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Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

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Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#61

Post by iancarroll »

crusso wrote: post #52
sz4kerto wrote: post #3

"However, to improve things further, we provided an over-the-air software update a few months ago to increase the default ground clearance of the Model S at highway speeds" I know this is not specific to Tesla, but it's still really cool. :)

I realize that the suspension isn't unique to Tesla, but over-the-air software updates seem to be. It irks me to no end that I'm told that my Infiniti can't be updated to even work properly with my iPhone, much less the fact that they want to charge for gps map updates that are essentially free from Apple, Google, Microsoft, etc.

I'm pretty sure map data is expensive and those companies license it.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#62

Post by 300bps »

cma wrote: post #38
seunosewa wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's ridiculous about it?

That it sounds like it was written in Slashdot passive aggressive style: rather than just directly saying it was an extreme scenario, they used list of somewhat-hyperbolic-but-way-more-so-if-you-know-the-jargon descriptors of each element of the crash.

Sounded like a list of facts about the crash to me. What should Tesla have done in this situation? The media was spreading the falsehood that Tesla vehicles are more prone to fires than the average gasoline car. That is provably false. In this article they state that it is false and then give the very unusual sequence of events that led to the unusual outcome.

Media reports leave people thinking, "Electric vehicle? No thanks, too dangerous." Tesla's response leaves people thinking, "Well I have no plans to go 110 MPH through a round-about so I'll probably be OK." The latter is more accurate.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#63

Post by squigs25 »

It's really difficult to emphasize how excessive this is. As a mechanical engineer, I knew just by reading the title that this is really excessive, because the titanium alloy used is definitely a marketing stunt.

Titanium has unbelievable tensile strength for its weight, but there's no good reason to make an "underbody shield" out of titanium except for publicity. It would make way more sense to use steel (and maybe you could make a case for something ultra light weight, like carbon fiber, but probably not).

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#64

Post by veidr »

jusben1369 wrote: post #43

"An ode to passive/aggressive and hyper defensive writing" Did this remind anyone else of when the smartest kid in the room was forced to apologize for something and you got the classic non apology apology? Keep building great cars Elon and changing the world. Understand that we understand that there will be (I almost said bumps in the road) and that no one expected you to be perfect in every way from the very beginn…

But really, yours doesn't sound as good as his. His made me kinda want to buy a Tesla.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#65

Post by mbrameld »

cma wrote: post #38
seunosewa wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's ridiculous about it?

That it sounds like it was written in Slashdot passive aggressive style: rather than just directly saying it was an extreme scenario, they used list of somewhat-hyperbolic-but-way-more-so-if-you-know-the-jargon descriptors of each element of the crash.

I think Tesla is probably exasperated that a couple Model S cars catching fire is international news while cars from other manufacturers catch fire every day and it's barely even worthy of the local news.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#66

Post by drpancake »

sz4kerto wrote: post #3

"However, to improve things further, we provided an over-the-air software update a few months ago to increase the default ground clearance of the Model S at highway speeds" I know this is not specific to Tesla, but it's still really cool. :)

I'm sure there are strict security measures and a rigorous testing regime in place, but still the idea of some anonymous engineer being able to push an over-the-air update to my fast moving, two-ton lump of metal makes me a little nervous.

(Tin foil hat mode) Imagine the implications of some malicious third party gaining access to that process.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#67

Post by lkmz »

unphasable wrote: post #54
zacharycohn wrote: post #5

"We believe these changes will also help prevent a fire resulting from an extremely high speed impact that tears the wheels off the car, like the other Model S impact fire, which occurred last year in Mexico. This happened after the vehicle impacted a roundabout at 110 mph, shearing off 15 feet of concrete curbwall and tearing off the left front wheel, then smashing through an eight foot tall buttressed concrete wall…

This is written in a semi-sarcastic/ passive aggressive tone to get across the point of how safe their vehicles already are. Very cheeky of Elon and his team.

Let's not forget that Tesla recently issued a recall for 29,000 charging adapters because they would overheat and catch on fire.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/automobiles/citing-chargin...

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#68

Post by moogleii »

cma wrote: post #38
seunosewa wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's ridiculous about it?

That it sounds like it was written in Slashdot passive aggressive style: rather than just directly saying it was an extreme scenario, they used list of somewhat-hyperbolic-but-way-more-so-if-you-know-the-jargon descriptors of each element of the crash.

Yes, definitely a contender for most ridiculous thing heard.

Edit: Sorry, "ever" heard.

Re: Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S

#69

Post by [deleted] »

300bps wrote: post #62
cma wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That it sounds like it was written in Slashdot passive aggressive style: rather than just directly saying it was an extreme scenario, they used list of somewhat-hyperbolic-but-way-more-so-if-you-know-the-jargon descriptors of each element of the crash.

Sounded like a list of facts about the crash to me. What should Tesla have done in this situation? The media was spreading the falsehood that Tesla vehicles are more prone to fires than the average gasoline car. That is provably false. In this article they state that it is false and then give the very unusual sequence of events that led to the unusual outcome. Media reports leave people thinking, "Electric vehicle? N…

[deleted]
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