First fire in a Tesla Model S sparks all the expected questions

Every year, about 180,000 vehicles catch fire across the United States, so a single car fire outside of Seattle on Tuesday that injured no one wouldn't usually catch much notice. Except that the blaze shown above was the first reported fire of a Tesla Model S — and for a company built around making electric vehicle tech mainstream, the fire sparked the old question about whether its batteries were to blame.

At the moment, it's not clear what started the fire, but it wasn't a spontaneous event. The driver of the Model S in Kent, Wash., reported running over a metal object; soon after, the Model S computer system warned of something wrong with the car. As the video below shows, the fire was contained to the front of the Model S, and according to Tesla, no one was injured.