2 men dead after a Tesla fire in the spring, officials say

HOUSTON – Two men are dead after a Tesla traveling in the spring crashed into a tree and no one was driving, officials say.

The accident occurred at 11:25 p.m. in the Carlton Woods subdivision near Woodlands. The car caught fire after hitting a tree near 18 Hammock Dunes Place.

Harris County Precinct 4 leader Mark Herman told KPRC 2 that the investigation showed that “no one was driving” the fully electric Tesla from 2019 when the accident occurred. There was a person in the front passenger seat and in the back seat of the car.

Harris District 4 police deputies said the vehicle was traveling at high speed when it failed to negotiate a dead-end turn, ran off the road and hit the tree.

Authorities said they used 32,000 gallons of water in four hours to put out the flames as the vehicle’s batteries continued to ignite. At one point, Herman said, deputies had to call Tesla to ask him how to put out the battery fire.

Ad

Authorities will perform autopsies on both men.