Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by jamesred | Hacker News Reader

Full thread

jamesred

I know Tesla likes to tout a best in class crash rating. It just isn't true for the Model S.

The Model S gets a "A" for acceptable on the front small overlap test from the IIHS. The highest grade is a "G".

http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/tesla/model-s-4-d...

View on HN

If you compare the images of the Model S on:

Small overlap front: http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/ratings/images/api-rating-...

Moderate overlap front: http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/ratings/images/api-rating-...

You can clearly see a difference where the structural integrity of the door area begins to fail.

Compare that to the BMW 5 series in small overlap front: http://www.iihs.org/frontend/iihs/ratings/images/api-rating-...

There doesn't appear to be any structural damage to the door area.

Tesla optimizes for NHTSA testing, which doesn't test a lot of very high end vehicles.

Tesla fares more poorly in the more difficult IIHS and EuroCAP tests, which actually test high end vehicles frequently.

But nothing stops Elon from bragging about how this makes the Model X the safest car blah blah.

The article (which I'm sure you read) is not about IIHS testing. It's about NHTSA testing. Also, I believe that Tesla planned on tweaking the car for this IIHS issue.

Also, it's about a different car

Still relevant since Tesla claims the Model X is the safest car after the Model S, but other crash test show that the Model S also has its flaws.

NSTHA and IIHS have different ways of rating cars. The best would be to top the leaderboards for both agencies, but Model S being first place and Model X being second place ain't no easy task though. Tesla has since addressed the issue since that test, so whenever they have another Tesla to test, it will reflect in that score.

I'm wondering if anyone knows a link to the leaderboard that Tesla mentions that the S and the X are the top two vehicles

But how does that relate? Best in class is not necessarily highest possible.

Also I have read the reliability of the X was a nightmare. Any progress on that with running changes?

Numerous automobiles in "Luxury Cars" category have ratings higher than that of the Model S. This includes the following: BMW 5 Series, Audi A6, Hyundai Genesis, Volvo S90, Acura RLX.

The list of top safety picks of 2017 as rated by the IIHS is here: http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/TSP-List

For those interested, here's a list of the Top Safety Picks for 2017 (and older) http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/TSP-List

Didn't see Tesla on any of the lists for the current year, or past years.

Photo caption from your link. "The seat belt allowed far too much forward movement of the dummy to the extent that its head hit the steering wheel hard through the airbag."

I imagine this could be tweaked in future builds and corrected?

Reply on news.ycombinator.com