Tesla: Tesla Cars Are Ten Times Less Likely To Experience Fire Than Gas-Powered

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Just a week after a Tesla Model S burst into flames at a Monroeville automotive center, after it had already burned in a Fox Chapel house fire, a video is going viral of another 'S' bursting into flames in China.

Tesla tells KDKA its cars are ten times less likely to experience a fire than a gas powered car and it is constantly working to improve the safety of its cars and batteries. The company also reaches out to first responders on how to handle its cars that are involved in accidents and catch fire.

Michael Hills of Lawrenceville has owned his Tesla S since September, "I've put no gas in it, is cost nothing to maintain. It's the fastest car I've ever owned they handle brilliantly, the technology is awesome, the autopilot is incredible, it drives itself."

When asked about the batteries fires Hills was quick with his response, "I think it's a witch hunt. Everybody wants to find something wrong with the latest technology but there are more gas cars burning up in garages than Teslas."

National stats bear that out with the ratio of gas powered car fires to electric car fires 52,000 to one.

Tesla is constantly working to improve the safety of the battery and automotive expert Tim Dietz says they've taken a positive step by encasing the 18,000 cells of the battery in a coolant that solidifies when it detects heat. Still he says there is the threat of a Thermal Runaway. "It starts to overheat and then burn and if they can contain it and it does reach the atmosphere then there is no explosion."

While Dietz adds, "I wouldn't park it in doors in a garage." Hills disagrees, "The car monitors itself it monitors its own battery the temperature, I don't worry about it at all."