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Tesla Model 3 Owner Begs Elon Musk To Investigate Fire in His Car

Apart from bashing U.S. politicians, interacting with selected fans, and promising autonomous driving on Twitter, Elon Musk does not do much else in social media. Yet, some Tesla customers still think they can ask for his help there. That was the case with a man so far identified solely as Elijah. On November 4, he shared that his Model 3 caught fire.
2018 Tesla Model 3 catches fire in Queens, New York 9 photos
Photo: Elijah/Twitter
2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York2018 Tesla Model 3 Catches Fire in Queens, New York
The blaze happened on October 21, 2021, at 9:46 AM in Queens, New York. Elijah only described the situation when he mentioned that the Tesla Service Center in Syosset, Long Island, refused to investigate the causes of the fire. In his words, because “they don’t care.” In the same tweet, he asked Musk if it was normal for a car just to catch fire while driving.

Elijah’s 2018 Model 3 would still be under warranty, and he even shared the car’s VIN in his tweet. He also added eight pictures of the vehicle after the fire and one video that shows it up in flames in the middle of a street. The pictures reveal that everything occurred at the intersection between 156th Street and 33rd Avenue.

Checking Elijah’s Twitter handle, it seems his name is Elijah Chung. We are trying to get in touch with him so that he can tell us all the details of the fire. If you know him or have more information about the incident, please get in touch.

The pictures and the video suggest that the blaze was not caused by a thermal runaway in the battery pack. If that were the case, the firefighters would have had much more trouble extinguishing the fire. The car would also be just a pile of twisted metal if that were the cause. Despite that, Elijah deserves to know what caused the entire situation. Tesla and his Tesla Service Center should be in charge of that. Musk was probably his last hope for an official response.

In his last tweet about the fire, Elijah asked Musk what he should do, why his car caught fire, and why other vehicles don’t. Kia and Hyundai recently faced recalls for fire in their combustion-engined cars in the U.S. The engineer Kim Gwang-ho even received a reward of $24 million for denouncing a defect on Theta II engines, being the first whistleblower to get that compensation.

However, Elijah had an issue with his Model 3 – not with a Kia or a Hyundai – and it must have been pretty scary. So far, Elon Musk has not replied to his appeal for help. Given his behavior regarding similar cases, we don't think he ever will.







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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
Gustavo Henrique Ruffo profile photo

Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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