The shocking video shows a Model S spewing flames from the front driver's side wheel well. Photo / Twitter
The shocking video shows a Model S spewing flames from the front driver's side wheel well. Photo / Twitter
Actress Mary McCormack has said that her husband's Tesla Model S caught fire while he was driving in the Los Angeles area.
"This is what happened to my husband and his car today," McCormack wrote on Twitter Friday, posting a shocking video of a Model S spewing flames from thefront driver's side front wheel well, reports Daily Mail.
"No accident, out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over. And thank god my three little girls weren't in the car with him," continued McCormack, best known from The West Wing and Murder One.
It is unclear who shot the video McCormack posted. She has been married to director Michael Morris since 2003.
A Tesla spokesperson told DailyMail.com that the company is investigating the incident, and insists that the company's cars are far less likely to catch fire than gas vehicles.
"We offer our support to local authorities and are glad our customer is safe," the spokesperson said in a statement.
"This is an extraordinarily unusual occurrence, and we are investigating the incident to find out what happened."
@Tesla This is what happened to my husband and his car today. No accident,out of the blue, in traffic on Santa Monica Blvd. Thank you to the kind couple who flagged him down and told him to pull over. And thank god my three little girls weren’t in the car with him pic.twitter.com/O4tPs5ftVo
The company claims that its vehicles are at least 10 times less likely than a gas car to catch fire, citing data from the National Fire Protection Association and US Federal Highway Administration.
Tesla said that its battery packs are engineered with safety measures that ensure fires are rare, and that when they do occur, spread more slowly than in a gas vehicle and give occupants a chance to evacuate.
Tesla has come under scrutiny following crashes while its vehicles were in the 'Autopilot' semi-autonomous mode, as well as a handful of battery fires following crashes.
Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk. Photo / AP
However, Tesla founder Elon Musk has blasted press coverage of such incidents as unfair and melodramatic, insisting his company has been unfairly singled out.
Not long after complaining about coverage of Tesla crashes in the press, Musk announced plans to launch a ratings site that would critique publications and individual journalists.
"It's super messed up that a Tesla crash resulting in a broken ankle is front page news and the ~40,000 people who died in US auto accidents alone in past year get almost no coverage," he wrote in a tweet last month.
