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Tesla & BMW Fall Short in IIHS Safety Tests
- Thread starter TexasTeslaRacing
- Start date
Especially when you understand why a wide 4500lb vehicle is more likely to be in a situation that demands hitting trees. The trick is not hit the trees to begin with. When an object is motion it tends to stay in motion. When an object rotates, it keeps rotating. Ever see 200 foot skids on the road that end off the cliff? That.
DFibRL8R
Active Member
This is a pretty random comment. I see what you are saying but car crashes are not random events. They involve many factors such as crash avoidance technology, driving characteristics of the individual drivers that purchase a certain type of vehicle etc etc.
I would love to see the data on frequency of single vehicle impacts into stationary objects (like trees). I'm not so sure the rate of such events has anything to do with the width of the car. Simply assuming because a car is a few inches wider than another may not necessarily mean it statistically more likely to hit trees.
Ultimately, I believe the enhanced autopilot that will eventually be on every car out there will include tree avoidance as a basic feature despite width of vehicle.
If a car is 10% shorter and 10% narrower, it is harder to hit a thin object.
But also, take a heavy car out on a racetrack, skidpan, or AutoX event. It spins easier. Once you spin, you are a passenger, not a driver.
HyperMiler
Member
Parts of this discussion can be enriched with data:
Study: 9 car models had zero traffic deaths
It continues to amaze me that we apparently continue to accept this...
Study: 9 car models had zero traffic deaths
It continues to amaze me that we apparently continue to accept this...
I wonder where Tesla will fall on this scale once they release the newest report.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
It does seem highly unlikely that there have been no traffic fatalities involving occupants of any of these popular vehicles during a three year period. Do you have evidence that this report is wrong?
My car is an November 16 build. The headlights are really poor. As in the worst I've seen in many, many years. It feels dangerous at night on roads that are not well lit. I never had the opportunity to drive the car in the evening before I purchased it. I guess lesson learned there. I really hope Tesla finds a way to fix this via retrofit. It's so disconcerting that I'd be willing to pay for the updated version.
Same goes for the seatbelt. I bought the car for it's safety rating. I hope Tesla retrofits, but in the interest of protecting my family, I would pay to get the seat belts updated.
Same goes for the seatbelt. I bought the car for it's safety rating. I hope Tesla retrofits, but in the interest of protecting my family, I would pay to get the seat belts updated.
HyperMiler
Member
Deaths per million vehicle years:
In fact there is evidence that this report is right. 9 types of vehicles had no fatalities over a 3 year period. This is the official data:
Death rates fall as vehicles improve
Meaning, e.g., one in 6712 Kia Rio Drivers / Riders died every year. Needlessly?
A searchable database:
Driver death rates
And this is also instructive. A lighter car is not better as judged by overall survival:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/2.5-nolan_2013.pdf
In fact there is evidence that this report is right. 9 types of vehicles had no fatalities over a 3 year period. This is the official data:
Death rates fall as vehicles improve
Meaning, e.g., one in 6712 Kia Rio Drivers / Riders died every year. Needlessly?
A searchable database:
Driver death rates
And this is also instructive. A lighter car is not better as judged by overall survival:
https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.dot.gov/files/2.5-nolan_2013.pdf
Last edited:
HyperMiler
Member
As there are more than 100,000 cars out there, seems to me that the number should still be very good (single digit?) compared to the average for 2011 vehicles of 28 deaths per million. But probably not zero. Certainly the safest of the high performance sports vehicles, though, would be my expectation.
DFibRL8R
Active Member
Thanks for the nice links HyperMiler. Data definitely enriches the discussion.
Of note related to earlier speculation on the effect of size: "Minicars and small cars dominate the worst list. That's not surprising, since these vehicles can't protect as well as larger ones. Death rates by vehicle type and size show that the smallest vehicles typically have the highest death rates, and, with some exceptions, death rates tend to go down as size goes up."
This is regrettable since obviously lighter cars are more efficient. Seems crazy to have everyone driving around in 5000LB + machines to protect themselves but the risk of size mismatch in collisions is real.
Of note related to earlier speculation on the effect of size: "Minicars and small cars dominate the worst list. That's not surprising, since these vehicles can't protect as well as larger ones. Death rates by vehicle type and size show that the smallest vehicles typically have the highest death rates, and, with some exceptions, death rates tend to go down as size goes up."
This is regrettable since obviously lighter cars are more efficient. Seems crazy to have everyone driving around in 5000LB + machines to protect themselves but the risk of size mismatch in collisions is real.
Blah blah blah... do you know how many times people post this kind of stuff? Tesla better do this or that otherwise the sky will fall in and the universe will implode? A little dramatic, I think.
jeffro01
Active Member
Indeed... While we don't agree on much, we certainly agree on this... As I've said before, TMC only represents a small fraction of Tesla owners... Out of the dozen or so I know, only a couple knew of TMC when they bought their cars... Yet a lot of members here treat this place like it's the "canary in the coal mine" when it's just not representative enough of the entire ownership base to be used as such...
Jeff
jeffro01
Active Member
I for one, am disappointed that the fixes implemented in Jan 2017 did not improve the situation. I already took delivery of my s100d and a part of the reason for the purchase was the assurance of it being the "safest" car for my family. I was a bit shocked at the first IIHS test but was satisfied that Tesla is making changes. The failed change was disappointing more then because they didn't work, but because Tesla didn't know (or admit) that they were not likely to work back in Jan. Tesla's official response at their failure lacks humility and drive, when you fail a test, you first should reflect on your performance rather than blaming the test. For everyone's sake I do hope Tesla changes their attitude around this and make the necessary changes to improve real world safety, even if it is too late for most of us who already own the car.
This single test does nothing to render the Model S unsafe. It's just one test. Let's not blow this out of proportion.
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