There is no indication that anyone was in the driver’s seat.
April 18, 2021, 9:33 PM
• 3 min read
Share to FacebookShare to TwitterEmail this articleInvestigators in Texas said they are looking into a fiery car crash, involving a Tesla vehicle, that killed two men.
The incident took place around 9 p.m. Saturday night in a town roughly 30 miles north of Houston and involved two men who were inside a 2019 Tesla S, according to Harris County Precinct 4 Constable Mark Herman.
Neither was in the driver's seat of the vehicle at the time of the crash, police said, as the model has an autopilot option.
One of the victims was found in the front passenger seat and the other in the backseat.
The victims, ages 59 and 69, who have not been identified, dropped off their wives at a nearby house earlier that Saturday and told them they were going to take a ride in the Tesla, Herman told ABC News. The men were touting the electric car's features, the constable said.
Investigators said that based on the evidence at the scene, it seems the car was going very fast when it lost control and landed more than 100 feet off the road. The car then exploded and firefighters spent four hours and over 30,000 gallons of water trying to drown the flames, Herman said.
A Tesla supercharger rapid battery charging station in Mountain View, Calif., Aug. 24, 2016.
Investigators said the battery acid from the car was highly flammable and made the fire extremely difficult to contain.
Eventually, the firefighters had to let the fire burn itself out.
Investigators are now trying to download the data from the car and have reached out to Tesla and various federal agencies as part of their investigation.
