his wife, "west wing" actress mary mccormack, tweeted, "the fire started out of the blue." witnesses flagged morris down as he drove down the road, unaware his car was on fire. >> when a tesla vehicle catches on fire and it's posted on social media, it immediately makes people say, wait a second, is there something about this battery technology that isn't quite right? >> reporter: firefighters say the blaze may have been caused by the car's battery. tesla says the fire was an extraordinarily unusual occurrence. they're investigating. the batteries that power teslas are under the carriage. the company says they're fortified to prevent any fire from spreading into the interior. it's the latest bump in the road foslraes involving the company's autopilot technology. ceo elon musk has also announced production delays and cut staff by 9%. now tesla is feeling the heat again for a fire on one of l.a.'s busiest streets. miguel almaguer, nbc news, los angeles. >>> in a surprise announcement, president trump has ordered the creation of a new sixth branch of the military for the final

actress mary mccormack tweeted cell phone video of the fire saying, "tesla, this is what happened to my husband and his car today, no accident, out of the blue in traffic." in a statement tesla says, " our initial investigation shows that the cabin of the vehicle was totally unaffected by the fire due to our battery architecture which is designed to protect the cabin in the very rare event that a battery fire occurs." >> well, of course, the video footage itself looks alarming. >> reporter: alastair weaver is editor in chief at edmonds. >> there's obviously some issues with eye onbatteries in the past particularly -- ion batteries in the past, particularly with cell phones. >> reporter: tesla claims it takes extraordinary measures to protect passengers from fires which it says are at least 10 times less likely in a tesla than a gas car. >> we've driven over 50,000 miles in these vehicles and have never replicated this or anything like it, nor have we seen any evidence elsewhere of the cars spontaneously catching fire. so i think it needs more investigation. >> there were no injuries

"west wing" star mary mccormack tweeting, "this is what happened to my husband and his car today. no accident, out of the blue, in traffic." adding, "thank god my three little girls weren't in the car with him." she says the car was not in self-driving mode, and her husband, hollywood director michael morris, was barely moving in traffic when a couple in another car flagged him down and told him to pull over. the l.a. county sheriff's department said no one was hurt and that the culprit was likely a battery or a mechanical issue. tesla said, "this is an extraordinarily unusual occurrence and we are investigating the incident to find out what happened." and as dramatic as those videos are, david, tesla says its electric cars are ten times less likely to ignite than gas-powered vehicles. david? >> matt gutman with us tonight. thank you, matt. >>> we reported late last week on meghan markle, now duchess meghan, of course, and her solo tour with the queen. but tonight, it's her father, who did not attend the wedding, now breaking his silence, on prince harry, on the queen, on presiden

actress mary mccormack tweeted saying tesla this is what happened to my husband and car today.accident out of the blue in traffic. in a statement, tesla says our initial investigation shows that the cabin of the vehicle was totally unaffected by the fire. due to our battery architecture. which is designed to protect the cabin in the very rare event that a battery fire occurs. >> of course the video footage itself looks alarmist. >> editor and chief at edmunds. >> there has been issues with batteries in the past. electric car batteries are different. sophisticated technology. >> tesla maintains it takes measures to protect passengers from fires which it says are ten times less likely in a tesla than in a gas car. >> we have driven over 50,000 miles in these vehicles and have never replicated this or anything like it nor have we seen evidence elsewhere of other cars spontaneously catching fire. i think it need more investigation. >> other incidents where tesla's call the fire involved collisions like this deadly florida crash last month. or impact with objects on the road. like t

. >> west wing actress mary mccormack tweeting her husband's model as my catching on fire spontaneouslyis week in los angeles. a scary scene as she tweeted thank god my three girls were not that my husband at the time. andy kohr's has been well-known director. this tesla follows autopilot crashes and utah and florida which has not been good pr for an electric carmaker. tesla says it's an extremely rare occurrence and they are investigating this case. then the short squeeze started after investors took note of elon musk's to eat warning goes against tesla stock. what's going to happen in three weeks? i think it goes back to the mass market model s and three pardon me. they have until the end of the month to get their poorly production target of 5000 model threes per week in wrapping up a time this weekend to get there and i should point out musk has burned short-sellers in the past. you warned about the tsunami of 500% in the 12 months afterwards. back to you guys. they van a smart cookie that guy guy. good to see a susan. melissa: scrutiny on capitol hill the head of the fbi and doj ins

"west wing" star mary mccormack tweeting this video of flames shooting out of her husband's model s,riting, this is what happened to my husband and his car today, no accident, out of the blue, in traffic, writing, thank god my three little girls were not in the car at the time. she says her husband was barely moving in traffic when a couple in another car flagged him down and told him to pull over. luckily no one was hurt. firefighters quickly putting out the blaze. the l.a. county sheriff's department saying the cause is likely a battery or mechanical issue. this fire just the latest in a string of incidents for tesla. the company already facing at least four federal investigations, including one for this incident in which the battery from this vehicle reignited a week after being towed to an impound lot. >> there's a lot of lithium ion in one place and so when it does catch on fire, the bigger concern immediately is are first responders adequately trained to address what to do with these batteries. >> reporter: that's a good question, and in response to this latest incident, tesla

mary mccormack tweeting a photo of her husband's car respond tape yously catching fire -- spontaneouslyre over the weekend. this comes after, of course, those autopilot crashes in california, utah and florida. at a time when tesla is laying off 9% of their work force. now, investors reacted to this news premarket when tesla was sold down, close to 2%, but it's actually up in the session because i think the market has taken note of elon musk's warning to short sellers who's very precise with the timing, saying it'll be three weeks before the short positions explode. now, what happens in three weeks? well, that's the time that tesla has to meet its model 3 quarterly production targets. they need to get to 5,000 a week for its mass market car which they've had to push back on twice. he has burned short sellers before, he warned of a tsunami of hurt in 2012 for short sellers, and the stock did go up, to his credit, 500%. so i think the markets are taking heed and maybe trusting elon musk this time around. back to you. neil: all right. super, thank you very, very much. in the meantime, there