GBleck
Member
My guess is a light sensor to auto dim the rear view mirror when someone pulls up behind you with the brights on. Standard feature in a lot of german autos for a while now.
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EV-lutioin
Active Member
Garlan Garner
Banned
Why is it soooo big. That's my point.
Volkswagen bugs are just as susceptible to a rollover and their pillar is half the size.
New A-Pillars Enhance Safety But Impede Visibility
They get bigger when they put airbags in them too:
They get bigger when they put airbags in them too:
99.99% of people buying this car are not taking it to the track. It's ridiculous to expect Tesla to design a sedan for the situations you seem to think are common.
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
As the 3 has limited roof structure because of the large rear window and just two crossbeams overhead instead of 3 (or even solid roof), they probably had to make the A-pillar bit more beefy. Then factor in airbags, the finished pillar does get larger.
Keep in mind, the picture shown was at a somewhat oblique angle and not necessarily the viewing angle the driver would see. Therefore it appears massive, but from a more normal realistic viewing angle a driver would see, I don't see it being that big of deal.
This is a heavy car mainly due to the batteries in the floor of the car. If it were to flip over that's a heck of a lot of weight coming down.
Adding pillar air-bags is getting more common across the industry. Bigger A-pillars are fairly common. Tesla is designing for safety. And not just scenarios that could happen on a track.
AustinPowers
Total Smeghead
I don't mind the thickness of the A-pillars at all. I am much more concerned when cars don't offer good visibility out of the rear window - like in the Model S. Will be interesting to see how the Model 3 does in this respect. A rear-view camera is certainly nice, but sometimes plain old proper visibility out of the rear window itself is handy as well.
And as for safety, I am sure the Model 3 will be one of the safest cars in its segment, so no worries there. Especially concerning the roll-over / flip over scenario, as I have never ever seen such a thing happening in a non-SUV travelling at "normal" speeds. When I saw that video earlier on about that road rage incident I immediately thought "what an idiot" about the driver of that white SUV/pickup which rolled over. I mean from the footage it was clear that he must have noticed the accident. The car swerved almost into his lane before, then crashed into the barrier, then came back towards him. But in contrast to the driver in the lane to the left of him he didn't slow down or react in any sensible way but just kept on going as if the accident was of no interest to him at all - until the other car hit him. I mean what did he expect - that the other car just disappear?
And as for safety, I am sure the Model 3 will be one of the safest cars in its segment, so no worries there. Especially concerning the roll-over / flip over scenario, as I have never ever seen such a thing happening in a non-SUV travelling at "normal" speeds. When I saw that video earlier on about that road rage incident I immediately thought "what an idiot" about the driver of that white SUV/pickup which rolled over. I mean from the footage it was clear that he must have noticed the accident. The car swerved almost into his lane before, then crashed into the barrier, then came back towards him. But in contrast to the driver in the lane to the left of him he didn't slow down or react in any sensible way but just kept on going as if the accident was of no interest to him at all - until the other car hit him. I mean what did he expect - that the other car just disappear?
Nice article. This picture shows the 3 to 1 blindspot size difference, measured in pedestrians, at both ends of the seat adjustment range on a 328i.
Seat position matters, so taller people will perceive it as not a problem.
And they will make obscene gestures at people who almost run them over in downtown Palo Alto.
With no concept that they were invisible.
Seat position matters, so taller people will perceive it as not a problem.
And they will make obscene gestures at people who almost run them over in downtown Palo Alto.
With no concept that they were invisible.
I think rear visibility will be the biggest advantage of the 3 over the S, since they've removed the thick crossbar supporting the hatchback. The large rear window should be great to look out of.
It looks like the visor can be pulled back and flipped to cover a bit of the sunroof above the driver's and passenger's heads to block sun if it's coming in at that angle.
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/img_6038-jpg.236758/
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/img_6038-jpg.236758/
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
Pretty sure that is just for the vanity mirror. Looks way too small to have any effect for covering the roof.
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
Also, the 3 having the center rear seat headrest lower profile and retractable versus one that is fixed and protrudes up on the S.
Zaphod
Galaxy President (former)
Good point as from that viewing angle, the A-pillar will be fairly large. But every car has that blind spot. Of course some are just smaller or bigger than others. With the prevalence of airbags located in the A-pillar on most (if not all) new cars, it is just something that needs be considered and made aware of. In my experience though that location doesn't come into play much in my daily driving, but if it does, one just shifts their head back or forward slightly to look around it.
As someone who has driven an Audi TT for the last 14 years, one gets pretty good at handling blind spots.
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