Putting babies in the trunk????

[thejump]

Tesla wants to package 2 infants facing rearward in the trunk? No other car does this – maybe there’s reason why. Here’s some serious issues with this scenario:.

1) The infants will be behind the 2nd row rear seat. How many parents will want put their babies out of their view?
2) The kids will be placed inches from the rear window due to the aggressive rack the rear window. How do you load the rear children? Through the rear tailgate? What happen if child is sitting up instead of all the way back when the hatchback is slammed shut, will the child get wacked?
3) Tinted glass or not, it will get very hot in Southern California back there. Will parents want to fry their kids?!?!?
4) If infants are positioned rearward, facing up towards the rear-glass, how do you stop all the sunlight from directly hitting their eyes? Very young infants do not have the reaction to close their eyes in bright light. Facing them upwards will burn their retina’s out (UV glass or not).
5) Packaging infants back there will put them in the crush zone for rear impact. Imagine someone hitting your Model S at an intersection at 20 mph and crushing your child to death.
This is bad idea. There’s a reason no one does it.

 

[EVnut]

I agree that there are many reasons against doing this. But Volvo (famous for safety, right?) has done it in their wagons for as long as I can remember. Not sure if they still do it, but the 2002 V70T5 certainly still offered that option.

Assuming that Tesla uses the same tack as Volvo, some of your questions are answered with age/size limits. Volvo is quite clear about minimum ages and maximum sizes for riding in the rear seats. Infants are NOT to be back there.

But all that said, no kid of mine will be riding in the trunk!

 

[Palpatine]

I think that we are two years away from final production designs being locked in. I am positive that these issues will become more clear and somebody will either figure them out or the car will be changed.

Personally I would never put my two kids in the back like that. I cannot think of a time where I had seven people in my car. I don't see the need for it. But then again, I am not buying the Model S for the 7 person feature. I am buying it because it is a really amazing EV and I really like the 17 inch infotainment console.

This is the EV that BMW or Mercedes should have designed. I am so pround that finally an American car company is doing something that is inspiring the world of automotive design. Tesla Motors is really setting the standard by which everyone else will be judged.

They are even beating Project Better Place by being the first company to reveal a car that can do the battery swap.

 

[TEG]

Tesla wants to package 2 infants facing rearward in the trunk? No other car does this...

Audi A6:

Audi Allroad:

Mecedes E320 estate:

Volvo, Ford, etc...

 

[dpeilow]

See also this.

 

[Rheazombi]

I never thought the rear facing seats were for BABIES. I rode in these all the time in my friends cars when I was 6-11 and they were always damn fun. If you have 5 kids (including 2 babies), you would have the babies sit in the back, and make another 2 of your older kids sit in the rear-facing seats. Also, the rear windows better be 100% UV safe regardless.

I think they did it so it could seat as many as most SUVs, without being an SUV.

 

[roblab]

I agree that there are many reasons against doing this. But Volvo (famous for safety, right?) has done it in their wagons for as long as I can remember. Not sure if they still do it, but the 2002 V70T5 certainly still offered that option.

Assuming that Tesla uses the same tack as Volvo, some of your questions are answered with age/size limits. Volvo is quite clear about minimum ages and maximum sizes for riding in the rear seats. Infants are NOT to be back there.

But all that said, no kid of mine will be riding in the trunk!

Hey, Darell!
I used to cram a kid in the trunk of my MR2. They thought it was quite fun, albeit also quite illegal. But to put them in the rear of a car designed for kids might be safer than having them ride on a bike through traffic. Eh, wot?
Rob

 

[thejump]

Audi A6:
[
Audi Allroad:
[
Mecedes E320 estate:


Volvo, Ford, etc...

The concern isn't packaging a child rearward. Yes those vehicles you reference TEG show this but those vehicles are either a crossover SUV or station wagon with a larger boxy architecture where it's big enough to have small adults sit upwards. Also, the rear glass in those vehicles are a foot or two away from the person.

The Model S is 'sedan' with a very aggressive fastback deck lid; it just doesn't have the same volume of room that the vehicles you previously listed have. This is like trying to put a few kids in the back of a Corvette. Just look at the side profile of the Model S below and imagine where the trunk floor is, then imagine the height of the child seat base and finally the balky seat itself. The kids are basically inches from the glass....

 

[EVnut]

. But to put them in the rear of a car designed for kids might be safer than having them ride on a bike through traffic. Eh, wot?
Rob

Hey howdy, roblab -

So I was thinking about this, and came up with:
I think it would be safer to have the kids in the back instead of on bicycles in the same way that my kid would be "safer" sitting on the couch watching TV instead of playing hoops out in the street with her friends.

I think I'll stick with the bicycle and basketball and see how it all works out. :biggrin:

 

[vfx]

The floor of the back is quite low. Lower than what you think. No, even lower than that. It's more than you have ever seen in a sedan.

It's the point of an EV. There is storage on both ends of the car.

Elon said. "The back can hold a 50" plasma, a Surfboard and a Mountain Bike.

Swapping in two kids in cars seats seems trivial with that much room.

 

[mt2]

Enough trolling. No one ever said anything about putting babies in the trunk. There's laws, in my state anyway, that require rear facing child restraint seats up to a certain age or height. The rumble seat is for those "tweens" who don't want to be sitting with the adults anyway.

 

[Chris H.]

Same time.

Did he say anything about having to run them through a trash compactor first? :biggrin:

 

[Albern]

At the same time? I am weary of set rules with quotes these days. Sometimes they should say or instead of and.

Same time.

Actually I believe it is either the third row seat or all of that stuff with the second row folded down.

Quote from the Model S page on Tesla Motors >> Utility

"Rear seats fold flat, and the hatch gives way to a roomy opening, so you can stow a mountain bike, 50-inch flat-screen TV, full drum set or futon frame – more than ample for the entire family and their gear."

 

[vfx]

Actually I believe it is either the third row seat or all of that stuff with the second row folded down.

On that I did say "swapping"

 

[Joseph]

They probably can make the floor lower in the Model S than in most other cars. There is no gas tank back there (nearby where most cars have their gas tank) and there is no nasty exhaust pipe.

Granted the batteries aren't in the way, the hatch may be much more voluminous than we expect.

 

[Kevin Harney]

I think that when they put that seat in the floor will drop even more. I am envisioning the current floor to be about shin height and angle the seats back some and you have plenty of room for a seat. Only concern for me is the face in the window part but I don't think it will too much worse than a widshield in the front. I think it will be fine ....

 

[WarpedOne]

Granted the batteries aren't in the way

They say "floor mounted" but I'd guess they are really "central tunnel mounted".
How long until some schematics?