Tesla confirms Model S driver in Mexico fire unhurt, 'does everything right' in a crisis

Any readers who were not sure that the white car in the video we posted yesterday of the crash and fire in Mexico was, indeed, a Tesla Model S, rest assured that it was. Bloomberg got an official statement from the California-based automaker that not only confirms the vehicle status but also that the driver was not badly hurt. Tesla spokesperson Liz Jarvis-Shean told Bloomberg:

We were able to contact the driver quickly and are pleased that he is safe. This was a significant accident where the car was traveling at such a high speed that it smashed through a concrete wall and then hit a large tree, yet the driver walked away from the car with no permanent injury.

That kind of response is not only good news, it also looks good to company observers. Writing yesterday on Business 2 Community, Nicole Rose Dion analyzed the way Tesla responded to the first Model S fire earlier this month, and came to the conclusion that the company, "did everything right, considering the circumstances." Tesla made the right moves to turn what was a bad visual (we all remember how quickly that video went viral) into a reasonable discussion of EV safety. Dion says Tesla responded immediately, acted transparently and issued a statement on the website, all of which "put out the fire, so to speak."

Seeking Alpha also reminds us that EVs fires, while they are news, should not be blown out of proportion. Each time news like this breaks, there is a hue and cry that, "the once untouchable and safe Tesla has a major design flaw that's going to cripple sales and consequently, the company - right? Wrong."