Image credit: Bobby M. via Facebook
A Tesla owner says he escape his smoking Model Y before flames erupted by kicking out his window, in an incident that took place on Friday morning in North Vancouver, B.C., Canada.
According to CTV News, Jamil Jutha says he was driving his 2021 Model Y when suddenly power shut down and electrical components were cut off. Jutha says smoke started coming through the car’s air vents and he kicked the driver-side window to escape.
“The doors wouldn’t open. The windows wouldn’t go down,” Jutha said. “Of course, there’s always going to be panic in a moment when you feel trapped,” he explained. “I kicked through the window, climbed out and called 911 right away.”
A video of the Model Y seen smoking, before flames erupt can be seen below. Tesla’s battery packs are located on the bottom of the vehicle. It’s unclear if the Model Y was modified in any way.
In the video, you can see Jutha mention his golf clubs are in the car, along with beer in the front seat, while explaining what happened to onlookers.
Also, Jutha’s wife tweeted on Saturday, “This is my husband and his car. People are sure brave thinking they know everything that happened [and] throwing their judgment out there. He is a human being [and] I am disgusted with the comments.”
The Model Y has a manual door release for the front driver and passenger doors, located in front of the window switches.
“To open a front door in the unlikely situation when Model Y has no power, pull up the manual door release located in front of the window switches,” explains the latest Model Y manual.
Tesla says, “only the front doors are equipped with a manual door release” for the current Model Y.
Some car owners also purchase an emergency window breaker and seat belt cutter, in the event of critical situations that require an escape.
Fire investigators will be taking a look at the Model Y on Tuesday, before the damaged car is passed onto ICBC.
Jutha told CTV News he hopes other Tesla owners are aware of the mechanical release for emergency situations.
Tesla didn’t respond to CTV News for comment as expected, but the company will likely be able to investigate what happened to the car based on its access to vehicle analytics.
A study from the City of Surrey in B.C.’s Lower Mainland stated 50% of all fire calls received by the fire department from 1997 to 2003 involved an automobile.
