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Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

teslamotors.com

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Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#71

Post by ISL »

notaddicted wrote: post #62
ISL wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you ask a rocket scientist to make you a car that passes the crash test ratings alone, they'll build you a tungsten dump truck. If you're going to win, you might as well reach the destination without noticing that you've had a collision.

I believe one of the tests is crashing into a wall that yields very little, so the tungsten dumptruck would fare poorly, exciting as it would be to drive. EDIT: this one: http://youtu.be/V5R80yUUVNk

The wall at left in that video is, at most, four dump trucks in volume and perhaps constructed of reinforced concrete (density ~2,500 kg/m^3)?

A single solid tungsten dump truck would have almost twice the mass of the wall. Even with a completely inelastic collision, the wall's going to shatter and move. For a 35 mph collision, I think you're right, that wall would ultimately bring the truck to a halt from friction with the ground. At higher speeds, I think the truck might make it through.

Tungsten is quite dense (19,300 kg/m^3). Such a truck would have a mass of >400 metric tons (2 x 3 x 4 m x 19 tons/m^3), or >247 Toyota Tacomas (2013 extended cab, curb weight 3560 lb --> 1618 kg).

The truck would be terrifying to drive, once you got it going. I don't know how you'd turn.

Alas, Youtube is short on tungsten dumptrucks, but this may suffice. In a demonstration, a truck uses its brakes to stop after obliterating a few cars. The truck is driven by a real person.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h6TRqjjnO58

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#72

Post by ghayes »

iandanforth wrote: post #7

Favorite quote: "[T]he exact number is uncertain due to Model S breaking the testing machine"

My favorite was "While this is statistically unlikely to remain the case long term, Tesla is unaware of any Model S or Roadster occupant fatalities in any car ever."

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#73

Post by OGC »

ra88it wrote: post #50

Elon Musk clearly writes these things himself. That, or he's got a bunch of other folks like him working at Tesla. Either way, it's exciting times. It's fun to be inspired by a company. To find something that keeps getting better as it unfolds...

> Elon Musk clearly writes these things himself.

What the fuck? Get a grip, PR is _an_ industry.

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#74

Post by Lagged2Death »

callmeed wrote: post #30

If you're curious, like I was, about the side pole test, here's a video of the Tesla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvH3lysmJA Here's a Prius for comparison (4 stars): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc0uUx2T37k

That's a Prius C, the new super-small one based on the Yaris chassis. Given its ultra-low-budget roots, four stars is actually really impressive. Yeah, the Tesla is better, but it's a newer, heavier, and far more expensive design. It should be better.

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#75

Post by OGC »

unionjack22 wrote: post #3

"It is possible to game the regulatory testing score to some degree by strengthening a car at the exact locations used by the regulatory testing machines. After verifying through internal testing that the Model S would achieve a NHTSA 5-star rating, Tesla then analyzed the Model S to determine the weakest points in the car and retested at those locations until the car achieved 5 stars no matter how the test equipment…

by gaming the fucking test?

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#76

Post by enraged_camel »

eru wrote: post #66
ra88it wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure. I guess what I mean is I can see his hand in the work. (Or at least I've convinced myself of that.) Tesla's PR is many things, but it's not safe. It feels plain and unadorned and yet genuinely enthusiastic and precisely bold. I used to be worried that Musk's hand was too heavy on the tiller. Now I'm just enjoying the show.

> Tesla's PR is many things, but it's not safe. It feels plain and unadorned and yet genuinely enthusiastic and precisely bold. In most big companies the PR people have to cover their asses, but don't have too much ownership of what they say. Whereas for Tesla someone who's not afraid is calling the shots.

Exactly. It is an incredibly refreshing departure from how things are normally done in Corporate America.

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#78

Post by stevewilber »

dredmorbius wrote: post #61
sbierwagen wrote: post #31

It helps that it weighs 4,600 pounds. (More than a thousand pounds heavier than the Volvo S60 they compare it to.) Heavier vehicles always do better-- which is why SUVs survive crashes so well.

First: SUVs don't survive crashes particularly well -- they're very prone to rollover, which generally makes for a bad day for the occupant. I've witnessed multiple large-SUV vs. Camry (mid-sized sedan) accidents where the Toyota fared far better (walk away vs. ambulance or worse). Weight can be a factor, especially in multiple-vehicle accidents, where the heavier vehicle simply has more momentum and kinetic energy.…

First: SUVs don't survive crashes particularly well

This is outdated information, SUVs are now far safer than cars. Death rate (per 1M vehicle years) for 4WD midsize SUV: 23. Midsize Sedan: 51 [1]

[1] http://www.iihs.org/externaldata/srdata/docs/sr4605.pdf

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#79

Post by kolokonokos »

OGC wrote: post #75
unionjack22 wrote: post #3

"It is possible to game the regulatory testing score to some degree by strengthening a car at the exact locations used by the regulatory testing machines. After verifying through internal testing that the Model S would achieve a NHTSA 5-star rating, Tesla then analyzed the Model S to determine the weakest points in the car and retested at those locations until the car achieved 5 stars no matter how the test equipment…

by gaming the fucking test?

No, it sounds like first they made sure they could get the 5-star rating on the test, and then they kept working so that the car had 5-star safety even if they changed the test. They could have just gamed the test to get an inflated score but instead made a car that isn't just built to pass the test.

Re: Tesla Model S achieves best safety rating of any car ever tested

#80

Post by teamonkey »

Lagged2Death wrote: post #74
callmeed wrote: post #30

If you're curious, like I was, about the side pole test, here's a video of the Tesla: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBvH3lysmJA Here's a Prius for comparison (4 stars): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yc0uUx2T37k

That's a Prius C, the new super-small one based on the Yaris chassis. Given its ultra-low-budget roots, four stars is actually really impressive. Yeah, the Tesla is better, but it's a newer, heavier, and far more expensive design. It should be better.

Here's a Prius v. Looks worse than the c.

http://youtu.be/GNZ5ojGRiRU

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