Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

jalopnik.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

111–120 of 134 posts

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#111

Post by justin66 »

inertial wrote: post #75
blinkingled wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's laughably bad of Tesla - the thumb wide gaps in the body, the gluing rubber parts on glass seals because the original one was way out of tolerance, door rattle, one door having two ways to open but not the others - the screen that goes you have activated alternate door opening mechanism or some such thing - all pretty embarrassing. Never mind the insane difficulty to open the hood in an accident which looks li…

Porsche had (or has) similar issues with opening the hood without power. https://perryandcoblog.com/2009/11/17/porsche-carrera-911-99... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ss6-8TJYIqE

That's a car where failure to open the hood quickly will not cause a delay in sawing through a door to save a life. That's the urgency with the Tesla, really: rescuers need to cut the cable that is inside.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#112

Post by SmellyGeekBoy »

blinkingled wrote: post #110
inferiorhuman wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> And to think Tesla is all batteries that have strong chance of starting a fire - ugh. A gasoline car has plenty of flammable material as well.

Right, but the batteries are more vulnerable to starting a fire in collisions than gasoline. I think there were cases of Tesla car batteries starting fire on impact.

I hate to be "that guy" but... Do you have a citation for that, by any chance?

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#113

Post by S_A_P »

Someone1234 wrote: post #34
S_A_P wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would not doubt that the build quality of the Tesla is lacking in areas that are cosmetic. Ive seen numerous Model S and Model X vehicles with atrocious panel gaps and things that people coming from the likes of Audi, BMW, MB, and Lexus would notice. That said, it doesnt seem to be affecting their safety, as there is a pretty significant amount of crash data from tesla vehicles that shows that they are among the sa…

With all due respect did you not watch the video? Much of the focus was on safety during an accident. The 3 they were looking at had two points to cut the electrical system, both of which were hard to get to during an accident, and the rear doors had no mechanical backup at all. If power goes out rear passengers need to make their way to the front seats or trunk. Maybe watch the actual video rather than imagining wha…

I did see the video, and I know the criticisms about the electrical system. I think that is a very real scenario that should be addressed. But not all crashes will cause fire and loss of power in this car. There have already been Model 3's that crashed, and the occupants were not hurt even after a head on collision with a utility pole that totaled the car. That was my point. It isn't a safety issue that the cars have panel gap issues and they look like beta versions. Saying that the car is built like a 90s Kia would imply that it is hazardous to drive the car and that it is unsafe at any speed. Its hyperbole. Its grandstanding, its not reality.

Im a fan of Tesla, I wish the best for them. They arent perfect, there is a ton of room for improvement, but it is largely cosmetic and not safety critical.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#114

Post by AckSyn »

Shivetya wrote: post #45
blinkingled wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's laughably bad of Tesla - the thumb wide gaps in the body, the gluing rubber parts on glass seals because the original one was way out of tolerance, door rattle, one door having two ways to open but not the others - the screen that goes you have activated alternate door opening mechanism or some such thing - all pretty embarrassing. Never mind the insane difficulty to open the hood in an accident which looks li…

I do not understand how there is no manual mechanism for opening the rear doors from the inside, how does that even happen? His comments about the outside door handles were at least prefaced with his own physical limitation but the state of that car is mind boggling. This is on top of the known promised features and oversight with regards to the programming of the display. I did notice on reddit there is a story of a…

Because many third doors can't open without the front door being open. This isn't a new concept or design. It's been around for decades.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#115

Post by maxerickson »

icc97 wrote: post #105
Bluestrike2 wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've seen similar comments everywhere I stumbled across this story. It's an easy takeaway, but that's not how automakers look at competitive benchmarking. Working with a company like Munro is an engineering decision. Munro breaks cars down, reverse engineers everything they possibly can, and draws as many conclusions about production methods as possible. Engineers with other automakers use this data to learn from how…

The stuff that Munro is pointing out is so fundamental that I don't see how there's bias in it. The craziness that there is some hidden circle underneath the front hatch that you have to know to open and pull out a couple of leads to attach to a 12V battery is maddening. The fire department would have to do this to be able to cut the cable that's in the front hatch. I can see there being a Model 3 recall over that ki…

I'm curious what first responders think. I search a bit and found some Ford info, I looked at the 2013 electric focus here:

https://www.nfpa.org/Training-and-Events/By-topic/Alternativ...

The battery disconnect procedures there, using the high voltage service disconnects, start with lowering the back seat or jacking up the rear of the car.

Tesla provides the location of the little access panel on the quick response sheet here:

https://www.tesla.com/firstresponders

Requiring 12 volts to pop the hood is not great but it doesn't seem to be that much of a departure either.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#116

Post by rhinoceraptor »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #112
blinkingled wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but the batteries are more vulnerable to starting a fire in collisions than gasoline. I think there were cases of Tesla car batteries starting fire on impact.

I hate to be "that guy" but... Do you have a citation for that, by any chance?

AFAIK, Teslas just use huge arrays of 18650s. And it's well known that lithium cells can catch fire if they are crushed or pierced.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#117

Post by blinkingled »

SmellyGeekBoy wrote: post #112
blinkingled wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right, but the batteries are more vulnerable to starting a fire in collisions than gasoline. I think there were cases of Tesla car batteries starting fire on impact.

I hate to be "that guy" but... Do you have a citation for that, by any chance?

No, but it's fairly common knowledge that li-ion batteries are at fire risk on overheating and collision/impact(ref: Tesla fires). That's not to say Tesla didn't firewall the car enough to prevent fires from reaching in the cabin but it's still not a good idea to be locked in there when batteries are burning below.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#118

Post by nugi »

omgbananas wrote: post #94
lemonberry wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I keep one in the pocket of my driver's side door and one in the glove box. The ones I have also have a razor for cutting through the seatbelt.

> in the pocket of my driver's side door After a roll-over, it won't be there and you may not be able to reach the glove box. If you have a center console, I recommend keeping it there (that's where I keep mine). If you're reading this and you don't have one in your car, buy one now. Here is a link for 2 for $10 (give the other one to your spouse/parent/kid/someone): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CQN0DDC/

Either place will find the tool potentially flying thru the cabin upon an accident. Strap it down. Same goes for fire extinguishers, jacks, and tools kept in the cabin. If your escape tool knovks you unconscious in the wreck, it does you no good.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#119

Post by function_seven »

allendoerfer wrote: post #102
function_seven wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not a bad idea, but are those prongs hard enough? I thought window-breaking tools have a ceramic or tungsten (?) point on them to start the glass fracture. I'm not going to test it, but I imagine myself desperately bouncing the metal prongs off the inside of a window.

You have to hit the edges of the side windows, they are the weak spot. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i5rycLJ3D8&feature=youtu.be...

Thanks. I always thought that you had to hit on the actual edge of tempered glass, which is impossible on a rolled-up car window.

Looks like near the edge is good enough.

Re: A Company That Tears Cars Apart to Find Out How They're Built

#120

Post by icc97 »

maxerickson wrote: post #115
icc97 wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The stuff that Munro is pointing out is so fundamental that I don't see how there's bias in it. The craziness that there is some hidden circle underneath the front hatch that you have to know to open and pull out a couple of leads to attach to a 12V battery is maddening. The fire department would have to do this to be able to cut the cable that's in the front hatch. I can see there being a Model 3 recall over that ki…

I'm curious what first responders think. I search a bit and found some Ford info, I looked at the 2013 electric focus here: https://www.nfpa.org/Training-and-Events/By-topic/Alternativ... The battery disconnect procedures there, using the high voltage service disconnects, start with lowering the back seat or jacking up the rear of the car. Tesla provides the location of the little access panel on the quick response s…

If you compare it to having a lever by the driver as in any other car, that's 2 seconds to do vs them having to search on the Internet / find documents in the car then find the hole then connect up a battery.

The car could be upside down or on a very steep hill. It all seems pretty frightening stuff. You're basically just praying you don't have a serious crash which is back to the 60s.

I don't think that emergency procedures should be matched to other electric vehicles they should be matched to existing ICE cars.

Post reply on HN