I'm sure this is a result of the NHTSA investigation and is the remedy they were forced to implement. This isn't cheap. Its the most expensive solution I could have imagined short of changing the battery chemistry.
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Tesla adds Titanium Underbody Shield to Model S
- Thread starter Jgdixon
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- Driving Dynamics Model S
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
But it's not a mandated NHTSA recall, so that means NHTSA did not find any fault with the original design.
Exactly what is the difference between a mandated "recall" and a retrofit of all cars ever made as a result of a NHTSA investigation? Sounds like semantics.
Since my car is lowered substantially I plan to get the retrofit. Just the other day I scraped over a speed hump so I am hoping that will will help protect the underbody with that too.
I disagree, the NHTSA is responsible for determining safety. Given that the two extremely unusual 'catastrophic' cases last year resulted with owners stopping the car and exiting safely, one could not logically claim this was a safety issue. Every other country's NHTSA equivalent that has investigated this has cleared Tesla.
This is by choice, because Elon feels this is the right thing to do for peace of mind. They have enough margin in the cars to absorb this cost.
To my understanding the retrofit actually LESSENS the ground clearance, so you will scrape more speed humps than before. With less damage to the car's underbody, hopefully.
I plan to get the retrofit too, mind you. I have done similarly with my (lowered) Porsche 911. See this image and Google for Front Protection Bar Porsche 964 & 993.
JRP3
Hyperactive Member
No, a recall is mandatory for all cars, an optional upgrade is not. NHTSA just gave the all clear without any recall requirements.
bonnie
I play a nice person on twitter.
If it was a recall, NHTSA would have published a finding of safety issues, followed by 'we find the new retrofit to be a satisfactory solution'. They would not have just closed their investigation.
So clearly CLEARLY not a mandated recall. That's not semantics.
If you could let go of your need to see this be a recall, perhaps you might consider that just maybe Elon and others at Tesla actually have a lot of pride in the Model S and future vehicles to come & want to keep the moniker of 'safest car on the road'. Just maybe they have come up with this shield because they WANT to have the safest car on the road ... occupants are already protected, they're taking it one step further.
Sometimes things happen from good intent, not because some government agency is forcing it to happen.
Not. A. Recall. So let it go.
The NHTSA is concerned with what could happen as well. You can be damn sure that if there's a reasonable fix or mitigation for a flaw they'll insist that manufacturers add it.
But the NHTSA is sensitive to PR issues and will try to avoid recalls if possible. To me this is a classic private agreement.
- Risk was already relatively low
- Tesla stopped the lowering, providing empirical evidence that the risk depends on ride height and/or time of year
- Tesla (possibly with NHTSA assistance) has identified ways further to reduce the risk from collisions
- Tesla changes its software to give fine-grained control to drivers
(- Tesla's lowering might not be quite as low as it was?)
- Tesla agrees to make the changes available to all drivers on request or at their next service
- NHTSA is satisfied that altogether the existing safety systems and the new measures will reduce the risk sufficiently and doesn't force a R****l.
Morristhecat
Member
Tesla Adds Titanium Underbody Shield and Aluminum Deflector Plates to Model S
Wow, this is certainly a big surprise. I'll get it i guess, but i don't anticipate any service for a while. For a car that needs little maintenance, has busy SC's, it could be quite a wait.
Also, i wonder if this affects the potential to use the vapourwarish quick battery swap stations?
Wow, this is certainly a big surprise. I'll get it i guess, but i don't anticipate any service for a while. For a car that needs little maintenance, has busy SC's, it could be quite a wait.
Also, i wonder if this affects the potential to use the vapourwarish quick battery swap stations?
Glad for the protection and peace of mind.
On the other hand... added weight = reduced acceleration. I see that the range penalty is less than 1 mile.
Titanium is a very strong, very lightweight material. I assume the new shield is not heavier than the aluminum shield. The range penalty could be from reduced aerodynamics or weight from the additional two other shields. Titanium's only downside is cost. Looking online it looks like 8-10x the cost of aluminum.
This makes no sense. The could you speak of did happen. The catastrophic failure mode was not particularly bad, and no one was injured. In an ICE car there are known to be cases where the same type of debris has caused injuries/death. From a pure safety perspective, the Model S is already far safer in these cases than an ICE car so there is no "flaw" to mitigate if held to the same standard.
NHTSA called TM's OTA update a "recall", I don't think they're shy about calling something a recall if they feel like it.
