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submitted 8 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/news@lemmy.world

Exclusive: “There’s my challenge to Elon,” attorney S. Scott West told The Independent. “Make these vehicles so safe that I don’t have to do this anymore.”

A Tesla Cybertruck owner in Texas was unable to escape after rolling it into a ditch last year, experiencing an unthinkable demise as the batteries powering the $100,000 stainless steel SUV burst into flames with such intensity the helpless driver's skeletal system literally disintegrated, his family says.

Michael Sheehan, 47, "burned to death at 5,000°F – a fire so hot his bones experienced thermal fracture," according to a gut-wrenching lawsuit his widow and parents have now filed against the electric auto manufacturer headed up by billionaire Elon Musk.

"He was eight inches shorter in length than he was before he burned," attorney S. Scott West told The Independent. "That's thermal fracture."

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[-] floofloof@lemmy.ca 111 points 8 months ago

Sheehan was driving home when the Cybertruck “left the road” and struck a large concrete culvert, after which the vehicle’s “hyper volatile” battery system went into “thermal runaway” – a chain reaction of short-circuits ultimately resulting in uncontrollable temperature escalation – and caught fire.

Once power was lost, it was impossible for Sheehan to open the Cybertruck’s electrically operated doors in the normal way, the complaint goes on, highlighting a major issue that has similarly doomed others riding in Teslas. The external door handles also failed to work, and the emergency manual door release handles within the Cybertruck are “unreasonably difficult to locate in an emergency,” the complaint states.

These design problems are so glaringly obvious that the fact Tesla hasn't bothered to fix them gives big "fuck you" vibes. A company's culture comes from the top.

[-] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 40 points 8 months ago

they haven't bothered to fix them because elon doesn't give a fuck about dead people.

[-] QuantumSparkles@sh.itjust.works 15 points 8 months ago

In Kanye voice “Elon Musk doesn’t care about dead people”

[-] ArchmageAzor@lemmy.world 28 points 8 months ago

Sure is good that DOGE got rid of everyone who was investigating Tesla.

[-] ctrl_alt_esc@lemmy.ml 15 points 8 months ago

This should obviouslybe illegal, but you gotta be pretty fucking stupid to buy one in the first place.

[-] Gates9@sh.itjust.works 109 points 8 months ago
[-] Zetta@mander.xyz 4 points 8 months ago

Are you factoring in the fact that there have been substantially more Tesla's sold than a Ford Pinto? Like, what's the per 100,000 units car sold metric?

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[-] BrianTheeBiscuiteer@lemmy.world 102 points 8 months ago

Elon: If the bones disintegrated, how do you know anyone was even in there? 😏

[-] OrteilGenou@lemmy.world 44 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)
[-] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca 7 points 8 months ago

I ket what ya mine

Translation?

[-] dhork@lemmy.world 31 points 8 months ago

It's a ketamine pun

[-] Twitches@lemm.ee 87 points 8 months ago

How appropriate that a Swastitruck cremates its drivers.

[-] Rebecca_Corndogs@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

I'm sitting here wondering if the still, legally, need to go through a funeral home, or if the medical examiner just hands them a box and says "you guys are good".

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[-] harrys_balzac@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 8 months ago

It is beautiful.

[-] lupusblackfur@lemmy.world 48 points 8 months ago

Load up batteries into a Swastikar with a massive number of recalls that was manufactured by a company run by an ultimate idiot who lives by "move fast and break things" ...

What did you think you bought? Something good? 🤡 🫏 🖕 💩

[-] Witchfire@lemmy.world 34 points 8 months ago

You signed your death warrant when you bought an Incel Camino

[-] Sturgist@lemmy.ca 10 points 8 months ago

The Camino was cool as shit. The swastidumpster looks like a stoned 3 year old drew it with what was left after snacking on a crayon

[-] Laser@feddit.org 3 points 8 months ago

Funny because the German word "Kamin" means fireplace and chimney

[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 24 points 8 months ago

So, a mobile crematorium. How apt.

[-] ArtVandelay@lemmy.world 20 points 8 months ago

Fitting for a Nazi car really

[-] foggy@lemmy.world 22 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The perfect fake death.

Take out huge loan. Take out massive life insurance policy. Flip Tesla. Ignite.

Idk, head to somewhere with no extradition by cargo boat or some shit.

Edit: okay there's a flaw. You gotta drive a cyber truck.

[-] P00ptart@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

Just pretend you're German and go to Venezuela.

[-] sniggleboots@europe.pub 22 points 8 months ago

okay but that's pretty fucking metal

[-] lmuel@sopuli.xyz 18 points 8 months ago

I'd say the cybertruck is quite the opposite: ugly fucking metal

[-] axEl7fB5@lemmy.cafe 3 points 8 months ago

pretty ugly metal?

[-] frenchfryenjoyer@lemmings.world 14 points 8 months ago

That's 2,760 C. holy shit. poor guy. I'm so glad these hunks of rubbish are banned here in the UK

[-] Ilixtze@lemm.ee 12 points 8 months ago

5 out of 10: Shit car; great Viking funeral.

[-] glorkon@lemmy.world 10 points 8 months ago

It's all computers!

[-] Ledericas@lemm.ee 10 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

a 100k charcuterie machine, a mobile crematorium, or a venison slicer. a swiss army knife of cars.

[-] GeeDubHayduke@lemmy.dbzer0.com 10 points 8 months ago

Technician A: "Here's where the infant went through the windshield. Three points."

Technician B: "The teenager's braces around the backseat ashtray would make a good "anti-smoking" ad.

Technician A: "The father must've been huge. See how the fat burnt into the driver's seat with his polyester shirt? Very "modern art."

[-] ramenbelly@lemmy.zip 4 points 8 months ago

Mmm cha mmm mm cha Mmm cha mmm mm cha

Single serving sugar

Single serving

[-] motor_spirit@lemmy.world 9 points 8 months ago

Tesla ad: SAVE BIG ON BURIAL/CREMATION SERVICES

[-] seaQueue@lemmy.world 7 points 8 months ago

So they're providing free cremation services now eh?

[-] FistingEnthusiast@lemmynsfw.com 6 points 8 months ago

They'll find a way to charge for it soon

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[-] hopesdead@startrek.website 3 points 8 months ago

I don’t know how so maybe this isn’t entirely true, but I’ve seen past news reports of Cybertrucks having to be buried due to the temperature of these fires. Supposedly they burn so hot that they are difficult to extinguish.

[-] evenglow@lemmy.world 14 points 8 months ago

That applies to anything with Li-ion NMC in it. Like your phone. EVs just have more of them.

[-] bulwark@lemmy.world 6 points 8 months ago

F/A 18s have zinc in their brake disks that if they ever catch on fire the best option is to push the jet of the carrier.

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 8 points 8 months ago

Sometimes they push em off before the fire, just to be extra safe

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this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2025
524 points (99.1% liked)

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