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Tesla's Inherent Safety Saves Five Joyriding Teenagers In Germany (arstechnica.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the testament-to-safety dept.

According to German newspaper Merkur, one 18-year old and four of her friends lost control of her father's Model S electric vehicle. The car reportedly flew more than 80 feet into a field before it came to a stop. Even though the driver and two of the passengers were airlifted to hospitals, none of their injuries were life-threatening, thanks largely in part to Tesla's skateboard chassis. Ars Technica writes, "The skateboard chassis used by the Model S and Model X is extremely safe, with crumple zones that are unconcerned with engines that can transfer kinetic energy into the passengers during a frontal collision." The images of the crash are not pretty, but one could imagine how much worse they would be if a front-engined internal combustion vehicle were involved instead of the Tesla Model S.

4 of 240 comments (clear)

  1. Sales type 4: talk to the customer's fears by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    The car is as safe as any other modern car.

  2. So what? by fozzy1015 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Plenty of cars in that price range have "inherent safety" and would protect its occupants in a similar accident, even though they run on an internal combustion engine.

  3. Re:Why does anyone read Slashdot anymore? by Maritz · · Score: 5, Insightful

    If you fuck off, it'll be marginally more worth reading.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  4. It's hard to see how the conclusion is supported by DrXym · · Score: 4, Insightful
    All vehicles in Europe receive an NCAP rating as part of their certification. This rating is based on the safety features and survivability for adult and child occupants as well as pedestrians from collisions. The Tesla has a very respectable score as can be seen here. It's certainly a very safe car but it is not outstanding compared to petrol vehicles. E.g. most of the 2014 best in class petrol vehicles had similar or better scores.

    So saying it is "inherently safe" or that a petrol vehicle would fare worse is pretty absurd. Inherently safe cars don't plant themselves 25m into fields in the first place regardless of their form of propulsion. And that's without even knowing what caused the accident in the first place.