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The First Person Ever To Die In a Tesla Is a Guy Who Stole One
mrspoonsi sends this news from The Verge:
Elon Musk can no longer say that no one's ever died in a Tesla automobile crash. But few people will be pointing fingers at the electric car maker for this senseless tragedy. Earlier this month, 26-year-old Joshua Slot managed to successfully ride off with a Model S he'd stolen from a Tesla service center in Los Angeles, but police quickly spotted the luxury vehicle and gave chase. According to Park Labrea News, the high-speed pursuit was eventually called off after officers were involved in a fender bender of their own, leaving the police department strained for resources and without any feasible way of catching up to Slot. Reports claim he was traveling at speeds of "nearly 100 mph," but losing the police tail apparently didn't convince Slot to hit the brakes. Instead he sped on, eventually colliding with three other vehicles and a pair of street poles. The final impact was severe enough to "split the Tesla in half" and eject Slot from the car's remains. The Tesla's front section wound up in the middle of the road and caught fire. Its rear portion flew through the air with such force that it slammed into the side of a local Jewish community center and became wedged there.
Considering he was thrown from the vehicle (likely from not wearing a seatbelt) I'm not sure you could say he died 'in' a Tesla.
So, assuming he wasn't already dead, technically he didn't die in the Tesla.
I eat only the real part of complex carbohydrates.
This has nothing to to with the Tesla; wouldn't matter what was being driven.
"Maybe this world is another planet's hell"
Aldous Huxley
from summary: The Tesla's front section wound up in the middle of the road and caught fire.
Yup, another tesla fire.
See??? These cars are unsafe!
Sounds like an anti-theft feature.
Actually, he was ejected from the Tesla, so I think we cannot say with certainty he died 'inside' the Tesla... Also, who isn't to say this was a terrorist suicide mission to destroy the Jewish community center??
Well, that was an electrifying story! I really got a charge out of it.
Yeah, really..
It couldn't just be slammed into the side of a building and became wedged there. Nooo, it had to be a local Jewish community center... as opposed to one in another city.
So, in who's interest is it that the police perform these "for show" stunts?
Wouldn't it be much better to deploy a helicopter, drone or other means of tracking the car from a distance, and not risk killing several bystanders in a crash? This time only the bad guy died, but even him did not deserve capital punishment for a car jack ...
Now THAT is an antitheft system......
Make it another 10, please.
Seriously why does Tesla always get so much flak? My guess is that somone out there doesn't like the idea of a car that doesn't need oil and can charge from solar energy.
It's too bad the car was destroyed, that is the true loss in this story. The person driving it obviously did not like living in normal society so at least he removed himself from it.
Moral of the story: If you are going to steal a Telsa and drive it through the streets at absurd speeds, then be sure you buckle up! You can't expect Elon Musk to do it for you.
I thought Tesla's had remote kill switches.
Couldn't the police just call Tesla and have them disable the car?
In Soviet Russia, Trojan exploits YOU!
So at times the Tesla was being driven at speeds up to 100 MPH, collided with three cars and two utility poles along the way, and eventually suffered an impact that split the car in two, immolating the front half and embedding the back half within a nearby building.
Can't people see how dangerous and unsafe these vehicles are?!?
If something as trivial as multiple high-speed impacts can lead to driver fatality, imagine what could happen in a REALLY serious accident!
Is a win for the Tesla, but it sounds likes it pretty spectacularly failed when he hit something. Was he not wearing a seatbelt? Since the car was split into pieces that then caught fire, would he of died either way?
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
Seems like it's a scrapper. Too bad.
Haha. Like Slashdot will still be here in 10 years, or even 5.
see subject.
.. on demand
You can never have too many safety features!
Just another dead pothead who stole a car. A victim of driving while high, not by Tesla's engineering.
To continue your deft analysis of current events, they'll call first and watch to make sure the civilians are out before surgically bombing the thief's house.
I guess they can also charge him with "leaving the scene of a crime"
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See, another one caught fire! These things are unsafe, they're constantly catching fire! This is just one of many smoldering teslas!
Do not meddle in the affairs of sysadmins, for they are subtle, and quick to anger.
It should have the exact details of how fast it was going when it crashed, no?
or tries to blame this on the Tesla car killing someone in a 100MPH accident and not the car thief's actions, is a straight up retard
I have no illusions about Musk doing this to get richer but so far his shown that being a psychopath is not a requirement to being a CEO who might actually like to see the world change for better and move humanity forward.
by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
To continue your deft analysis of current events, they'll call first and watch to make sure the civilians are out before surgically bombing the thief's house.
Israel has killed over 100 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, in retaliation for three Israeli deaths. So cut the crap about their deep concern for human life.
Out with a bang, not with a whisper.
-- Cheers!
Save the Enzos! whoops, Teslas started as Lotuses, right? same principle.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
I'm willing to bet the guy wasn't buckled up. Even when cars are tore in half in crashes if the person is buckled in they are usually still attached to the seat (even though they are sometimes dead from the car being sheared in half).
There is like a 95% chance that if he was ejected that he wasn't buckled up (the seat itself would've had to been sheared to cut the lap belt). I bet the final investigation notes that he wasn't buckled in (there is no guarantee of survival if the passenger compartment is compromised by ripping the car in half but it's still not likely). Seat belts are seriously strong and secure, even if the car is ripped in half the lap belt should have remained secure if it was buckled because it's anchored to the seat itself.
I personally wouldn't be surprised if the cops find that he would have survived if he'd been buckled in.
"Sgt. Chris Tatar, with the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station, said five people in the three vehicles that were struck by the Tesla sustained “varying degrees of injury.” They were hospitalized, and had been released as of Monday, he added."
more cowbell
I'm amazed at how the safety cage is still there, pretty much undamaged, even if the car was split in half...
Looking at the pictures from TFA, looks like he would still be alive if not ejected from the car (if he could've gotten out before it caught fire)
No wonder NHTSA broke their machine while testing roof resistance
http://www.roadandtrack.com/go...
I've got better things to do tonight than die.
More detailed account of the story found here:
http://www.jewishjournal.com/los_angeles/article/tesla_violently_crashes_into_kol_ami
>>> for this senseless tragedy
What tragedy? IMHO its actually a success in gene pool improvement. We all need to stop this 'every life is sacred no matter what' thing.
Or Israel will retaliate by bombing Los Angeles.
I'm trying to see the downside.
"The average reporter we talk to is 27 years old......They literally know nothing." - Ben Rhodes
Considering the crime began with the GTA, the moment he left the service center, he had fled the scene.
" Reports claim he was traveling at speeds of "nearly 100 mph"
So, is that so special in the US? I drove much faster than that this evening on my way home from work on the highway (180 km/h on GPS = 113 mph), But then, I don't drive a Tesla.
I thought Teslas had a literally encrypted key that all but guaranteed the car couldn't be stolen sans key.,
Did the service center leave the key with the car or is the car inherently insecure?
I think the real message here is that Tesla's stellar safety record is due at least in part to its exclusivity and high price tag. The kind of people who can afford it are generally safer drivers. It's not a used Dodge Charger that some 16 year old asshole with a shiny new drivers license and Dad's credit card can buy off of the lot for a few thousand bucks.
I read the internet for the articles.
We apologise for the inadequacies of our car at high speeds, and are investigating ways to make it even safer. We have designed a flexible partitioning system to take some of the energy from a "car split" incident, and will be implementing it in all new Tesla cars, and retrofitting it to all drivers who want it. Additionally, the car will require that the driver and all passengers are wearing seatbelts when the car is driving at speeds exceeding 70 mph.
Ask me about repetitive DNA
Don't underestimate the adaptability of a good marketer:
"No owner has ever died in a Tesla crash"
Table-ized A.I.
If we assume that the driver wasn't deliberately trying to wreck the car then technically that battery is still under warranty... even though it's been stolen, cut in half and set on fire. That's how good the Tesla battery warranty is.
..they always local bro, like 24/7.
Still, looks like Musk has indeed invented flying cars, faster than he bargained for.
- shame about the other half tho.
No, but evolution's anti-massive-stupidity system is pretty lethal. Less so nowadays, but... still.
"Hey, think I'll drive triple digits in a randomly active urban environment in a vehicle I'm not familiar with, while (justifiably) paranoid!"
I've fallen off your lawn, and I can't get up.
He had gotten away before he crashed. Either he didn't realize that or kept driving fast for the hell of it.
I guess electric cars hate the Jews to :P
... Nuff said.
The car was low on battery and misread it as "Juice".
Ezekiel 23:20
There are conflicting reports here. Some say he's dead and others say he's alive, so it would be good to know who's right -
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2014-07-10/stolen-tesla-s-fatality-free-l-dot-a-dot-crash-surprises-experts
Technically, Arab insurgents in the area are *all* civilians, aren't they? It's not like they're a part of some nation's army.
Ezekiel 23:20
For a stolen car?
Looks like is better to protect few thousand dollars of property than the lives of peaceful driver's lives.
For God sake! Take note of the plate or the car id and investigate without risking anyone lives.
Michael Bay will get the movie rights.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
We should all thank the asshole for stealing the care and providing Tesla with more crash data so that Tesla can make improvements. Plus, one more asshole has left this world.
That makes no sense at all. There are probably more jews in Los Angeles than in Tel Aviv.
Dude, the Space Jam website is still up: http://www2.warnerbros.com/spa...
Holy crap! I didn't know that commercial electric cars could go 100 MPH!
Everyone knows Slot machines are a bad bet.
Hilarious: "Its rear portion flew through the air with such force that it slammed into the side of a local Jewish community center and became wedged there."
"It's like another 'Holocaust'! Haven't ve suffered enuff?"
LOL...
Is there a 'White community center', or would that be a 'hate crime'?
I can't think of a more fitting end to the thief.
The highest speed limit in the entire country is 75MPH. Why is the car even capable of going faster than that? Why is ANY car even capable of going faster than that, for that matter?
Vegas is still there.
I live in Boulder, I bet you don't.
That'd be correct. I live a few states east of you.
I stop, check the road, make sure no cars are coming, and if it's clear, then I'll go
This is the stop sign maneuver, also used at a flashing red signal or a right turn at a steady red signal. At a stop sign, I make sure to slow enough to put weight on my foot before proceeding.
but only have waited twice what the usual time it takes for that light to change (yes, I keep track of that).
I too keep track of how many cycles have elapsed, and I report problematic intersections to the city's hotline once I do arrive. But in the 35 states without a dead red statute, even waiting an hour isn't good enough for the letter of the law. Until about a week ago, it was 36; Indiana's dead red statute took effect on July 1 of this year. Before that, there was one intersection on my way to work where I often had to wait over five cycles for some SUV to pull up behind my bicycle. Oncoming traffic kept getting green left turn arrows while I got an eight-minute steady red in the straight lane. I reported that one to the city and the state, which kept pointing fingers at each other.
But if you do all that, then they won't ever see you do it, and there will be no grounds for them to complain.
Treating a red light as a stop sign works unless there happens to be a police car parked in a nearby parking lot.
He simply failed an applied physics exam.
We don't want Los Angeles to become da bomb.
Injuring three people and denting a wall in order to get rid of a car thief sounds ok to me. Maybe we could design an electric device that simply cooks car thieves right in the driver's seat when they try to drive the car. But until then we can replace the innocents injured rather easily and just maybe other creeps will notice that car thefts often cause the death of thieves.
Tesla - don't drive it like you stole it.
Unless he was unconscious from the impact and then died in the fire (as reported the front end caught fire) if no one bothered to rescue him.
"I'd never wear a seatbelt! It might prevent me from being thrown to safety!"
They are just covering up that he died in an ambulance. I vote that we take these dangerous ambulances off the road as to many people seem to die in them after a police chase or a road crash.
-Electric.
-Too damned fast.
-Guaranteed to fly off the road.
This was Slot Car Racing
I cannot believe I'm the first to make that connection. I am NOT the only one here who grew up during the 70's and 80's.
I wonder why Tesla simply did not remotely disable the car ?
Dropped my car off at Queens SC, Monday at noon. From the App I saw that after 26 hours they opened the driver's door for about 1/2 hour and there's been no other activity. It's now in for service for 29 hours and I'd have been better off if I just had turned off access when I left the car so I wouldn't be so frustrated about it. I would have liked to imagine that they were taking the time to pore over the car making sure that when I get it back it's better than ever. But it's just sitting there, in the same place I parked it when I dropped it off. I'd call them and ask but then they'd just turn off remote access, and then where would I be?
If he is an American, he should have known better. If he is an illegal alien, they why wasn't he deported for commiting a crime against law abiding people? Where were our leaders?
The mind conceives, the body achieves, the spirit manifests.
Statistically apples and oranges when considering other cars. You have a class of person who has attained the wealth to buy a Tesla. I'm thinking that person may be a more responsible, less risk taking person than the burger flipping driver of that damned 1980's riced out Honda CRX that just cut me off.
Couldn't the service center have remotely shut the car down and locked the doors?
"In case of theft, car will split in half and eject occupant into nearest Jewish community center."
Seems a bit drastic...and antisemitic.
I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
According to this poorly written article Slot survived the accident and Tesla still has a perfect record.
Actually no. By firing weapons while hiding in civilian areas and not wearing a uniform of some kind (it does not need to be much) they lose all protection given to combatants and to civilians and can be dealt with however the opposing power chooses. They have absolutely no protections of any kind whatsoever under the Geneva Accords.
Read them. They are not long. A few pages each.
Hollywood will make it into a 5 part trilogy and the Americans will win.
When i read "civilian" i mentally substitute "terrorist". It makes everything right again :-)
I'm sure this wasn't the last thing to go through his mind...in fact it was probably his ass...
Queue an over the air update from Tesla requiring the drivers seat belt to be engaged for the car to run.
I'm surprised the police/owners don't have some sort of hotline to Tesla to enable remote shutdown or speed limitation of the individual vehicle.
...Slot car racing!
Tom Geller
Did the police bother to call Tesla? Did the service station bother? Track and shut down the car. Easy.
That's how you know it's a genuine Tesla.
Give me a break. From the picture in the paper this morning it is clear that Israel is hitting weapons Depots. What kind of assholes store massive quantities of explosives in a residential neighborhood full of non-combatants?
They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.
That was supposed to be humor?
How many people did those two disabled victims murder?
3 Israeli deaths and 700+ rockets per day being shot willy-nilly into densely populated areas. But yeah, sure, let's pretend like the Palestinians aren't doing everything they can to provoke Israel and then crying when they get hit.
there isn't one
Correct.
then probably the only "legal" way to cross is to dismount (become a pedestrian) and walk across
Yet the city somehow can't spend money for a "CYCLISTS DISMOUNT" sign.
the 35 states that haven't passed dead red laws
Also, I think there is a law for dealing with lights that are not functioning properly which probably says treat it like a stop sign.
The source implies that only about 15 U.S. states have such a law about malfunctioning traffic signals.