California family returns to their decimated home eight months after their charging Tesla Model S sparked huge blaze that blew off the garage doors while they were sleeping

A California couple woke up one morning to find that their Tesla had caught fire while charging in their garage, causing $1million in damage.  

Yogi and Carolyn Vindum haven't been able to return to their San Ramon home since the December 30 fire that sent flames into an upstairs office and destroyed two bedrooms and a bathroom.

'We were lucky we got out without any injuries,' Yogi told the Washington Post. 'The garage doors actually blew off from the explosions.'

Yogi and Carolyn Vindum woke up December 30 to find their Tesla caught fire and was in the midst of causing $1million worth of damage to their home in San Ramon, California

Their two Teslas were destroyed, as were two bedrooms, an office and an upstairs bathroom

An inspection report said the car's thermal management system is one of two possible causes of the fire, with the other being a fault in the car's electrical system as it charged.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been investigating Tesla's battery management system since 2019. 

Vindum got an alert that his 2013 Tesla Model S, which was parked next to another Tesla, finished charging at 5.25am. 

Twelve minutes later, he and his wife were woken up by the car horn.

'When we got out of bed to investigate why it was on, we found that all our smoke alarms in the house were on,' he said.

The Tesla Model S retails for $90,000. The Vindums replaced theirs with an Audi

'We went to the front of the house, and at that point we could see flames coming from the garage to the roof of the house.' 

Yogi Vindum is the retired founder of Vindum Engineering, which makes 'high-pressure equipment for laboratory and pilot plant applications,' according to its website.

Tesla says its cars are 10 times less likely to catch fire than gas-powered vehicles, citing data from the National Fire Protection Association and U.S. Federal Highway Administration, but experts say the battery-powered vehicle's lithium-ion batters can make fires more intense when they do happen. 

The Model S consistently ranks at or near the top of Consumer Reports' annual owner satisfaction survey.

Meanwhile, the Model 3 is the only Tesla chosen as a 2021 Top Safety Pick by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a nonprofit founded by insurance companies.

The Model S starts at $90,000, while the Model 3 retails for $40,000. 

The Post has documented at least five fires involving the Tesla Model S, the flagship sedan from Elon Musk's electric car company.

On July 1, a Tesla Model S Plaid trapped a driver inside after it 'spontaneously' combusted in a residential area in Haverford, Pennsylvania, according to Reuters. 

Firefighters had to lay a 5-inch supply line into the scene so they could 'extinguish the fire and cool the batteries down to ensure complete extinguishment,' according to a statement from the Gladwyne Fire Department obtained by The Verge. 

In another episode, Tesla said it 'immediately sent a team on-site' after a Model S caught on fire inside a Shanghai car park 2019.  

Video of the incident was widely circulated by Chinese state media. 

The car maker said the fire was probably caused by a 'battery pack being damaged by an impact to the underside of the car,' according to Yicai Global. 

Teslas aren't the only electric cars raising concerns from regulators.

Last month, the NHTSA urged owners of Chevy Bolts from 2017 to 2019 to park their cars outside and away from homes 'due to the risk of fire.

'The vehicles that should be parked outside are those that for the potential of an unattended fire in the high-voltage battery pack underneath the backseat’s bottom cushion,' the administration said. 

Vindum, for his part, says he waited weeks for Tesla to assess what went wrong with his car.

'They never showed as far as I know,' he said. 

He replaced the charred cars with an Audi.  

'Gasoline-driven cars don't catch fire in the garage when they're sitting there. And that's the difference,' he told the Post. 'I don't worry about Audi catching fire downstairs when it's not running.'