this post was submitted on 09 Apr 2026
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Tesla has sold nearly 8 million cars in total, with 3.5 million cars in 2023-2024 alone. There were 3.1 million Pintos ever produced in its 10 year run.
There are 27 fatalities linked to Pinto related fires and 83 related to Tesla fires according to your volunteer run source. The Pinto had a fatality for every 1 in 116,000 vehicles while Tesla, according to your source, has 1 in every 96,000. So the number of Tesla fire related fatalities does not "dwarf" the number of Pinto related fatalities. On top of that, a key difference is most of the Pinto fatalities were due to rear end collisions with no fault of the driver while Tesla's are much higher performance vehicles getting involved in high energy collisions due to driver (autonomous and human) errors.
Here is a list giving a different view of fatal accidents by car model. To quote the article:
Narrowing down the relevant information from your otherwise interesting comment, we can conclude that, if the sources are accurate, Teslas on average are more unsafe in terms of fire safety than the most unsafe internal combustion engine vehicle ever manufactured.
I think it's ludicrous to dismiss those concerns as "fucking bonkers" and that we "can ignore them." New addition to this list is that we can evidently also generalize all those EVs deaths as being "due to driver error," so I suppose good riddance? Not really sure what to make of that, but boy do these threads sure show the best of humanity.
I think Teslas shouldn't speak for all EVs.
the company has demonstrated a very high tolerance for risk. In execution, but also they don't seem to care about reputational risk. Other manufacturers with a larger business at stake, I would expect to handle recalls, safety in a different manner (one of the reasons they are lagging in the EV space)
So.. EVs have significantly less fires than combustion engines
But EVs fires are more severe
Tesla is a mess.
EV chemistry is getting better and safer over time.
Combustion engines are largely at their limit.
Absolutely agreed on all points!
You have clearly made up a narrative you want to hear, that doesn't change the statistics that clearly shows EVs are significantly less prone (~20x) to catching fire compared to internal combustion vehicles.
How have I made up a narrative? My premise from the start was the absurdity of dismissing the dangers of vehicle fires, and there's data showing that a significant number of people die in EV fires. You've decided to argue that the deaths somehow matter less—that's making up a narrative to justify your, frankly, ludicrous position.
I'm sure that if somebody you loved died in such an event and somebody came along telling you that you're "an idiot" for having legitimate concerns, should be ignored and lumps you into a group of "disingenuous cunts," you'd have a different perspective.