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Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

iihs.org

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Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#41
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One moment you missed. Electric cars are very heavy, and their centres of mass tend to be right below the cabin. Having very strong pillars is pretty much a prerequisite for surviving a rollover in an EV.

They're not all that heavy any more. The Tesla Model 3 is 3552-4072 lbs, while the new Jeep Wrangler (JL) is 3955-4455 lbs.

Suzuki Mehran dry mass is around 550kg, and it's made of steel, not aluminium.

A more spacious Alto that uses some aluminium and magnesium is around 650kg.

Talking about "not-so-heavy" cars...

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#42

I get why Tesla gets the flak from analysts, it being a public company; But I rarely see an analyst speak about Tesla's impressive record in building safe cars. Especially when there are car manufacturers who try to hide flaws which can lead to catastrophic malfunction or had been caught with cheat devices for emissions test. Also one more thing which is less talked about is Tesla's autopilot being useful for people…

But I rarely see an analyst speak about Tesla's impressive record in building safe cars. Tesla's car safety features are not a major selling point compared to its EV features, and moreover are generally features common to EVs (i.e., additional crumple zones, floor rigidity). Tesla's autopilot still struggles to identify white trucks against a blue sky, and highway dividers, and can't seem to tell when the driver is a…

> known dangers of Tesla cars that make Teslas more likely to crash than other vehicles

Do you have any stats on this?

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#43
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Static load is a nice number, but that's not what car safety test should be about - car crash is a rather violent dynamic event. I guess most common situation is rolling of the car, with possible stop at some wall with roof absorbing most of the impact. I am not sure tests of such an event would be still so favorable. Or to put it differently - that's an impressive achievement of a situation that will never happen to…

Ask literally anyone who's been in a horrific wreck in a tesla and walked away. They're incredibly safe vehicles. There have been some pretty insane examples of this, such as this one: https://www.autoblog.com/2016/05/06/tesla-model-s-crash-germ...

Literally the definition of survivor bias.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#44
post #28
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.iihs.org/ratings/about-our-tests#roof-strength-t...

Thanks that’s good information. I still have a concern in that it appears this is a controlled pressure (it’s not a sudden violent impact), if it is a sudden violent impact then it’s not expressed that way to me. Metal gives and then fails. Glass gives minimally, and depending on tempering, can fail very, very quickly.

I also suspect this isn't a real world value because if you find yourself in an upside down car, chances are it's because you were in an accident. This means the vehicle likely acquired some damage and therefore would likely have a compromised support structure for the glass.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#45
post #2

This is the part that gets me: The Institute’s results also demonstrate the exceptional strength of Model 3’s all-glass roof, which is supported by a very strong metal body structure and helps protect occupants in roll-over crashes. During testing, the car’s roof was able to successfully resist more than 20,000 pounds of force – that’s more than if we placed five Model 3s on top of the car’s roof at once. And, the ro…

> It takes the weight of ~5 Model 3s ontop of a single one for the glass roof to shatter. That's good engineering.

But that's not what it says at all. No where does it say the glass won't shatter.

The Model 3 roof has two roll bars, one links the A pillars and the other links the B pillars. That's what's strong.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#46
post #4
post #2

This is the part that gets me: The Institute’s results also demonstrate the exceptional strength of Model 3’s all-glass roof, which is supported by a very strong metal body structure and helps protect occupants in roll-over crashes. During testing, the car’s roof was able to successfully resist more than 20,000 pounds of force – that’s more than if we placed five Model 3s on top of the car’s roof at once. And, the ro…

In a rollover the glass might encounter a sharp point (ala “ninja rocks”) which exerts impact on a very small area causing failure, no? Or is their glass capable of absorbing these impacts?

The glass will almost certainly break in a rollover crash. But it's laminated safety glass, so it won't be dangerous. More importantly, the metal frame of the roof acts as a roll cage, and that's what IIHS tests the strength of. They're not really testing the glass.

See pictures of a rolled over Model 3 here: https://electrek.co/2018/07/15/tesla-model-3-rollover-crash/ The glass is broken but the rigid metal frame clearly protected the occupants from harm.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#47

I get why Tesla gets the flak from analysts, it being a public company; But I rarely see an analyst speak about Tesla's impressive record in building safe cars. Especially when there are car manufacturers who try to hide flaws which can lead to catastrophic malfunction or had been caught with cheat devices for emissions test. Also one more thing which is less talked about is Tesla's autopilot being useful for people…

That's pronbably because Tesla has an impressive record of overstating how safe their cars are. Notice how this is the first Tesla car to qualify for Top Safety Pick+? That's not because the Model S wasn't tested, it's because it didn't qualify - and Tesla went ahead and claimed it was the safest car on the market based on a dubious interpretation of the much more limited NHTSA tests which was rejected by the NHTSA themselves.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#48

I get why Tesla gets the flak from analysts, it being a public company; But I rarely see an analyst speak about Tesla's impressive record in building safe cars. Especially when there are car manufacturers who try to hide flaws which can lead to catastrophic malfunction or had been caught with cheat devices for emissions test. Also one more thing which is less talked about is Tesla's autopilot being useful for people…

> Also one more thing which is less talked about is Tesla's autopilot being useful for people with disabilities although Tesla hasn't added any specific features for people with disabilities AFAIK.

Autopilot isn't solution for disabilities. If you aren't able to drive car without AP, you cannot drive one with AP - you have to be able to intervene and take over at any point of AP operation.

Don't get people killed by spreading misinformation.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#49
post #2

This is the part that gets me: The Institute’s results also demonstrate the exceptional strength of Model 3’s all-glass roof, which is supported by a very strong metal body structure and helps protect occupants in roll-over crashes. During testing, the car’s roof was able to successfully resist more than 20,000 pounds of force – that’s more than if we placed five Model 3s on top of the car’s roof at once. And, the ro…

Please do not use code formatting for quotes. It creates a terribly long unbroken side-scrollable box.

> The Institute’s results also demonstrate the exceptional strength of Model 3’s all-glass roof, which is supported by a very strong metal body structure and helps protect occupants in roll-over crashes. During testing, the car’s roof was able to successfully resist more than 20,000 pounds of force – that’s more than if we placed five Model 3s on top of the car’s roof at once. And, the roof earned a higher strength-to-weight ratio score than any other fully electric vehicle that IIHS has ever tested.

Re: Tesla earns its first-ever safety award from IIHS for Model 3

#50

I get why Tesla gets the flak from analysts, it being a public company; But I rarely see an analyst speak about Tesla's impressive record in building safe cars. Especially when there are car manufacturers who try to hide flaws which can lead to catastrophic malfunction or had been caught with cheat devices for emissions test. Also one more thing which is less talked about is Tesla's autopilot being useful for people…

> Also one more thing which is less talked about is Tesla's autopilot being useful for people with disabilities although Tesla hasn't added any specific features for people with disabilities AFAIK. Autopilot isn't solution for disabilities. If you aren't able to drive car without AP, you cannot drive one with AP - you have to be able to intervene and take over at any point of AP operation. Don't get people killed by…

I said autopilot is useful for people with disabilities and also added Tesla hasn't added any feature for disability assist. I didn't imply disabled should go buy a Tesla.

Diability can be of various nature, affecting accessbility in various manner. Iam myself disabled, Tesla is not available in my country; I hope to drive one when available and so I keep track of experience of disabled people with Tesla.

That said you can find numerous videos of disabled people testifying Tesla autopilot is easier to use[1].

[1]:https://youtu.be/cuZYROM4Vrs

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