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Elon Musk Addresses Tesla Battery Fire

Elon Musk addresses safety concerns after the Tesla battery fire incident. Stock pairs losses with a late surge before the closing bell.
Transcript from Tesla Motors below.
The nationwide driving statistics make this very clear: there are 150,000 car fires per year according to the National Fire Protection Association, and Americans drive about 3 trillion miles per year according to the Department of Transportation. That equates to 1 vehicle fire for every 20 million miles driven, compared to 1 fire in over 100 million miles for Tesla. This means you are 5 times more likely to experience a fire in a conventional gasoline car than a Tesla!
For consumers concerned about fire risk, there should be absolutely zero doubt that it is safer to power a car with a battery than a large tank of highly flammable liquid.
— Elon
Below is our email correspondence with the Model S owner that experienced the fire, reprinted with his permission:
From: robert Carlson
Sent: Thursday, October 03, 2013 12:53 PM
To: Jerome Guillen
Subject: carlson 0389
Mr. Guillen,
Thanks for the support. I completely agree with the assessment to date. I guess you can test for everything, but some other celestial bullet comes along and challenges your design. I agree that the car performed very well under such an extreme test. The batteries went through a controlled burn which the internet images really exaggerates. Anyway, I am still a big fan of your car and look forward to getting back into one. Justin offered a white loaner--thanks. I am also an investor and have to say that the response I am observing is really supportive of the future for electric vehicles. I was thinking this was bound to happen, just not to me. But now it is out there and probably gets a sigh of relief as a test and risk issue-this "doomsday" event has now been tested, and the design and engineering works.
rob carlson
On Oct 3, 2013, at 12:29 PM, Jerome Guillen wrote:
Dear Mr. Carlson:
I am the VP of sales and service for Tesla, reporting directly to Elon Musk, Tesla's CEO.
I am sorry to hear that you experienced a collision in your Model S 2 days ago. We are happy that the Model S performed in such a way that you were not injured in the accident and that nobody else was hurt.
I believe you have been in contact with Justin Samson, our service manager, since the accident. We are following this case extremely closely and we have sent a team of experts to review your vehicle. All indications are that your Model S drove over large, oddly-shaped metal object which impacted the leading edge of the vehicle's undercarriage and rotated into the underside of the vehicle ("pole vault" effect). This is a highly uncommon occurrence.
Based on our review thus far, we believe that the Model S performed as designed by limiting the resulting fire to the affected zones only. Given the significant intensity of the impact, which managed to pierce the 1/4 inch bottom plate (something that is extremely hard to do), the Model S energy containment functions operated correctly. In particular, the top cover of the battery provided a strong barrier and there was no apparent propagation of the fire into the cabin. This ensured cabin integrity and occupant safety, which remains our most important goal.
We very much appreciate your support, patience and understanding while we proceed with the investigation. Justin keeps me closely informed. Please feel free to contact me directly, if you have any question or concern.
Best regards,
Jerome Guillen I VP, WW sales and service

News
Elon Musk claims X is under ‘massive cyberattack’
Could the X outages be the result of a massive cyberattack? Elon Musk thinks so.

Elon Musk claims that an ongoing outage on his social media platform X is due to a “massive cyberattack,” and he says the attack seems to have an unprecedented amount of resources behind it.
Amidst intermittent outages on X on Monday morning, Musk claimed in a post that the issues were the result of a targeted cyberattack on the platform. He also claimed that, while attacks are lodged against the platform everyday, this particular one seemed to have substantial resources behind it, which he says could be “either a large, coordinated group and/or a country.”
There was (still is) a massive cyberattack against 𝕏.
We get attacked every day, but this was done with a lot of resources. Either a large, coordinated group and/or a country is involved.
Tracing …
When X user Hassan Sajwani responded to the post saying that “They want to silence you and this platform,” Musk simply responded “Yes” in a follow-up post. X has yet to release an official statement on the outages.
The news also comes after mass demonstrations and vandalism against Tesla’s stores and vehicles have broken out around the world in the past few weeks, in protest of Musk’s recent efforts under the Trump administration to gut a broad range of federal agencies. Arrests have been made following attacks and arson against multiple of the Tesla locations, though it’s not yet clear if the ongoing cyberattack against X could be related.
🚨 Elon Musk says there is an ongoing “massive cyberattack” against X
The platform has been battling outages for most of the day https://t.co/SoHvW52yAe
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 10, 2025
READ MORE ON X: Elon Musk’s X in talks to raise funds at $44 billion valuation: report
Musk purchased X, then called Twitter, for $44 billion in 2022, going on to launch mass layoffs at the company. About six months after the purchase, he said in an interview with BBC that the company had brought headcount down to just 1,500 from roughly 8,000, representing a cut of around 80 percent of staff.
Last month, X reported an adjusted EBIDTA of $682 million for 2024, along with about $5 billion in revenue. Wall Street Journal also reported that banks had completed a sale of $5.5 billion in debt backed by X. CEO Linda Yaccarino said in January that the company has also secured a deal with Visa to launch X Money, slated for release later this year.
News
Tesla’s Full Self-Driving faces a new hurdle in UK rollout plans

Tesla has been working to start deploying its Supervised Full Self-Driving (FSD) system outside of North America, though as the first waves of the software go out in China and Mexico, regulatory holdups in the United Kingdom (UK) and elsewhere are proving tough to overcome.
The UK’s Department for Transport (DfT) has proposed rules paring back allowances for autonomous driving systems such as Tesla’s Supervised FSD, according to documents seen by Telegraph in a report over the weekend. The delays echo previous statements from Tesla officials highlighting that the system may not be able to roll out in full in Europe until 2028, after recent regulation changes have slowed the deployment of certain automated capabilities.
Although the department’s original draft of safety rules related to self-driving systems allowed vehicles to perform maneuvers such as stopping and starting at traffic lights, turning at intersections, and changing lanes, all while drivers were hands-free, a new draft has diluted these functions to only allow “highway” maneuvers, such as lane changes, while also requiring drivers to keep their hands on the steering wheel.
“Whilst [a driver assistance system] may help in reducing collisions, it may also introduce new safety risks,” said a group of UK officials who helped propose the added restrictions in September.
The group has also suggested that systems like Tesla’s FSD Supervised should be rolled out “in phases,” echoing that safety concerns should be closely evaluated amidst deployment.
“The technological advancements in these systems are promising, but there remain concerns about their impact on driver behaviour, situational awareness and overall safety.”
The changes also come after concerns about deploying automated driving systems were raised in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) last year, with the UK’s DfT officials speaking out then about concerns for broader approval of the technology.
Tesla FSD vs Xiaomi vs Li Auto inner city driving test.🇨🇳
While FSD was not perfect, it was arguably the smoothest system of the three that were tested. It will be exciting to see just how well FSD evolves as it gets updated in China.pic.twitter.com/19CRkpIiuz
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) March 10, 2025
READ MORE ON TESLA FSD’S MARKET ROLLOUT: Tesla used this clever workaround to train FSD for China’s roads
Tesla’s launch of FSD Supervised in Europe, elsewhere: what’s causing delays?
Tesla recently launched early FSD-related features in China and Mexico, and the news comes as the company has continued to face tough regulatory barriers to launching the software in markets across Europe and the UK.
As part of his resignation announcement in October, Tesla’s former Global Vehicle Automation and Safety Policy Lead Marc Van Impe warned of major barriers in Europe due to the UN Regulation 171, dubbed DCAS, which could delay the deployment of FSD until 2028.
“This impacts Europe’s competitiveness and it’s clear that the type-approval framework needs to evolve to better and more quickly tackle innovative technologies,” Van Impe said of the delay. “Perhaps temporary certification or deployment through pre-certification can prove a solution.”
Despite this, Tesla went on to launch an introductory version of Actually Smart Summon in Europe and the Middle East in November, after the highly-anticipated software had previously been lumped in with an FSD Supervised update in North America.
During Tesla’s Q4 2024 earnings call in January, CEO Elon Musk also highlighted European regulations as a major barrier to getting FSD approved. He also highlighted an upcoming European Union (EU) committee session in May, which he said is expected to approve the software.
Tesla employees are performing autonomous FSD trials, CEO Elon Musk says
News
Elon Musk’s X experiences several outages on Monday
As of this writing, X’s desktop and mobile services are still intermittent.

Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, experienced several outages on Monday morning.
As of this writing, X’s desktop and mobile services are still intermittent.
Initial Reports
As noted in a TechCrunch report, a wave of reports about X being offline were submitted on Downdetector, a website that tracks online outages, early Monday morning, around 5:30 a.m. ET.
At the time, about 20,000 users reported experiencing problems accessing the social media platform. This initial wave of outages seemed to have been resolved after about an hour, with users being able to access X’s services once more.
Outage Encore
Another wave of outages on X were reported by users around 9:30 a.m. ET, though this time, Downdetector listed about 40,000 user reports. This particular outage seemed worse than the first, as it was still ongoing until about lunchtime Eastern Time.
As of this writing, issues with X appear to still be ongoing, as per tests done by Teslarati staff. While some pages on the social media platform are now loading, some features such as users’ timeline and analytics remain inaccessible.
Update as of 12:17 p.m. ET: X’s mobile and desktop features appear to have gone back online.
X, for its part, has not issued a comment about the matter.
X’s Evolution
Previously known as Twitter, the social media platform was acquired by Elon Musk in late 2022 for $44 billion. Since then, Twitter has returned to becoming a private company, and it has been renamed X.
While reports following Musk’s acquisition noted that Twitter saw a sharp drop in valuation after the Tesla CEO’s acquisition, Bloomberg News, citing people reportedly familiar with the matter, claimed last month that X was in talks to raise funds from investors at a $44 billion valuation, thanks in no small part to its stake in xAI, Musk’s artificial intelligence startup.
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