EV Hard acceleration on rear facing infant necks

[davidew98]

I had a 2020 Hyundai Kona EV, have a 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV, & will be getting my 2022 Tesla Model Y in about a week. I have a 20 month old toddler and wife is pregnant again. my toddler is on the small side so she'll be rear facing for a while and the new baby will be rear facing too. Toddler's infant years were spent in a Kona EV and I was scared to accelerate hard. Every once in a while I'd forget and look back and see her neck go forward, I was YIKES and felt terrible!

I've tried googling for any studies or doctors discussing the issue and nothing comes up remotely close. I get articles about power wheels when looking up babies and electric cars, ugg! I know some people say just the swinging motion of a baby swing can cause neck injuries!

Car seats are rear facing to prevent the babies head from flying forward in a frontal collision. but with a seat facing rearward the childs head will whip forward.

I'm NOT looking for hearsay or public assumptions. I understand all the different thoughts about this subject. I ONLY want any info people might have found in reference to any kind of studies OR doctors commenting on the subject!

Keep it factorial!
PLEASE PROVIDE REFERENCES!

 

[wk057]

This is probably one of the most out in left field posts trying to manufacture an issue that I've seen in a while. You're almost certainly not going to find any such studies because the entire premise is ridiculous in the first place. Perhaps there's studies on baby neck/head movement in general, but if you're trying to find something related to babies being hurt in EVs due to acceleration... you're going to have to get the UAW to sponsor it for you or something.

Don't want to risk potentially hurting your child due to hard acceleration (in a Tesla or any other vehicle)? How about you just.... not do that? Non-existent problem solved 100%, no studies required!

 

[GtiMart]

You can set your acceleration to Chill to reduce the maximum acceleration of your car. This alone might prevent all issues. If not, it will greatly reduce the risk.

 

[davidew98]

You can set your acceleration to Chill to reduce the maximum acceleration of your car. This alone might prevent all issues. If not, it will greatly reduce the risk.

Glad to hear that, as far as I remember even on Eco or Eco+ modes the Kona had some mad acceleration! I'll be using chill mode mostly 100% of the time anyway, don't need the hard acceleration just want the BEST DAMN EV out there!

 

[davidew98]

This is probably one of the most out in left field posts trying to manufacture an issue that I've seen in a while. You're almost certainly not going to find any such studies because the entire premise is ridiculous in the first place. Perhaps there's studies on baby neck/head movement in general, but if you're trying to find something related to babies being hurt in EVs due to acceleration... you're going to have to get the UAW to sponsor it for you or something.

Don't want to risk potentially hurting your child due to hard acceleration (in a Tesla or any other vehicle)? How about you just.... not do that? Non-existent problem solved 100%, no studies required!

I'm not trying to get studies, not trying to manufacture problems either! Just trying to find out if anyone else saw anything since all I saw was power wheels, ROFL! Not even saying there is an issue, it's more trying to weed thru all the fud, hell a baby swing causing neck injury, come on! I get your point!

 

[tm1v2]

@davidew98 I don't think you need a formal study or academic research to know that stomping on the accelerator on a really fast car with a rear-facing infant is a bad idea. Just don't do it! As @GtiMart suggested, use Chill mode if you need.

I also suggest some self-control with that lead foot. I'm not judging you, just suggesting it for your own sake. Many cars are stupid powerful these days, not just EVs, it's worth practicing restraint. Save the hard driving for times when you're alone, or when all passengers are truly okay and safe with it.

 

[tm1v2]

I'm not trying to get studies, not trying to manufacture problems either! Just trying to find out if anyone else saw anything since all I saw was power wheels, ROFL! Not even saying there is an issue, it's more trying to weed thru all the fud, hell a baby swing causing neck injury, come on! I get your point!

Yes I agree that stomping on the accelerator in a Tesla or other quick car with an infant on board is a bad idea! We bought our Model S P85 with our baby on the way to be our family car. This absolutely did cross my mind and I always drove gently with him until he got a lot older, sturdier, front-facing, and able to express his own comfort level.

 

[RobDickinson]

How about try driving with some understanding of who is a passenger?

 

[drtimhill]

I had a 2020 Hyundai Kona EV, have a 2013 Toyota RAV4 EV, & will be getting my 2022 Tesla Model Y in about a week. I have a 20 month old toddler and wife is pregnant again. my toddler is on the small side so she'll be rear facing for a while and the new baby will be rear facing too. Toddler's infant years were spent in a Kona EV and I was scared to accelerate hard. Every once in a while I'd forget and look back and see her neck go forward, I was YIKES and felt terrible!

I've tried googling for any studies or doctors discussing the issue and nothing comes up remotely close. I get articles about power wheels when looking up babies and electric cars, ugg! I know some people say just the swinging motion of a baby swing can cause neck injuries!

Car seats are rear facing to prevent the babies head from flying forward in a frontal collision. but with a seat facing rearward the childs head will whip forward.

I'm NOT looking for hearsay or public assumptions. I understand all the different thoughts about this subject. I ONLY want any info people might have found in reference to any kind of studies OR doctors commenting on the subject!

Keep it factorial!
PLEASE PROVIDE REFERENCES!

Why take the risk? When kids are in car choose Chill acceleration (or, better still, create another driver profile and make Chill profile your default).

 

[redalf]

Giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming it's a genuine inquiry, I think the misunderstanding is that OP is under the impression the instant torque of an EV makes for every start being a hard abrupt starts. The accelerator pedal of an EV works just the same though, you might have to learn what touch is right for you but otherwise you can ease into a start just as easily in an EV as you'd like.

 

[Empiro]

I'm not aware of any studies done, but the physics suggest that it's not that bad. Even a car accelerating as quickly as 3 seconds from 0-60 is only accelerating at about 1g -- the amount of force you normally feel standing or sitting. The net g-force including gravity would be about 1.5gs.

If you've ever tossed your toddler into the air and caught her, it's likely she's experienced higher g forces than that, though you usually handle it better when you expect it.

Still, for the sake of comfort alone, keep the car in chill mode and everything will be fine.

 

[Earl]

note to self: take kids out of car seats next time I go to the drag strip. Probably good to take car seats out too - they could become missile hazards.

 

[Rocky_H]

Every once in a while I'd forget

How do you forget that you have your baby in the car?

I am going to split my vote between two posts:

@wk057 , that this is made-up nonsense anti-EV bull&%^#.
or
@redalf , that someone thinks the accelerators on electric cars are a toggle switch between MAXIMUM/OFF, with no scale to them.

 

[tm1v2]

@redalf , that someone thinks the accelerators on electric cars are a toggle switch between MAXIMUM/OFF, with no scale to them.

@Rocky_H To be fair, the standard accelerator mapping on my M3P is way overly aggressive, it just takes a tiny fraction of pedal travel to get big power. A very inopportune cough or reflex or such probably could send the car accelerating too quickly. That's different than the OP's issue of driver forgetfulness though.

Plenty of ICE cars have stupid gimmicky aggressive throttle mappings too though, it's by no means just a Tesla thing. And some Teslas are better, e.g. our S P85 isn't nearly so jumpy on the accelerator.

On my last couple ICE cars it was easy to remap the drive-by-wire throttle however you liked using ECU tuning tools. Unfortunately I haven't come across any such thing for a modern S3XY Tesla. Would be really sweet if Tesla made custom accelerator maps a built-in feature, taking advantage of the big touchscreen!

 

[Rocky_H]

choose Chill acceleration (or, better still, create another driver profile and make Chill profile your default)

I have always thought it was funny how when Tesla developed and rolled out the "Chill" throttle mapping, they never deployed it to my car's software.

"You just have an old S85. It doesn't have enough power to need Chill."

 

[GtiMart]

You're not missing much. Chill mode is bland... You can achieve exactly the same thing by pressing less on the accelerator, which has a very reasonable mapping, at least on my acceleration boost awd 3.

Chill mode limits power to around 200hp as seen on some dyno tests. You can press as hard as you want, the other 200+ horses are not answering

 

[davidew98]

@davidew98 I don't think you need a formal study or academic research to know that stomping on the accelerator on a really fast car with a rear-facing infant is a bad idea. Just don't do it! As @GtiMart suggested, use Chill mode if you need.

I also suggest some self-control with that lead foot. I'm not judging you, just suggesting it for your own sake. Many cars are stupid powerful these days, not just EVs, it's worth practicing restraint. Save the hard driving for times when you're alone, or when all passengers are truly okay and safe with it.

Now that I have my model y yes I use chill mode! But she’s 2 now! Back then in the Hyundai I had to baby the pedal but the acceleration arc on that damn thing was stop and go not much in between!

 

[davidew98]

@davidew98 I don't think you need a formal study or academic research to know that stomping on the accelerator on a really fast car with a rear-facing infant is a bad idea. Just don't do it! As @GtiMart suggested, use Chill mode if you need.

I also suggest some self-control with that lead foot. I'm not judging you, just suggesting it for your own sake. Many cars are stupid powerful these days, not just EVs, it's worth practicing restraint. Save the hard driving for times when you're alone, or when all passengers are truly okay and safe with it.

Don’t have a lead foot. Just drove trucks, big vans, and old beaters that wouldn’t go! Then moved in to a kona and it was just a learning curve to know what was needed to go and what was to much but even then the accel arc on the damn thing was mad!

 

[davidew98]

How about try driving with some understanding of who is a passenger?

How about reading the post instead of assuming!

 

[davidew98]

Why take the risk? When kids are in car choose Chill acceleration (or, better still, create another driver profile and make Chill profile your default).

Nope as I stated I’m using chill 100% of the time I’m not a speed freak don’t need t he power! Chill mode is great! Glad I’m out of the kona!