Tesla goes over cliff-pacific-coast-highway-California-miracle survivors

[vickh]

Amazing survival story. Not sure if it's a 3 or Y?

'Absolute miracle': 4 people survive after Tesla plunges over cliff along Pacific Coast Highway

The Tesla crashed into a rocky outcropping before it flipped several times and landed on its wheels, wedged against the cliff feet from the surf.

www.usatoday.com

 

[derekmw]

I was trying to figure it out too while reading the news about that. Either way, it sounds like usually they are just pulling dead bodies out of any car that goes off that cliff so they were shocked to find all occupants alive. Pretty amazing

 

[RSpanner]

 

[RSpanner]

Great air bags?

Montara, Calif. — A 4-year-old girl, a 9-year-old boy and two adults survived Monday after their car plunged off a Northern California cliff along the Pacific Coast Highway near an area known as Devil's Slide that's known for fatal wrecks, officials said.


The Tesla sedan plummeted more than 250 feet from the highway and crashed into a rocky outcropping. It appears to have flipped a few times before landing on its wheels, wedged against the cliff just feet from the surf, according to Brian Pottenger, a battalion chief for Coastside Fire Protection District/Cal Fire.

Crashes along Devil's Slide, a steep, rocky and winding coastal area about 15 miles south of San Francisco between Pacifica and Montara, rarely end with survivors. On Monday, the victims were initially listed in critical condition but all four were conscious and alert when rescuers arrived.

"We go there all the time for cars over the cliff and they never live. This was an absolute miracle," Pottenger said.

The California Highway Patrol doesn't believe, based on its initial investigation, that the Tesla was operating in Autopilot or Full Self-Driving mode at the time, Officer Mark Andrews said.

The road's conditions were also not believed to be a factor in the crash. There was no guardrail at the spot where the sedan went off the cliff.

Car goes over cliff at Devil's Slide, four critically injured

Two adults and two children who were inside the vehicle were critically injured, Cal Fire...

www.sfgate.com

 

[vickh]

I was trying to figure it out too while reading the news about that. Either way, it sounds like usually they are just pulling dead bodies out of any car that goes off that cliff so they were shocked to find all occupants alive. Pretty amazing

Looks like a Y with 1 roof window. Regardless kudos to TSLA safety. News said it wasn't on AP or FSD (surprised they know that already)

 

[KenC]

I looked at the video over on the BBC, and figured out where it was:

Interestingly, on Apple Maps, it shows a Car Crash symbol near the overlook parking lot, just after coming out of the tunnel. I put a pin down where the Tesla landed. Impressive that the family survived.

It's quite a drop:

 

[whisperingshad]

And it didn't catch fire hehe

 

[parrainx]

I thought the devil’s slide area was by-passed by the new tunnel years ago? Also “deadly crashes happen all the time” also “no guardrail”.

 

[Soul Surfer]

Thank the universerse that they all survived. Not wishing to throw shade or schadenfreude, here, but it looks like a Performance M3, by the rims and tires. I had so many urges to just "punch it", in the days of my Corvette, until we drove the Tail of the Dragon and came to the "tree of wrecks".

Again, I am in no way trying to judge here. I am just expressing what I had observed from the pic. The most incredible thing is how the car kept the passengers safe and alive. I don’t think we could have said the same about any other brand.

 

[adam19]

Did some napkin math...

Model Y weighs 2054 kg, I approximate that 4 people + objects in the car weigh around 250kg making the entire payload 2300kg. Doing some elementary physics and some generous rounding means the payload took 4 seconds to the ground at around 135 km/h with a kinetic energy of something around the neighborhood of 1.7 MJ.

For those that like freedom units... the Model Y weighs 4500 lb, I approximate that 4 people + objects in the car weigh around 550 lb making the entire payload 5050 lb. Doing some elementary physics and some generous rounding means the payload took 4 seconds to the ground at around 85 mph with a kinetic energy of something around the neighborhood of 1.7 MJ. That's 2-9x the average energy released in a highway car crash or the amount of energy released from 410g, er..., 1 lb of TNT.

Impressive that the vehicle could take that much energy without turning the occupants into whipped cream.

 

[E90alex]

Did some napkin math...

Model Y weighs 2054 kg, I approximate that 4 people + objects in the car weigh around 250kg making the entire payload 2300kg. Doing some elementary physics and some generous rounding means the payload took 4 seconds to the ground at around 135 km/h with a kinetic energy of something around the neighborhood of 1.7 MJ.

For those that like freedom units... the Model Y weighs 4500 lb, I approximate that 4 people + objects in the car weigh around 550 lb making the entire payload 5050 lb. Doing some elementary physics and some generous rounding means the payload took 4 seconds to the ground at around 85 mph with a kinetic energy of something around the neighborhood of 1.7 MJ. That's 2-9x the average energy released in a highway car crash or the amount of energy released from 410g, er..., 1 lb of TNT.

Impressive that the vehicle could take that much energy without turning the occupants into whipped cream.

It didn’t just freefall and hit the ground. It rolled down the side of the cliff which dissipates a lot of energy.

 

[apacheguy]

This is impressive. However, shouldn’t the driver assistance features have prevented the vehicle from veering off the road? I guess it was traveling too fast for the computer to react and apply corrective steering?

 

[adam19]

It didn’t just freefall and hit the ground. It rolled down the side of the cliff which dissipates a lot of energy.

ah didn't see that. well think of my estimate as a upper bound on how much energy was released at any single point

 

[KenC]

This is impressive. However, shouldn’t the driver assistance features have prevented the vehicle from veering off the road? I guess it was traveling too fast for the computer to react and apply corrective steering?

Well, it may depend upon the settings. I have lane correction turned off, so I only get an alert.

According to the USA Today article, it says the driver drove off the area where there is no guardrail, and from the map view, that would be south of the spot where they landed, implying they were driving north, and had to cross the opposing lane to drive off the cliff. Very strange accident.

You can see the guardrail, dark shadow, alongside the road, stops where there is a pull-over spot. Would be hard to drive off if going south, but just a slight left if going north. Maybe the driver was trying to pull over to the left side of the road, and just kept going over the side.

 

[zoomer0056]

This is impressive. However, shouldn’t the driver assistance features have prevented the vehicle from veering off the road? I guess it was traveling too fast for the computer to react and apply corrective steering?

See post #3. News says "it appears " the car wasn't on auto pilot or FSD beta.

 

[vickh]

See post #3. News says "it appears " the car wasn't on auto pilot or FSD beta.

Should lane emergency correction kick in regardless? Like AEB? Unless driver overrode to chime or maybe too curvy. I don't like lane correction since it makes me fight for lane changes, but would like a emergency feature

My neighborhood has a hard right curve and a lot of yahoos go over the barricades (not a cliff thankfully) My AP does disengage since it sees it a turn.

 

[vickh]

Did some napkin math...

Model Y weighs 2054 kg, I approximate that 4 people + objects in the car weigh around 250kg making the entire payload 2300kg. Doing some elementary physics and some generous rounding means the payload took 4 seconds to the ground at around 135 km/h with a kinetic energy of something around the neighborhood of 1.7 MJ.

For those that like freedom units... the Model Y weighs 4500 lb, I approximate that 4 people + objects in the car weigh around 550 lb making the entire payload 5050 lb. Doing some elementary physics and some generous rounding means the payload took 4 seconds to the ground at around 85 mph with a kinetic energy of something around the neighborhood of 1.7 MJ. That's 2-9x the average energy released in a highway car crash or the amount of energy released from 410g, er..., 1 lb of TNT.

Impressive that the vehicle could take that much energy without turning the occupants into whipped cream.

Love the physics 101 above.

Car has some great airbags to handle 1.7 MJ.

 

[whisperingshad]

Thank the universerse that they all survived. Not wishing to throw shade or schadenfreude, here, but it looks like a Performance M3, by the rims and tires. I had so many urges to just "punch it", in the days of my Corvette, until we drove the Tail of the Dragon and came to the "tree of wrecks".

Again, I am in no way trying to judge here. I am just expressing what I had observed from the pic. The most incredible thing is how the car kept the passengers safe and alive. I don’t think we could have said the same about any other brand.

Right, thank God they survived.

 

[GeoX750]

Thank the universerse that they all survived. Not wishing to throw shade or schadenfreude, here, but it looks like a Performance M3, by the rims and tires. I had so many urges to just "punch it", in the days of my Corvette, until we drove the Tail of the Dragon and came to the "tree of wrecks".

Again, I am in no way trying to judge here. I am just expressing what I had observed from the pic. The most incredible thing is how the car kept the passengers safe and alive. I don’t think we could have said the same about any other brand.

Too soon.

 

[thesmokingman]

If that was an ICE...

BOOOOOM!