Car accidents are really fairly common. 32, 367 people died in motor vehicle crashes in 2011. Most vehicle accidents go widely unreported on regional and national news, but when a Tesla Model S recently was involved in a vehicle incident, it made national news. The driver of the vehicle claims he hit some metal debris on the road and his car then burst into flames.

The driver of the Tesla Model S claims he hit some debris on the road. Sensing a problem with the onboard systems, the car advised the driver to pull over and stop the car. At that point the driver exited the vehicle as it burst into flames.

Tesla’s official statement claims that one of the 16 individual battery packs was ruptured, sparking the fire. The primary battery pack is organized into the smaller packs to lower the risk of a fire spreading should one of the packs ignite.

Tesla TSLA

Tesla stock drops on the release of the video.

Even though Tesla was seemingly very quick in disclosing the cause of the fire, the story of the incident spread on the Internet, made local news stories around the country, and was even on the national news. Even though it appears the stock for the week was on a slightly downward trend, news of the incident caused a selloff.

Tesla Model S

The Tesla Model S has made the automaker profitable ahead of schedule. (Photo: Shutterstock)

Lately, it seems that Tesla was figuratively on fire. Tesla repaid their government loans 9 years ahead of schedule, and even turned a profit earlier this year (much sooner than analysts predicted).

Elon Musk doesn’t take black eyes very well though. Remember when the New York Times wrote a piece blasting the car for its range? While quick to be public in this incident, it will be interesting to see if Musk stays quiet on the issue if it continues to occupy more news cycles.