Model S Burns, Tesla Stock Dives

Electric car company Tesla was jolted by a 6% dive in its share price yesterday after a video surfaced showing its all-electric Model S on fire near Seattle following a collision. The driver told authorities that the vehicle caught fire after he struck some metal debris on the highway, the AP reports. It took firefighters several attempts to extinguish the blaze. It is the first such incident involving the $70,000 car, which has received rave reviews and extremely high safety ratings.

"A fire caused by the substantial damage sustained during the collision was contained to the front of the vehicle thanks to the design and construction of the vehicle and battery pack," the company said in a statement. "All indications are that the fire never entered the interior cabin of the car." It's not clear whether the car's battery pack was the cause of the fire. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigators would normally investigate such an incident, but any probe is going to have to wait until the government shutdown ends. (More Tesla Model S stories.)