A Quebec court has ordered Tesla Canada to pay C$161,700 to an insurer after a 2020 Model X caught fire in Montreal in March 2023. The blaze began shortly after the driver turned on the heat, and the car was destroyed within minutes. Police ruled out criminal activity, and an expert report attributed the fire to a premature electrical failure in the dashboard, a component covered by Tesla's four-year/80,000 km warranty.
Tesla initially let the case go to default judgment, then tried to have it overturned. In court, a Tesla employee argued that car fires are "generally" caused by misuse or vandalism, but the judge noted the company provided no data to support that claim. Justice Ian Demers rejected Tesla's request, saying the automaker had not raised "the slightest serious" defense.
The case does not by itself suggest the Model X is a fire hazard; Tesla's own data shows EV fires are far rarer than those in gasoline vehicles. But it highlights how Tesla handles warranty claims when the bill is large. The company tracks fire statistics closely but did not bring any of that evidence to court, leaving the expert report as the only technical explanation on record.