WEST HOLLYWOOD—On Friday, June 15, Michael Morris, television producer and director, was driving his Tesla vehicle along Santa Monica Boulevard when another motorist driving by signaled to Morris that smoke was coming from his vehicle. Morris pulled over, where his Tesla Model S burst into flames.
There were no reports of injuries during the incident. Firefighters quickly arrived on the scene to extinguish the flames.
Morris’ wife, actress Mary McCormack, took to Twitter to post a video of her husband’s car ignited in flames on the side of the road.
Along with the video, she tweeted, “@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.”
McCormack later tweeted that the car Morris was driving was not the autopilot edition, but the original one.
Tesla indicates on its website, “Model S is one of the safest cars on the road. Much of its safety is owed to the unique electric drivetrain that sits beneath the car. Model S has a low center of gravity, minimizing rollover risk. Model S’s safety record is proven by its NHTSA and Euro NCAP 5-star safety rating along with setting a record of the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants when tested in the United States.” The company is investigating what caused the vehicle to catch fire.
