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

[tlr1000]

I believe you're thinking of OnStar which is a GM thing. Tesla did agree to publish safety numbers quarterly. But that's a PR thing. How many miles driven accident free vs how many miles driven in trips ending in accidents. Last numbers I saw were twice the national avg of accident free miles.

In that particular accident, nobody died, nobody was injured. You could actually read the entire thread ya know.

Sorry, was referring to the OPs concern that, "The car also never alerted Tesla that an accident had occurred" and misread that.

 

[LilChuck]

Glad your operation went OK. An appendix can be fatal from septicemia.

Can you let the forum know the following:
- How cooperative was Tesla in getting you the data logs?
- Confirm to us that you went unconscious (so your foot probably was no long pressing the accelerator or capable of pressing the brake).
- Was the car in auto-braking mode? If not, how much did regenerative braking slow you down (do the logs show this; and if not buying a Tesla, keep in mind what would have happened in a non-regenerative vehicle)? If it auto-braked, how much did auto-braking help slow you down even more?
- What was the speed before passing out and just before impact (if you don't mind sharing that).

Maybe future models of Tesla should report an accident the accelerometers reach a value that is lower than bag deployment.

P.S. My guess is that the deceleration was too low for bag deployment. A truck once backed up into my Subaru (it didn't have time to get going very fast). The front of the Subaru (it also has excellent crumple design) looked really bad. So regenerative braking might have slowed you quite a bit. From the photo, I can't see any skid marks (like the vehicle auto-braked). The Tesla should be able to see a pole, but maybe not that year of make. You did hit the pole hard enough to snap it in two. Poles are made to snap in two so they give when hit by a car. Some report that speeds as low as 15 to 20 mph is enough to do that.

P.P.S. Also be really really grateful that you and rescuers did not get electrocuted. The top of the pole brought the wire really close to the car.

 

[jrofman]

Looks like this car saved your life. What are you blaming Tesla for? You had a ruptured appendix, obviously septic with low blood pressure and you were likely driving your car in a condition where you should have called 911. You're lucky you're not dead and that you didn't maim or kill someone else. The model 3 was rated the car least likely to have a passenger sustain an injury in the event of an accident which is why I purchased it.

looking at your damage, there was no entrance into the passenger compartment. The car is not a robot. Unless it was on autopilot and it did that, the car obviously did exactly what it was supposed to do. It saved your life.

 

[mongo]

You did hit the pole hard enough to snap it in two. Poles are made to snap in two so they give when hit by a car. Some report that speeds as low as 15 to 20 mph is enough to do that.

P.P.S. Also be really really grateful that you and rescuers did not get electrocuted. The top of the pole brought the wire really close to the car.

Sign posts are drilled near the base to snap, not telephone poles. This one was rotten and moved significantly on impact, lessening the deceleration rate.

Those are phone lines on the pole (and maybe cable), not power lines.

 

[gilscales]

Looks like this car saved your life. What are you blaming Tesla for? You had a ruptured appendix, obviously septic with low blood pressure and you were likely driving your car in a condition where you should have called 911. You're lucky you're not dead and that you didn't maim or kill someone else. The model 3 was rated the car least likely to have a passenger sustain an injury in the event of an accident which is why I purchased it.

looking at your damage, there was no entrance into the passenger compartment. The car is not a robot. Unless it was on autopilot and it did that, the car obviously did exactly what it was supposed to do. It saved your life.

I'm not sure why the hostility towards the OP as he seems very reasonably to me based on previous posts, he has decided that the Tesla did its job, he will be keeping it and it is safe to drive and in his words probably the safest car to drive, he had just had questions about why the airbag did not deploy and why the car did not relay to Tesla that an accident had occured, valid questions if you are unsure as to why I would think.

 

[whatthe2]

Looks like this car saved your life. What are you blaming Tesla for? You had a ruptured appendix, obviously septic with low blood pressure and you were likely driving your car in a condition where you should have called 911. You're lucky you're not dead and that you didn't maim or kill someone else. The model 3 was rated the car least likely to have a passenger sustain an injury in the event of an accident which is why I purchased it.

looking at your damage, there was no entrance into the passenger compartment. The car is not a robot. Unless it was on autopilot and it did that, the car obviously did exactly what it was supposed to do. It saved your life.

Read the thread. Much more to this than post #1.

 

[Runt8]

I believe you're thinking of OnStar which is a GM thing. Tesla did agree to publish safety numbers quarterly. But that's a PR thing. How many miles driven accident free vs how many miles driven in trips ending in accidents. Last numbers I saw were twice the national avg of accident free miles.

In that particular accident, nobody died, nobody was injured. You could actually read the entire thread ya know.

Tesla’s can phone home in the case of a “major impact” - Tesla shows proactive approach to passengers' safety after Model 3 accident

 

[bigroccrek]

Glad your operation went OK. An appendix can be fatal from septicemia.

Can you let the forum know the following:
- How cooperative was Tesla in getting you the data logs? I have requested teh data from Tesla both over teh phone and via email but as of today have not heard back.
- Confirm to us that you went unconscious (so your foot probably was no long pressing the accelerator or capable of pressing the brake).I did in fact lose consciousness soon after deciding to pull over
- Was the car in auto-braking mode? If not, how much did regenerative braking slow you down (do the logs show this; and if not buying a Tesla, keep in mind what would have happened in a non-regenerative vehicle)? If it auto-braked, how much did auto-braking help slow you down even more? I did have the auto brake/alert system on. I do not know how much the car slowed before striking the pole.
- What was the speed before passing out and just before impact (if you don't mind sharing that). Best I remember (I don't really know) I think I was going around 25-30 mph right before the blackout but remember I was struggling just to maintain control due to the intense pain at that point.

Maybe future models of Tesla should report an accident the accelerometers reach a value that is lower than bag deployment.

P.S. My guess is that the deceleration was too low for bag deployment. Could very well be the case. A truck once backed up into my Subaru (it didn't have time to get going very fast). The front of the Subaru (it also has excellent crumple design) looked really bad. So regenerative braking might have slowed you quite a bit. From the photo, I can't see any skid marks (like the vehicle auto-braked). The Tesla should be able to see a pole, but maybe not that year of make. This is a brand new Model 3, I too saw what appeared to be very short skid marks in the dirt, when I went back to the scene the ground had been all scraped up by the tow truck so it's really hard to say. This is teh type of information I would like to get from the car's data. You did hit the pole hard enough to snap it in two. Poles are made to snap in two so they give when hit by a car. Some report that speeds as low as 15 to 20 mph is enough to do that.In looking at the pole after teh accident when I returned after my hospital stay it appears as though it was dry rotted. The pole split about halfway up and the half that came loose landed on the car's roof breaking the front glass panel.

P.P.S. Also be really really grateful that you and rescuers did not get electrocuted. The top of the pole brought the wire really close to the car.As someone else pointed out these were strictly telephone cables no power.
I will try and answer your questions.

 

[bigroccrek]

Looks like this car saved your life. What are you blaming Tesla for? You had a ruptured appendix, obviously septic with low blood pressure and you were likely driving your car in a condition where you should have called 911. You're lucky you're not dead and that you didn't maim or kill someone else. The model 3 was rated the car least likely to have a passenger sustain an injury in the event of an accident which is why I purchased it.

looking at your damage, there was no entrance into the passenger compartment. The car is not a robot. Unless it was on autopilot and it did that, the car obviously did exactly what it was supposed to do. It saved your life.

Appreciate the vote of confidence!

 

[bigroccrek]

Sorry, was referring to the OPs concern that, "The car also never alerted Tesla that an accident had occurred" and misread that.

Tesla does have an accident notification system in the car. According to the Service Center person I spoke to it requires the airbags to deploy before it notifies Tesla.

 

[bigroccrek]

Wow, that's a horrible accident but glad you fared ok. So to get back to the 2 questions:

1) Are Tesla's are supposed to do an alert when in an accident? If so, then definitely a problem in this case as that was a fairly significant impact. If not, that would be a great feature/service for Tesla to implement but not sure if it's economically feasible.

Tesla does have an accident notification system in the car. According to the Service Center person I spoke to it requires the airbags to deploy before it notifies Tesla.

2) Would injuries have been lessened if airbags deployed? If airbag deployment would have lessened injuries, then definitely your car (and maybe others) have a serious problem. If airbag deployment would have caused more harm than good, then maybe the system was working as it should.

That is the $64,000 question. After thinking about it after the fact and looking at the damages to the car and the pole it may be that the car performed exactly as intended. I know now that I am glad I didn't get punched in the face by an airbag unnecessarily. Again, that is why the devil is in the details (and the data!)

 

[GregD60]

I have a friend who reconstructs accidents forensically as an expert witness in lawsuits. Here is his comment after seeing the photos:

Air bag would probably have hurt him more than just the belts. Not a really big hit. Pole impacts are about 1 mph for each inch of intrusion, so he likely hit the pole at about 12-15 mph. That would be in the gray zone for air bag deployment. Most good systems, seeing he was belted would not have deployed the air bag.

I think the above makes sense. Looking at the pictures of the accident, I think it was a rather minor impact that looks worse than it is due to how far the pole penetrated into the body. It's what happens when a solid, small object hits a larger, heavier object; it's why knives and bullets are so good at penetrating. For comparison purposes, check out the video of the NHTSA frontal crash test at 35 MPH. The impact is across the entire front of the car, so the entire crash structure absorbs the energy, and yet the the whole front end is pushed in more than the penetration of the pole in the OP's accident.

 

[Garlan Garner]

I think the above makes sense. Looking at the pictures of the accident, I think it was a rather minor impact that looks worse than it is due to how far the pole penetrated into the body. It's what happens when a solid, small object hits a larger, heavier object; it's why knives and bullets are so good at penetrating. For comparison purposes, check out the video of the NHTSA frontal crash test at 35 MPH. The impact is across the entire front of the car, so the entire crash structure absorbs the energy, and yet the the whole front end is pushed in more than the penetration of the pole in the OP's accident.

The pole DID NOT penetrate the body. For goodness sake the Frunk Bucket is in tact. Look at the pictures.

What in the world do people want to investigate?

Someone please tell use what needs to be investigated. I can't believe this thread is still alive.

 

[GregD60]

Sign posts are drilled near the base to snap, not telephone poles. This one was rotten and moved significantly on impact, lessening the deceleration rate.

Those are phone lines on the pole (and maybe cable), not power lines.

Why do you think that the pole was rotten? From the pictures, it doesn't appear that the pole snapped or broke; it is tilted, and the crosspiece with the wires attached was obviously torn off when the main pole tilted.

 

[GregD60]

The pole DID NOT penetrate the body. For goodness sake the Frunk Bucket is in tact. Look at the pictures.

What in the world do people want to investigate?

Someone please tell use what needs to be investigated. I can't believe this thread is still alive.

The body of a car extends to the bumpers, so the pole did penetrate into the body of the car. You quoted me, but nowhere have I suggested any kind of investigation into this incident. In fact, my post that you quoted was my first post in this thread. Since, as my post stated, I think this was "a rather minor impact that looks worse than it is", there is no reason to investigate it as far as I'm concerned.

 

[Garlan Garner]

The body of a car extends to the bumpers, so the pole did penetrate into the body of the car. You quoted me, but nowhere have I suggested any kind of investigation into this incident. In fact, my post that you quoted was my first post in this thread. Since, as my post stated, I think this was "a rather minor impact that looks worse than it is", there is no reason to investigate it as far as I'm concerned.

Pump the brakes - ( no pun intended ).

I'm not going to get into the semantics of what a body of the car is or what it isn't. That would be asinine considering the history and the topic of this thread.

What do people what to investigate...…Than means - anyone in the thread -spoken to everyone in the thread.
I asked "Someone" to tell me...….. That means - anyone in the thread -spoken to everyone in the thread.

 

[mongo]

Why do you think that the pole was rotten? From the pictures, it doesn't appear that the pole snapped or broke; it is tilted, and the crosspiece with the wires attached was obviously torn off when the main pole tilted.

OP said so in post #164

One pole. It broke because it was old and rotted.

That is not the crosspiece in the pic on page 1, that is the top (or middle) section of the pole. Phone lines do not sit on crosspieces and their branch connections are always made to the pole proper. The pole shifted in the ground, absorbing part of the impact, car may even have slid up it and them back down...

 

[wcorey]

Someone please tell use what needs to be investigated. I can't believe this thread is still alive.

I completely agree. Mobile service can likely download data to TESLA. It is unclear and unlikely Tesla will set the precedence of releasing that data externally. This thread has turned into Groundhog Day. I expect Bill Murray to weigh in most any time now.

 

[dhanson865]

Not really, It actually did fall and land squarely on the glass roof breaking the glass but did not penetrate. The roof held up very well to the impact.

I hope you've had the opportunity to laugh about it. To that end I think that picture looks like a giant was eating your car with chopsticks. If your name is Jack, I'd print and frame it.

https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/img_1420-jpg.363102/

 

[bigroccrek]

OP said so in post #164


That is not the crosspiece in the pic on page 1, that is the top (or middle) section of the pole. Phone lines do not sit on crosspieces and their branch connections are always made to the pole proper. The pole shifted in the ground, absorbing part of the impact, car may even have slid up it and them back down...

Not a crosspiece. See pic I added it is the top half of the pole that split where the guy-wires were attached and swung down and hit the top of the car.