British TV director's Tesla car bursts into flames in LA
After one of its autopilot-capable Model X cars was involved in a fatal car crash a couple of months back, Tesla has found itself in a sticky situation yet again. This time, a "normal Tesla" belonging to British TV director Michael Morris burst into flames on Los Angeles streets. Thankfully, no one was injured. Tesla, meanwhile, has announced an investigation. Here's more on it.
Who is Michael Morris?
Michael Morris is a former director of the Old Vic theatre, and has produced several episodes of hit TV shows like Netflix's 13 Reasons Why, House of Cards, AMC's Preacher, etc. He's married to American actress Mary McCormack, and has three daughters.
Fire fighters had to be summoned to douse the flames
The incident came to light after actress Mary McCormack, the wife of Morris, tweeted a dramatic video of the car going up in flames a couple of days back. Sheriff's Lt. William Nash confirmed the same, and said that his deputies had spotted the smoke, and that fire fighters had to be rushed in to douse the flames.
Mary McCormack's tweet about the dramatic incident
@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
— Mary McCormack (@marycmccormack) June 16, 2018
Did the car catch fire owing to a faulty battery?
Lt. Nash also said that the log entry pertaining to the incident cited the possibility of a faulty battery being the cause of the fire. Meanwhile, Tesla has also launched an investigation into what it called "an extraordinarily unusual occurrence". Earlier, the car company had said that its electric vehicles were less likely to catch fire compared to fuel-powered cars.
