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"We believe these changes will also help prevent a fire resulting from an extremely high speed impact that tears the wheels off the car, like the other Model S
by zacharycohn 13y ago
"We believe these changes will also help prevent a fire resulting from an extremely high speed impact that tears the wheels off the car, like the other Model S impact fire, which occurred last year in Mexico. This happened after the vehicle impacted a roundabout at 110 mph, shearing off 15 feet of concrete curbwall and tearing off the left front wheel, then smashing through an eight foot tall buttressed concrete wall on the other side of the road and tearing off the right front wheel, before crashing into a tree. The driver stepped out and walked away with no permanent injuries and a fire, again limited to the front section of the vehicle, started several minutes later. The underbody shields will help prevent a fire even in such a scenario."
This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.
- unphasable 13y agoThis is written in a semi-sarcastic/ passive aggressive tone to get across the point of how safe their vehicles already are. Very cheeky of Elon and his team.
- lkmz 13y agoLet's not forget that Tesla recently issued a recall for 29,000 charging adapters because they would overheat and catch on fire. http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/automobiles/citing-charging-concerns-tesla-issues-a-recall.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/automobiles/citing-chargin...
- cykod 13y agoCome on dude, you make it sound like these things we're catching on fire all over the place - "... the number of incidents remains small, and Tesla’s review to date points to the building receptacle or wiring as the primary cause of failed NEMA 14-50 adapters, the company has determined that a voluntary recall is appropriate as a precautionary measure.”
- MPetitt 13y agoAnd lets not forget how astonishing that is in light of what many other car manufacturers[0] do when they find issues that effect millions of their cars in a much more dangerous way. The fact that even with that issue, their safety numbers are through the roof and their number of incidents are way under the national average, and they still willingly and transparently issues a recall, I count that as nothing but a plus for Tesla. [0]http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424127887324669104578203440990704994 http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142412788732466910...
- owurkan 13y agoLet's not forget it was a special kind of recall, one where no vehicles were being physically recalled by Tesla.
- threeseed 13y agoDid you actually read that article ? Toyota recalled cars and paid damages. Which is exactly what Tesla would have done. And you're being disingenuous by comparing a single Tesla incident to the entirety of the automobile industry's history.
- MPetitt 13y agoI did, and I'm not sure what you are trying to say exactly, but the point I was making which others have pointed out as well is that Tesla issued changes not for an issue with their car, but to improve it and make it better. Other car manufacturers waited until there were either deaths, lawsuits, or media outcry to recall cars. They were all reactive purely based on cost-benefit. Tesla decided here that their already incredibly safe cars that have fared better than most, if not all others; could be made even better. What Tesla did is leagues above what any other manufacturer has done in recent memory.
- twistedpair 13y agoCompared to GM that waited recently until 13 people had died before issuing a recall for faulty ignitions? Or how about the 119 deaths from knowingly underinflated tires on Ford Explorers back in 2000? Car companies are reactive and calculating, Tesla is proactive with foresight.
- pjc50 13y agoGM is currently recalling 1.6M cars which can accidentally turn off while driving: http://www.thewire.com/business/2014/03/gm-recall-mary-barra-hearing/359670/ http://www.thewire.com/business/2014/03/gm-recall-mary-barra... (this has apparently resulted in a number of deaths, as the power steering stops working)
- acangiano 13y agoAnd they were aware of the problem.
- MBCook 13y agoNot only were they aware of the problem, they did the calculus and decided to release a brand new model knowing this issue effected. http://consumerist.com/2014/03/25/gm-knew-chevy-cobalt-ignition-could-turn-itself-off-released-car-anyway/ http://consumerist.com/2014/03/25/gm-knew-chevy-cobalt-ignit...
- chrisgd 13y ago"Take the nubmer of vehicles in the field, A, multiply by the probabilty rate of failure, B, multiply by the average ouf-of-court settlement, C. A x B x C = X. If X is less than the cost of a recall, we don't do one."
- RyanMcGreal 13y agoCost-benefit analysis, psychopath style.
- seunosewa 13y agoWhat's ridiculous about it?
- cma 13y agoThat it sounds like it was written in Slashdot passive aggressive style: rather than just directly saying it was an extreme scenario, they used list of somewhat-hyperbolic-but-way-more-so-if-you-know-the-jargon descriptors of each element of the crash.
- PakG1 13y agoPart of me thinks that they are deliberately passive aggressive, like, "I can't believe people don't believe yet that our vehicles are safe, fine, let's just go all out and shove it in their face."
- JshWright 13y agoOnly part of you?
- 300bps 13y agoSounded like a list of facts about the crash to me. What should Tesla have done in this situation? The media was spreading the falsehood that Tesla vehicles are more prone to fires than the average gasoline car. That is provably false. In this article they state that it is false and then give the very unusual sequence of events that led to the unusual outcome. Media reports leave people thinking, "Electric vehicle? No thanks, too dangerous." Tesla's response leaves people thinking, "Well I have no plans to go 110 MPH through a round-about so I'll probably be OK." The latter is more accurate.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- mbrameld 13y agoI think Tesla is probably exasperated that a couple Model S cars catching fire is international news while cars from other manufacturers catch fire every day and it's barely even worthy of the local news.
- codfrantic 13y ago>This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. ridiculously awesome?
- loceng 13y agoExactly why. They're gently poking fun that Tesla vehicles are extremely safe, especially compared to fires - and then sticking it to critics further by actually announcing improvements to further reduce the already very low numbers of fire and further increase the already highest rating ever for a safety check for a vehicle. Well done Tesla and Elon.
- Cthulhu_ 13y agoAnd yet, I can't help but feel they're being very, very defensive over it. I can't blame them, of course, given how something trivial like a car fire (trivial given the average frequency of them) is turned into a national news event. At the same time, Tesla's attention to quality and perfection and what-have-you will end up in them being heavily scrutinised. It's not that different from Apple in that respect; random mp3 player breaks, no problem. iPod breaks and the torches and pitchforks come into view.
- TheCraiggers 13y ago>It's not that different from Apple in that respect; random mp3 player breaks, no problem. iPod breaks and the torches and pitchforks come into view. Considering that a "random mp3 player" costs $6 on Amazon and that an Apple iPod costs over $200, I'd say people are totally justified to get upset. They spent the extra money expecting a product whose quality matched its price. I'd say this is true of cars as well. When your used Ford Escort breaks down, you're hardly going to be surprised. When your exceedingly expensive Tesla breaks down and/or catches fire, you're going to be a tad upset. That said, I'd say people lose all rights to be upset when they are the cause of the malfunction. You can't be too upset at a broken iPod after you drop it down a flight of stairs, and you can't be too upset at your Tesla catching fire after you ran it into a tree at 110 MPH. (I'm not saying the Tesla driver was upset mind you- I think all the Tesla hate is just coming from frightened car manufactures and the media.)
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
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- abvdasker 13y agoThis is why Elon Musk is the man.
- chrismealy 13y agoMaybe Tesla cars are too safe.
- stcredzero 13y agoI was just thinking that the evolutionary pressures against ultra-rich...persons who go plowing into traffic at high speeds in high performance cars might be unduly reduced.
- downandout 13y ago> This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. Do you mean ridiculous as in you believe that he is exaggerating, or ridiculous as in it is amazing that the car held up so well? I doubt that he would simply make up verifiable facts concerning a specific, well publicized accident to make his company look better. That said, it is quite clear from these facts that this driver is lucky to be breathing today regardless of what kind of car he was driving. If the guy had died, Elon would be talking about how such an extreme accident wouldn't be survivable in any car. This being an edge case, it doesn't really sway me either way, but it is undeniable that Tesla automobiles are very safe relative to others. He is justifiably incensed at the negative media attention surrounding a very small number of incidents.
- chongli 13y agoIt's ridiculous how much emphasis the media placed on the fire while ignoring the extreme speed and consequently minor injuries involved in the crash.
- mortenjorck 13y agoThe standard that the media holds Tesla to will still be a picnic compared to how the media will treat the first self-driving cars. Far safer than human-driven will not be nearly enough; the first high-profile accident will be wall-to-wall "Are Self-Driving Cars Really Ready For Prime Time?"
- orblivion 13y agoI kindof wonder if it's going to cause more deaths on the road when people who think they're important and drive like this are going to do so more confidently.
- kristofferR 13y agoYup, I really wish there was video footage of it.
- cl8ton 13y agoSounds plausible I Guess but I wonder how Tesla in this crash description circumvented Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion and the bodily damage the driver should have incurred on negative G's.
- InclinedPlane 13y agoThe longer something takes to slow down the less acceleration it experiences.
- lotsofmangos 13y agoThis sounds as though the car took a while to stop, given the list of things it hit. The G forces won't have been that high.
- syncsynchalt 13y agoThe Model S is a long car compared to the hatchbacks and mini sedans that we're getting used to. Maybe that has something to do with it.
- Sami_Lehtinen 13y agoYeah that's crazy. Because in the old Beetle I got, you had to be careful not to push your feet through the floor to the street. So why would car need to be protected from such extreme underbelly damage, it's not normal in any circumstances.
- travisp 13y agoRoad debris causing damage, to the underbelly or elsewhere is not uncommon (heck, drivers even have to worry about road debris going through the windshield and impaling them, let alone dangerous damage through the underbelly). I would not have wanted to drive your old Beetle in some parts of the United States, particularly not speeding on a highway. Here's an article about road debris in a normal car (not even your Beetle, where it would have easily killed you): "a sizeable chunk of angle iron that actually tore through the bottom of the vehicle, found lodged in a portion of the backseat." (https://www.westerndirect.ca/learning-centre/insurance-news-and-advice/view/605-road-debris-is-a-common-problem-in-canada https://www.westerndirect.ca/learning-centre/insurance-news-...) The reason the car "needs" to be protected from such damage is the media attention, not because it's unusually unsafe.
- larrys 13y ago"This is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard." Agree. I'd love to see what happens to the vehicle and driver if the object (say an alternator) hits the tire instead of the under-body. Or skips up and hits the windshield.
- dangayle 13y agoYou can't just take a snipe at that whole thing without explaining what you mean. It's a crazy car crash. Here's the Yahoo news story about it: http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/second-tesla-model-fire-sparked-crash-mexico-141237816.html http://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/second-tesla-model-fi...
- ds_sp00k 13y agoPfff...Titanium. Wake me up when they start using Mithril.
- SEJeff 13y agoOr Adamantium
- brownbat 13y agoHa, maybe the most dangerous thing about Tesla cars is that they are so safe that the occupant will feel invincible.