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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

#71

Post by veidr »

symmetricsaurus wrote: post #21

"With a track record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries since our vehicles went into production six years ago, there is no safer car on the road than a Tesla." I don't doubt that the Tesla Model S is a very safe car as tests have shown. With that said, how many deaths and serious injuries would have been expected considering the same number of miles driven with normal cars? Are Teslas actually substantiall…

Yes, they actually are in the 99th percentile of safety among all cars ever tested in the USA (per the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). So it's not just that most ppl 2 po'.

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

#72

Post by cpwright »

adamrneary wrote: post #30

Cause and effect: A statistically insignificant number of fires in Teslas caused a disproportionate amount of news coverage (there was much less news coverage about Tesla's best-ever safety rating). This perception needs to be overcome, even if it means informed consumers having to pay for titanium underneath otherwise safe cars. Tesla is doing their part, but it's a shame to see so many outside factors driving up th…

I worry about the effects of this overdoing it on the eventual Gen 3 vehicle. Clearly, at least in general a luxury vehicle that costs $70-100K is going to have more wizbang safety features than a $35K mid-range car. However, if Tesla is advocating this shielding to make electric batteries less likely to catch on fire, and then the Gen 3 skimps on electric-specific safety features they could definitely get PR flak for it. On the other hand, if they want to maintain this super-safe image, it is going to push the price up (and my guess the timeout out) for the more general appeal vehicle.

I'm hoping that my current vehicle lasts just long enough (both in terms of mechanically, and my patience with it getting older) for Tesla to come out with something in my price range.

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

#73

Post by chiph »

001sky wrote: post #35

Kudos for an engineering led solution. I have no idea what "ballistics grade aluminum" is (since nobody uses ALU for ballistics armour##), but Ti has more inherent toughness# and seems a better fit as a skid-plate. # elongation and tensile strength. ## The ballistic standard for armour (RHA) is a 1/4 steel plate. Ballistic Alu is roughly 1/2 inch or double the thickness used here, in most applications.

(since nobody uses ALU for ballistics armour)

The M2-series Bradley IFV uses aluminum armor. You'd think they would have learned from the Vietnam War era M113 APC that aluminum would burn readily.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M2_Bradley http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M113_armored_personnel_carrier

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

#74

Post by threeseed »

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…

Yes which is childish and pathetic.

Car safety should never, ever be joked about. People's lives are at stake.

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

#75

Post by empoman »

damon_c wrote: post #41
kzahel wrote: post #17

"With a track record of zero deaths or serious, permanent injuries since our vehicles went into production six years ago, there is no safer car on the road than a Tesla." I recall one Tesla caused death[1], and I'm sure there have been more. Not that I really think Tesla is any more dangerous than any other car in this regard though. [1] http://blog.sfgate.com/energy/2014/02/07/tesla-driver-blames...

Just checking... did you read that article? It says the car's "new car smell" caused the driver to suddenly fall asleep and kill a cyclist. Not sure if the car was actually at fault there...

It actually says that the driver claimed that it was the reason.

"He told officers that the car had a strong, new-car smell that prompted him to use a baking soda car freshener in it. Jain told authorities that the smell caused him to fall asleep and there were no mechanical problems with the car..."

But you're probably correct that the car was not at fault, the driver was probably just grasping for straws.

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

#76

Post by vermontdevil »

ghshephard wrote: post #13

Are there any other car manufacturers that have similar levels of clearance? I'd be intrigued to see how they perform in the same test scenarios that the Teslas were run against.

The problem is the expectations for other car manufacturers are much lower in terms of safety. So these companies do not try to push the safety envelope any higher.

The exception would be Volvo.

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

#77

Post by bo1024 »

drpancake wrote: post #66
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.

Agreed, what are the chances that there is no vulnerability (say buffer overflow attack) that allows a black hat to get into the system?

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

#78

Post by Cthulhu_ »

loceng wrote: post #25
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…

Exactly why. They're gently poking fun that Tesla vehicles are extremely safe, especially compared to fires - and then sticking it to critics further by actually announcing improvements to further reduce the already very low numbers of fire and further increase the already highest rating ever for a safety check for a vehicle. Well done Tesla and Elon.

And yet, I can't help but feel they're being very, very defensive over it. I can't blame them, of course, given how something trivial like a car fire (trivial given the average frequency of them) is turned into a national news event.

At the same time, Tesla's attention to quality and perfection and what-have-you will end up in them being heavily scrutinised. It's not that different from Apple in that respect; random mp3 player breaks, no problem. iPod breaks and the torches and pitchforks come into view.

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

#79

Post by lotsofmangos »

doe88 wrote: post #8

Why would Elon choose to post on Medium and not on the blog of Tesla? It would definitively bring more credence to post it on their official website. Until reading near the end I wasn't sure it was a Tesla employee/official or a third party story (and I use the term story here and not article on purpose because usually on Medium it is more stories than facts ).

Until reading near the end I wasn't sure it was a Tesla employee/official or a third party story

But, it says "By Elon Musk" in a large font slap bang in the middle of the screen just under the title of the piece when you open the page. I really think this might be down to your powers of observation rather than any oversight on their part.

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

#80

Post by nknighthb »

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…

I'd be pretty damn actively aggressive if someone was trying to make me apologize for manufacturing a car that kept its occupant safe in a 110mph crash.
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