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The outer body of the car is still sheet metal and can be repaired as before, if not easier. The cast parts are only on the inside and also traditional cars are
by _ph_ 5y ago
The outer body of the car is still sheet metal and can be repaired as before, if not easier. The cast parts are only on the inside and also traditional cars are usuall a write-off, if the internal frame is damaged. The cast parts might even be stiffer and hence more difficult to damage.
Tesla for sure has thought about this. For example, the rear cast has struts which hold the rear bumper and consequently are likely to be damaged during an accident. But these struts are designed to be cut off and replaced with new parts.
- enragedcacti 5y ago> The cast parts might even be stiffer and hence more difficult to damage. Someone with more experience should step in and correct me but my understanding is that this is how we used to do things and stopped because it turns your passengers into soup. You need those parts to crumple. I'm sure Tesla has thought of that and wouldn't downgrade the structural safety but it does mean the new design is probably just as easy to damage but more expensive to replace than traditional designs.
- spockz 5y agoI suppose you want the crumble zone to be on the outside. Outside critical parts and easily replaceable. Then you want the inner shell not to disform, or not too much, as otherwise you are sending metal into body parts.
- HPsquared 5y agoCars are designed with a strong central structure (passenger cell) and weak areas at the periphery (crumple zones). These cast parts are in the "strong" area, I think.
- _ph_ 5y agoThe crumple zones are unaffected by the casts and the casts can crumble as well. But if the car gets deformed beyond a certain point, it would be totalled anyway. If you look at pictures of the casts, the front ones mount the wheels but end there, the rest of the car ahead of them is made from sheet metal and metal bar with the purpose of crumbling easily.
- deleted 5y ago[deleted]
- throwawayboise 5y agoA steel unibody may bend in a moderate collision, but it can often be straigtened by a competent body shop. Castings are more brittle, they tend to crack, not bend. And they can't really be welded back together. I think having major parts of the frame as cast pieces will reduce repairability, but time will tell.