Tesla Cybertruck: How deadly is it?

medium.com

1 point·jasimq··3 comments

The author is probably thinking about what is sometimes called 5 mph bumpers.

These minimize/protect the vehicle from damage in low speed collisions not pedestrians. The insurance industry lobbied for them and my guess is that the "cybertruck" will ultimately come with some form of bumper.

As a pedestrian, what you certainly don't want to be hit with is a hood ornament like those on Jaguars. Fun fact originally hood ornaments were statically affixed to the vehicle before people realized they would eviscerate pedestrians.

I have fond memories of rolling across the expansive hood of an 80's lincoln as it rolled through a stop sign in southern california. My bike was fine, but the proud square badge left a superficial scrape across my abdomen. Otherwise uninjured, with an awesome 'scar' to show my friends, I thought it was awesome. Surely, a solidly affixed one may have proven disasterous. I was less excited when a schoolbus did the same. Dispite conforming to none of the modern safety standards, I had no cool scar, just the terror of nearly being thrown under bus tires.

Not sure what that says for the Tesla, or modern suv/cuvs in general.

Also, the actual bumpers have been invisible, as they now hide behind plastic facias. No cars have metal front ends anymore for pedestrian safety. Even hoods have a required clerance above the engine, hence the recent high hooline trend. Not sure how the electric truck will handle that gracefully.

This should be a tweet not a medium post.

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