​​About 6:17 p.m. pacific daylight time, on Friday, August 25, 2017, a 2016 Tesla Model X ​electric powered sport utility vehicle occupied by the 55-year-old male driver and a 27-year-old male passenger was traveling east on Normandale Drive in Lake Forest, Orange County, California. The driver lost control of the vehicle, followed by its departure from the roadway to the right (south). The Tesla traversed a sidewalk and landscaped embankment, collided with two small trees, and entered into a drainage ditch. The vehicle followed the path of the ditch, until it collided with a drainage culvert at Countryside Drive. The vehicle then traversed Countryside Drive and impacted a property wall, a residential garage structure and a 1997 BMW sedan parked in the open garage.

The crash resulted in a post-crash fire that spread from the Tesla to the BMW, the garage, and the home. The Tesla passenger self-evacuated the vehicle and the driver was assisted from the vehicle by a bystander. The Orange County Fire Authority extinguished the fire, however, following the initial post-crash fire the Tesla had battery thermal events occur after being loaded onto a flatbed tow truck, and when off loaded at a tow yard.  

​As a result of the crash, the driver sustained serious injuries and the passenger sustained minor injuries. As a result of the battery thermal events, two law enforcement responders, and the tow truck driver sustained minor injuries. The occupants of the home were not injured. 

​This investigation was initiated to support the NTSB's interest in electric vehicle battery safety and emergency response to electric vehicle thermal events. 

No further action beyond this memorandum will be taken; however, information from the items in this docket may be used in future Safety Board reports and/or activities.