Plaid Fire Car fires are scary. Airplane fires are even more so, since you can’t just pull over and hop out. Scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and NASA, and in England and France may have come up with a way to stop electric car fires. Owners of petrol-powered autos will have to continue to check for leaking flammable fluids, greasy engines, and sources of the 140,000 car fires in the US alone every year. There aren’t that many electric car fires, but they make the news. One in particular, a brand new, low-mileage Tesla S Plaid, melted down after self-igniting. Reportedly, the $130,000 car briefly trapped the owner inside. The Verge reports, “Luckily, the driver escaped alive. It’s also important to note that this could be a flaw with the design, but further investigation is necessary to confirm or refute this possibility.” A headline fire like this draws headline legal attention – in this case from Mark …