Teslas Catch Fire Less Often than Gas-Powered Cars
December 11, 2013
Tesla has gotten significant negative press coverage because of accidents involving fires. In Washington and Tennessee, fires resulted after cars ran over debris on the road that pierced the battery compartment. These incidents have caused the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to open
a formal investigation into the safety of the Tesla Model S electric car. (A third fire happened in Mexico after a driver drove through a wall and hit a tree.)
Tesla’s stock has already rebounded, after an initial plunge, after a German safety inquiry said it found
no mechanical defects with the $70,000 cars. But consumers may be tougher to win back than investors. The images of burning Teslas will be hard to overcome in the minds of potential buyers.
Tesla needs to reframe the discussion away from the safety of Tesla alone and shift the conversation to a comparison between the safety of gasoline-powered cars and the subcategory of high-powered electric cars for which Tesla is the exemplar brand — and, in fact, the only brand.
Tesla should take a page out of political contests and draw attention to the negatives of their competitors — in this case, gasoline-powered cars. The statistics are powerful. Last year there were 172,000 gasoline-powered car fires, a little-known fact. Given that some 240 million cars are registered, that means a fire for every 1,300 or 1,400 cars on the road. Compare that to three fires from some 20,000 Tesla cars. The fire incidents are over four times as great in gasoline-powered cars.
The death statistics are even more compelling evidence that gasoline-powered cars are unsafe compared with Tesla cars. Since the Model S went into production in the middle of last year, there have been over 400 deaths and 1,200 serious injuries in the United States alone due to gasoline car fires, compared to zero deaths and zero injuries due to Tesla fires anywhere in the world.
The surge in publicity over the Tesla fires could provide an opportunity for Elon Musk’s company to make the car fire safety issue more important in people’s minds and to communicate the fire risks of gasoline-powered cars. For some drivers, a more visible fire risk might create a reason for a car buyer to say no to the gasoline-powered subcategory. It could also provide the Tesla brand with an advantage over other battery-powered car brands.
In taking this opportunity, it is important to recognize that Tesla is managing a subcategory rather than a brand. True growth nearly always happens at the level of subcategory competition rather than the “my brand is better than your brand” level, because is where market structure changes occur, as I’ve discussed
elsewhere in more detail.
To take the fight to the gasoline-powered subcategory, though, there are two other assets that Tesla should be sure to bring into play. First, they should continue to deploy Elon Musk to tell their story. He is charismatic, credible, and a classic innovator. Second, in part through social media, Tesla needs to engage its passionate fan base, which goes way beyond its 20,000 car owners.
Few brands, particularly those under attack, have such assets that they can bring to bear.
