To: WSFAlist at keithlynch.net
Date: Tue, 30 Jul 2002 10:53:01 -0400
Subject: [WSFA] Fw: NY tabloid: electric car goes beserk
From: ronkean at juno.com
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>

The notorious NYC tabloid NY POST reports that a Florida tree-hugger's
eco-friendly car killed her dog, burned down her house, and nearly killed
her archaeologist husband.  Chrysler did not return calls.

--------- Forwarded message ----------
To: MDLP-News at yahoogroups.com

NYPOST

Tuesday, July 30, 2002

HELL-CAR BURNS MODEL'S HOME

By RICHARD JOHNSON with Paula Froelich and Chris Wilson

VERONICA Webb's eco-friendly electric car turned into a fire-spewing
death machine the other night, burning down her Key West house and
killing her beloved dog, Hercules.

Despite her long devotion to various green causes, the six-month
pregnant supermodel says she's through with electric cars after her
Chrysler Gem overloaded while charging late last Monday night, sending
flames through her air conditioning system and consuming everything in
its wake.

"We got the car because it was supposed to be great for the environment,
but no one ever warns you how dangerous they are," Webb tells PAGE SIX's
Ian Spiegelman.

Firefighters who rushed to the scene told Webb that good intentions
often turn lovely homes into blazing death zones.  "They said they see
this kind of thing with electric cars all the time," she says.
"Electric cars and golf carts are always overloading their chargers and
burning up, but no one knows about it."

Among the hidden dangers, Webb says, were four hidden high-powered
batteries.  "There are four extra batteries that aren't shown in the
[owner's manual] diagram.  They need to be serviced but you can't
service them if you don't even know that they're there."

Luckily, Webb was in New York shopping for baby furniture when the blaze
erupted, but her new husband, Wall Streeter turned amateur archaeologist
George Robb, was asleep in bed.  He barely escaped with his life.  "By
the time the fire department showed up, they didn't even go inside to
look for survivors because they assumed that anyone left inside was long
dead.  They said George got out with 30 seconds to spare."

Her devoted long-haired dachshund, 8-year-old Hercules, was not so
lucky.  "At first George called me saying Hercules had gotten out and
was okay.  Then he started saying he was cold.  He wasn't breathing.  He
couldn't survive in that smoke."

Hercules, who had a cameo role in Ben Stiller's "Zoolander," might have
survived if Webb's Gem had been the only electronic device that
malfunctioned that night.  "Our $4,000 fire alarm system never went
off," she says.  "All of us blindly trust our fire detectors, and I
would hate to see this happen to anyone else."

Webb says that after her insurance company contacted Chrysler, the
automaker set up several appointments to inspect the wreckage, but never
showed up and never called to reschedule.  A Chrysler spokesman did not
return our calls.

.

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