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Model 3 Accident, Is this car really safe to drive?

Discussion in 'Model 3' started by bigroccrek, Dec 22, 2018.

  1. sduck

    sduck Mr. Duck

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  2. OCR1

    OCR1 Active Member

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    Glad to hear you are OK, and sorry to hear about the accident.

    I’m new to the M3 (owned one for about two weeks now), so I’m not completely familiar with the car yet. Does the M3 have collision avoidance in it, and if so, would it have applied the brakes when it detected an impending crash to reduce the severity of the impact? Would the logs determine if the car applied the brakes prior to impact?
     
  3. JeffK

    JeffK Well-Known Member

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    It has auto emergency braking but I doubt a wooden telephone pole is going to trigger that... plus, if you've ever tried to emergency brake on grass, gravel, or or dirt you'll find it's not the greatest. :eek:
     
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  4. Garlan Garner

    Garlan Garner Banned

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    From a human perspective...hitting a tree or pole or any non moving object is devastating. From a human perspective - said objects are easily detectable.

    As I watch video from a Solid State ( computer camera ) perspective...poles / trees / fireplugs / humans look identical to shadows of the same objects.
    So the question NOW is....does radar and/or lidar accurately detect these objects? As small as they can be...can radar and/or lidar detect these objects? and with what type of accuracy?

    The answer is probably YES.

    Next question: What is the price of radar that can detect these objects with a superb level of accuracy? Can you put this glorious radar in a $35K car and make money? how about a $60k car? The military pays millions upon millions for a single radar system. Hmmm....

    So...a /multi-point /non-human / non-camera / radar-lidar / based detection system has to be able to financially fit in a $35k car with the accuracy of 2 eyeballs and a brain. hmmmmm...
     
  5. M3_RBN

    M3_RBN Member

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    My M3 was rear ended pretty bad a couple of weeks back. I must say if it wasn’t for the M3 the damage to the car and its passengers would have been severe. Its rear impact beam (sits behind bumper) absorbed most of the impact. I was surprised on how well it withstood the impact. Btw no airbags deployed.
     
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  6. Matt L

    Matt L Active Member

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    They won’t on a rear impact. That’s what headrests are for.
     
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  7. chronopc

    chronopc Active Member

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    The behavior of your airbags is consistent with all cars. Not only would I say the Model 3 is a safe car, it's one of the safest cars out there. You should google some stories of what people are able to walk away from.
     
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  8. apsen

    apsen Member

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    My tax liability wouldn't be high enough in situation like that. I'd get maybe another $1500... As it is I'm pushing my solar rebate out for another year.
     
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  9. apsen

    apsen Member

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    To be able to resolve items that small the radar should be using frequency into GHz range. I do not really know what frequency they actually use. Lidar on the other hand should be able to resolve them but as far as I'm aware they are significantly more expensive.
     
  10. mongo

    mongo Well-Known Member

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    75 ish GHz
     
  11. NeverFollow

    NeverFollow Active Member

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    Who is: "Barbara C Lutz" Georgia US ?

    Any connection with "Bob Lutz" ?

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  12. svp6

    svp6 Member

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    Would have been nice if Tesla had an emergency alert system, much like other luxury cars (OnStar, MBrace, BMW Assyst, etc). With current sensor array, car should figure out it was in an accident and be able to verify with the driver if he / she is OK, and whether they need to notify 911. I would not mind at all paying a subscription fee for such a service - I do that for our Merc. Could also use a dedicated 911 call button.
     
  13. Matt L

    Matt L Active Member

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    Are you guys hinting at something?
     
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  14. Garlan Garner

    Garlan Garner Banned

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    You are exactly right. Lidar is indeed expensive and does not fit in a $35k car.

    Check out this video and watch all of the light poles that the radar/camera misses. If you improve on the cameras or the radar...can Tesla improve on it for free?

     
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  15. acoste

    acoste Member

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    It doesn't miss those poles. It just doesn't show objects that are out of the free space (green area) except vehicles and humans.

    The issue with the radar is that even though the frequency is high, it's resolution is low due to the antenna characteristics. This gives a lot of false alarms when driving. For example a bump (with edge) on the road reflects enough signal for the car to think that there is something there. So the software tries to figure it out based on the camera what's going on. And it fails sometimes. (think of all the accidents where a Tesla hit a stopped car/truck/barrier)
    Recently due to the accidents there was an adjustment in the software so it weights the radar signal more even if the camera can't detect an object which makes it safer but results in a lof of disengagement and sometimes phantom braking.

    Improvements can be done by using multiple high resolution radars.
     
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  16. Garlan Garner

    Garlan Garner Banned

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    Ok....let me post a more updated video. Same car....updated autopilot ….it recognizes poles and the location of stop lights and signs. Radar isn't precise enough to see all of those super thin poles. Pole recognition in this video has to be cameras.

    for example....stop lights are labeled as 4's. Poles are 1's and 2's. 3's are signs. etc...…

    Notice the moving speeds of cars and such....they are relative to the Tesla ….not relative to standing still. I think that's sooooo cool.

     
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  17. TT97

    TT97 Active Member

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    I never realized how many poles there are around until someone labels them all!
     
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  18. Garlan Garner

    Garlan Garner Banned

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    Yeah....I know.

    Its astounding isn't it?

    I suppose it takes at least a little bit of processing power to recognize all of them accurately. Plus recognize the Lanes / street lights / stop signs / pedestrians / other vehicles and their distance - speed - which direction they are all facing... and much more.

    Hmmm.....all that technology financially fits in a $35k car?
     
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  19. TheLocNar

    TheLocNar Member

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    The only thing that bothers me is the car not contacting Tesla. This was a serious accident, and had it happened in any other car, you would have suffered major injuries, and possibly death. If anything, this would have given me more faith in the safety of this car. The reason it looks so bad is because it did exactly what it was supposed to do. Absorb most of the impact of the collision.
     
  20. NathanielHrnblwr

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    Sorry to hear about your medical emergency and glad you are ok, OP. Someone else covered my thoughts so I won't repeat what others have said in verbatim, but agree the car may have been slowing down when impact occurred. The crumple zones did their thing and you "walked away" from what could have been worse circumstances.
     
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