A man tragically died last night after his Tesla Model S got hit by a dump truck in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The accident is likely the first instance of a death in the Model S under “regular traffic conditions”.
By “regular traffic conditions”, I’m referencing several reported fatalities after Model S’s drove down cliffs and in one instance, a thief died after he crashed his stolen Model S while trying to escape the police during a high-speed chase.
The Model S has 5-star ratings from NHTSA and the lowest probability of injury of any car ever tested by the agency, which helped Tesla maintain a great track record even with now over 100,000 Model S’s on the road.
But even with the car’s low center of gravity and large crumple zones, there are unfortunately still some impacts that can be devastating.
A 67-year-old man is dead after the car he was driving crashed with a dump truck Monday night.
It happened just after 8:30 p.m. on Century Street near Wellington Avenue. The man’s car, a Tesla, was going westbound on Wellington when it was hit by the dump truck going northbound on Century, police said.
A man was rushed to hospital and later died after a crash on Century Street Monday night. (Cliff Simpson/CBC)
This is the fourth known instance of a death following a Model S crash. All 4 under very extreme conditions:
- Driver dies after his Model S fell off a cliff in Sonoma county
- Driver dies after his Model S fell off a cliff in Malibu (note that both cases happened before Tesla implemented auto emergency steering, which could have possibly prevented these crashes assuming they didn’t intentionally drive off the cliffs)
- Car thief dies at the hospital after the Model S he was driving hit a post at over 100 mph (Los Angeles)
- Driver dies at the hospital after his Model S got hit by a dump truck in Winnipeg
Our condolences to the family of the victim and a reminder for everyone to be safe on the road, especially under winter driving conditions during the holidays.
Featured image: Model S owner crashed his Tesla at the Fremont store after taking delivery. Unrelated to the Winnipeg accident, but the image’s resolution wasn’t good enough for the feature.
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The top photo appears to be an entirely separate incident, much less serious, and thus is confusing and irrelevant to the story. Or am I missing some connection between the two events? It looks as if the second, lower, photo is of the car in which the death occurred.
You are not missing anything. The resolution of the photo of the crash in Winnipeg was simply to low to be the featured image (the image at the top). And as far as Model S crash images, there aren’t that many.
In that case, it would be better to use a stock photo of a Model S, maybe one related to safety. Posting a picture of a fender bender is confusing and appears to be making light of a fatality.
I’d like to suggest that perhaps you consider changing the picture you’re using as the first, main picture illustrating this story. That image is of a somewhat amusing, minor accident involving a Tesla Model S crashing into a very large Tesla sign. Personally I find the mix of a clearly humorous photo with an article about a tragic death a bit offensive. I think others will as well. I expect it was and is not your intention to offend, which is why I am suggesting that you change that first image.
We can’t change the featured image once it’s set. It’s a bug we have since a recent update. I do understand the feeling. I did add a description to the image note after someone first brought up the confusion.
Is there any chance you can point me in the direction of how 1 death (or 4 if you include deaths under extreme circumstances) out of 100,000 vehicles compares to other cars? Is that information readily available?
Do you always make lists of people dying in one specific car model? Or are you doing that to prove that ‘unfortunately’ the Model S is not perfect?
Of course the Model S is not perfect, but that list has nothing to do with it. The list highlights how every reported death following a Model S crash was under very extreme conditions. e.g. Falling off a cliff or hit by dump truck…
If you think I’m making a point to highlight flaws of the Model S because I dislike Tesla or something, you should familiarize yourself with the site because it’s quite the contrary.
How does 4 fatalities compare to other vehicles on a per vehicle-miles-traveled (VMT) basis? Overall, NHTSA number is 1 fatality per 100 million VMT…