Tesla Model S Plaid Brakes Catch Fire After Seven Consecutive Emergency Deployments

Skipping leg day is the most commonly used example, but since Teslas tend to run pretty quickly, we felt like it didn't really apply here. Anyway, even if there aren't too many people out there (if any) destroying the leg press machine while ignoring the curl bar and the bench press, nothing is keeping you from imagining what they would look like if they were.

In Tesla's case, the most underdeveloped part of its construction is its brakes. This is the main limitation for any stock Tesla when it comes to doing things such as running around a track. Everybody knows the cars go like stink and, thanks to the low center of gravity, they also handle surprisingly well for their weight.

Stopping, however, is a completely different affair. Under normal circumstances, you would never notice anything wrong with the EV's braking system. It can deal very well with the occasional emergency stop and, for the rest of the occasions, the regenerative system will take some of the heat off the pads and rotors.

When out on a track, though, particularly one that alternates high-speed areas with more technical sections – thus requiring frequent braking from great speeds – the fact the brakes are not going to wait too much before failing is a guarantee. We've seen it happen with the Model 3 on the Nürburgring, and now we're witnessing it with the Model S Plaid too. And this time, they quite literally go out in flames.

The Tesla Model S is a family sedan designed to operate on public roads in normal conditions and unless you get very unlucky and seven rabbits decide to cross the road in front of you, one by one, right after you hit (the very illegal speed of) 100 mph (160 km/h), it's impossible to think how the scenario presented in this test could ever replicate in the real world.

Funnily enough, the only reason we get to see this thing happening is that Todd, the owner of the 2021 Model S Plaid and the Plaid AF YouTube channel, decided to upgrade his vehicle's braking system. But before doing so, he decided to test the stock brakes as a benchmark to test the aftermarket solution against.

The test was supposed to consist of ten successive emergency brakes from 100 mph (160 km/h) to zero but, as the title already revealed, they didn't get past the seventh. And that wasn't the only thing that didn't align with the planned procedure – for some reason, they didn't brake all the way down to zero stopping instead at about 30 mph (50 km/h) each time.

After the fifth attempt, the vehicle showed the first sign it wasn't happy about what was happening to it (it displayed a brake temperature warning on the dashboard). Todd and his friend, Alex (there was one more person in the car, so three in total, further adding to the weight) decided to take a 30-second cool-down break after the sixth, but it obviously wasn't enough.

The seventh attempt brought on the fiery display caught on video by the GoPro camera installed just above the right front wheel. Upon checking the braking disc with an infrared thermometer, the display reportedly read 950 degrees Fahrenheit (510 degrees Celsius).

The two then decided to drive casually for ten to 15 miles to allow the brakes to cool down and, sure enough, after the prolonged cool-down period, they were once again safe to touch registering just 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius).

Summing things up, Todd emphasizes the fact the brakes are perfectly safe for day-to-day driving, but he says a performance-oriented car like the Model S Plaid should come with a more efficient system. The point is obviously debatable but, at the end of the day, it's all part of Tesla's strategy to reduce the cost for all of the vehicle's non-vital parts – non-vital to its marketing strategy that is.