caught fire during testing. However, pushing the vehicle off a cliff gives us further proof of whether Tesla battery pack fires are real or a myth.
So, Danny and his friends arranged for a Tesla Model 3 to be launched off a cliff to see if it catches fire or not. In the middle of the long vlog by the YouTuber, he also tested Tesla’s body and glass by hitting them with tin cans using a hydraulic pressure gun.
The Tesla glass survived this intense hit test. The can hitting it at high velocity didn’t pass through the window of the Tesla Model 3, while the ICE vehicle’s window broke and the can entered the car’s cabin.
The test result must have come as a surprise to Tesla critics. The Tesla vehicle did not catch fire after falling off the cliff. The vehicle was destroyed, but it busted a myth of Tesla battery fires in accidents.
A previous generation of the older Tesla Model 3 was used in this test. The latest generation Model 3 Highland and the entire new lineup is much better than the legacy generation in terms of safety features and crashworthiness.
So, if an older Tesla doesn’t catch fire after dropping off a cliff several meters down, the newer generation is expected to perform even better. A Cybertruck even sustained a bomb blast at the Trump Hotel earlier this year, and it didn’t catch fire.
So far, the video has received 2.3 million views on YouTube and 1.3 million views on Musk’s X (Twitter) and generating heaps of discussion about Tesla vehicle safety.
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