Feds open safety probe into Tesla Model S fires as Elon Musk fights back

Since the three recent cases of fires in Tesla Model S electric sedans over five weeks, company co-founder and CEO Elon Musk has been on a campaign, telling the Business Insider Ignition conference last week that "there’s definitely not going to be a recall," criticizing the media for its coverage and maintaining that Teslas have a far lower fire risk than gasoline-powered vehicles.

Today, Musk announced that Tesla would make a pair of software updates to the 19,000 Model S sedans on the road and changes to the warranty that he said should help address any concern among customers — and that U.S. auto safety regulators had opened a formal probe into the Model S, one that Musk says Tesla requested to clear the air. Musk's aggressive push back against the coverage of the fires goes against the typical auto industry playbook for dealing with potential safety recalls; automakers often do nothing more than acknowledge cooperation with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration probe, and make a brief announcement if and when a probe leads to a recall.

But as Musk has shown before, Tesla is anything but a typical company.