USA: Angela Zhao dies inside a Tesla Model

The Wall Street Journal analyzes the death of Angela Zhao, CEO of her family's growing global shipping company and owner of the Tesla Model

Chow, 50, had invited seven of her friends from her days at Harvard Business School to spend the weekend of February 9 at her ranch in Austin, Texas. At around 11:30pm on Friday evening, the day her guests arrived, Zhao tried to move around the farm, driving her car a relatively short distance as the night was very cold and dark, with no moon.

Within minutes of saying goodbye, she called a friend in a panic. She accidentally puts her car in reverse, causing it to be thrown backwards, rolling down an embankment and into the lake. It was sinking quickly. Can they help her?

Over the next few hours, her friends, then the ranch manager and his wife, then paramedics, firefighters and sheriff's deputies tried to break windows, find an escape hatch, or some other way to get her out of the car.

Futile rescue efforts

The driver has about one minute to get out of the submerged car. When vehicles were equipped with a crank window, the driver could roll down the window to exit, although this required a clarity of mind that was often lacking in emergency situations. In newer cars, like the Tesla Model After that, the only way out is to break it, say car safety experts.

This is extremely difficult to do underwater, and can be even more difficult when trying to penetrate the strong, multi-layered glass used by most automakers, including Tesla. Laminated glass is praised for its safety properties, such as preventing the driver from ejecting during a collision. However, it is almost impossible to penetrate underwater, according to tests conducted by the American Automobile Association.

Every year, about 400 people die in car accidents in North America, according to researchers who have studied these accidents. There are no construction requirements to protect occupants in submerged vehicles, according to federal safety regulators.

Who was Angela Chow?

Although she was one of the most powerful women in the world, Angela Zhao was not well known outside of the shipping world. She was the youngest of six sisters, four of whom, including herself, attended Harvard Business School. Zhao studied economics at Harvard University, graduating with honors in just three years. The school's Ruth Mulan Chow Chow Center for Executive Education is named after her late mother, who with her 96-year-old father, James S. C. Chow, co-founded the shipping company Foremost Group, which carries more than 20 million tons of cargo. dry products annually for companies such as Bunge and Cargill.

Chao's older sister, Elaine, was US Secretary of Labor in the Bush administration and US Secretary of Transportation in the Trump administration. The New York-based Chow family business is valued at $1.3 billion.

However, none of that mattered anymore when her car sank. The local officials who tried to rescue her did not know who she was. All they knew was that it was dark and the water was black and cold. They couldn't even confirm that the sunken structure they were standing on was her dark blue metal Model

The last few minutes

After Zhao made a phone call to plead, her friends went outside. Someone jumped into the lake. In this commotion, the property manager came out with his wife. 100 was called. The emergency unit in Blanco County, where Johnson City is located, got there at 12:28 a.m., about 24 minutes after the call, according to the fire department's incident report. The terrain and accessibility were such that some first responders decided to get out of their vehicles and walk to the designated location.

At some point, a crane arrived but didn't have a cable long enough to reach the car. At least one tow truck driver, who was not accustomed to pulling an electric vehicle out of water, feared being electrocuted, a person at the scene said. However, a submerged electric vehicle is designed to not run the risk of electric shock because the high-voltage battery is insulated from the vehicle's frame.

When the car was pulled out of the water, the car doors opened and a large amount of water came out from inside. Chow was unresponsive. She was taken out of the car and attempted to be revived, but to no avail. He died immediately and was not taken to hospital.

Danger – death compounds in water

No one in the family blames Tesla for the 50-year-old woman's death. Even her family members say they love Tesla cars and admire how good electric cars are for the planet.

The Wall Street Journal reports that in 2016 the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rejected a request requiring automakers to equip every vehicle with a window crusher, saying the effectiveness of such a tool was unknown.

Gordon Giesbrecht, a senior scientist at the University of Manitoba who studies deaths from sinking vehicles, said many drivers mistakenly believe they should try to open their car doors if they are submerged in water. However, he says, because of the water pressure, it would be nearly impossible to open a car door underwater.

source: after that