Tesla, BMW fall short in electric vehicle crash tests Hard to believe the Model S was left out of the large luxury car 2017 top safety pick. Instead the IIHS feels the Acura RXL, Audi A6, Genesis G80, Genesis G90, Infinity Q70, Volvo S90, and Lexus RC are safer. I still believe the MS to be the safest vehicle on the road.
Facts are facts. The big takeaway here is that Tesla has already made changes based off of the results. I'm hoping that the revised headlights will be able to be retrofitted at least into facelifted cars.
You're right the headlights have always been underperforming compared to other luxury brands. Hopefully they fix this quickly. The child seat anchors (LATCH) recived a marginal rating due to being too deep in the seat and difficult to maneuver around.
I believe Elon takes safety very seriously. When introducing model S he talked about his kids in the car, and family and friends driving teslas. Also, all his car reveals start with safety. I'm curious how long it will take to get the engineering done to get TSP+. Also, I wonder how much this affect model 3
The notes say that Tesla has already fixed the small overlap airbag performance, they are working with the headlight supplier to remedy the headlight issue, and that advanced safety features were not turn on at the time of testing (I'm assuming that they crash tested AP2 hardware cars).
It doesn't take a genius to see that new headlights are worse. Why Tesla had to wait IIHS test to decide on improvements? It's been almost a year those were released. New headlights were probably released as a cost cutting item, not an improvement. @jelloslug no, probably they are not going to retro fit anything. Their answer will be "oh, Tesla is improving every day, you can't have all the improvements, if you don't order a new car every 6 months." It would be nice of them to retrofit at least those seat belt improvements. It's much more critical than headlights.
And here's the video of the small overlap test that was given 'acceptable' rating. Chevy Volt - Top Safety Pick - for comparison: Two electric cars miss IIHS awards One thing to note is that during this particular test (small overlap) car's structure has to contend only with it's own inertia. Tesla being heavier requires stronger structure that's why it fares well in real life collisions.
Agreed, havent upgraded yet for a few reasons and one of them is the headlights. Not sure why people arent making more noise at how poor the new headlights are over the old. The spread of light is weaker and the LED overlap is pretty bad (seeing each LED band instead of a smooth uniform spread of light like the classic model). In regards to retrofits, if this is a safety concern Tesla will be offering retrofits! They are very serious when it comes to safety and if the IIHS says the headlights are poor then that could be interpreted as a safety concern and thus needs to be addressed. They don't offer retrofits mostly for the same reason they dont actually market the brand....they cannot handle the bandwidth. The Model 3 and its surprising demand should help remedy this and force them to scale accordingly and be able to accommodate retrofits and marketing!
I'm hopeful this forces Tesla to realize the headlights suck. The ones on my 09 Tahoe are 10x better... I am glad Tesla appears to be responding with already improving the design to improve the crash parts. Most makers wouldn't bother at all, or at least until next model year... Tesla has a fix it now mentality.
The airbag/seat belt thing is fairly worrisome. Since the new lights are LEDs, is there any chance a software fix might improve performance?
I'm sure I missed it in the above article, but here is the direct link for others in case I'm not the only blind one... Two electric cars miss IIHS awards Is the belt problem the lack of adjustable belt height? Poor rating is pretty bad for lights
Not sure. They said the belt let the head move too far into the steering wheel, so maybe a pre-tension problem? Although I do personally have issues with the lack of seatbelt height adjustment - it cuts across the side of my neck and is probably less safe due to that, but I would imagine a crash test dummy is taller than me. I am only 5'3".
Note, the IIHS has both the Top Safety Pick and Top Safety Pick+ ratings. The Volt was in the latter category. 82 winners for 2017
" The P100D has the same roof structure as other Model S versions but is heavier, due to a larger battery, so it earns an acceptable rating" I call BS. The curb weight of the P100D is 4945lbs -v- 4936lbs for the P85D, a whopping 9Lbs. Based on other specs, adding the D increases the weight 177lbs and adding the P adds 112lbs. Overall, pretty small increases in weight to give a lower mark on the roof crush trust due to a calculated strength to weight ratio. That said, Tesla does need to find ways to reduce the weight of their vehicles for efficiency and safety. Also, good luck rolling a Model S given the exceptionally low center of gravity. The car basically needs to be launched in the air to end up on it's roof.
Yes, I had a gen 1 Volt, but I was always impressed with its safety ratings for such a small car. Even when I complained about the monstrous A pillars blocking my view, I knew they would protect me in a rollover.
Tesla had better act quickly or they will have major problems with new buyers, like myself, that bought this car mostly because it was marketed as the safest car available. They clearly acknowledge there are design defects that they are addressing/addressed. My car was only built 1.5 months ago and should not have a recently identified defect that cannot be addressed. While I think headlights can be retrofitted, I'm not sure about this seatbelt issue. Tesla better not shirk this off because they'll be contending with consumer fraud allegations based on the representations they made to customers when making purchases.
Apparently not even that will do it: Tesla Flies Through the Air, Drives Over Mercedes, Crashes into Dealership » AutoGuide.com News Any car can be flipped. Some can flip on flat pavement. That is the difference.
They've already made changes... That said, it's not as though it got a "marginal" or "poor" rating in the single test that earned it less than "Good." There was a very specific issue, during a very specific test...and none of it requires a design change to the structure of the vehicle. The vehicle was awarded 5-stars from two other tests...it'll be okay.