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Comment by jdietrich | Hacker News Reader

The Tesla Model Y is a two ton SUV with the performance of a Porsche 911. The base RWD model is fast and the Performance model is stupidly fast. I don't think anyone would be particularly surprised to learn that Porsche drivers get into a lot of fatal accidents.

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>I don't think anyone would be particularly surprised to learn that Porsche drivers get into a lot of fatal accidents.

From the actual study:

                               Fatal Accident Rate   Compared to
    Rank| Model               |(per 10^9 Miles)    | Overall Average
    ----+---------------------+--------------------+-----------------
     1  | Hyundai Venue       | 13.9               | 4.9x
     2  | Chevrolet Corvette  | 13.6               | 4.8x
     3  | Mitsubishi Mirage   | 13.6               | 4.8x
     4  | Porsche 911         | 13.2               | 4.6x
     5  | Honda CR-V Hybrid   | 13.2               | 4.6x
     6  | Tesla Model Y       | 10.6               | 3.7x

So the Tesla Model Y has a lower fatal accident rate than sports cars, but they report it as Tesla overall having the highest fatal accident rate? Perhaps that's because _all_ the cars they make are stupid fast and heavy, and they don't offer cars where it's far harder to get into those situations?

I wonder if it’s because there’s more passengers per model Y on average than a two-door sports car!

One fatal model Y accident might cause half a dozen gas fatalities, but a Porsche wrapped around a tree might kill just the lone driver.

Good point too. Things that the authors should've thought about.

Both the comment and TFA clearly indicate it's measured in terms of fatal accidents, not fatalities.

I would guess that having more than one passenger increases the chance of at least one of them dying in an accident

What in the world is the Honda CR-V Hybrid doing so high on this list?! That doesn't seem to fit any of the theories I've seen spun up so far.

Family car, probably lots of accidents due to kids distracting drivers.

Looks like the hybrid version of the CR-V was released in 2020:

https://hondanews.com/en-US/honda-automobiles/releases/relea...

...and the study only covered model years up to 2022. It would be interesting to compare the hybrid to the standard version. If there is a significant difference, I'd be suspicious of data quality.

If that was the case I'd expect the non-hybrid CR-V to be up there too.

I found a discussion of the 2019 report, which was the year before the CR-V hybrid came out, and the CR-V fatality rate was 2.7.

Highlander that I see everywhere is not.

The Highlander rates somewhat higher on crash ratings from what I can find (both are top picks). Also a significantly heavier vehicle (by about 10% depending on model years).

Could it be more average passengers per accident?

The top most model of the Model Y is as fast in a straight line as the lowest base model 911, and the handling isn't even close to the same. Saying the Model Y has the performance of the 911 is not really an accurate statement.

The straight-line performance is exactly what makes it dangerous.

To be more precise, it's probably the disparity between straight-line performance and cornering performance that gets people in real trouble.

> A focused, alert driver

I dislike how tesla kills situational awareness. It is the central touchscreen.

The model 3 and y and cybertruck put everything there - both status and control. You have to look to the side to see the speed of the vehicle, and the gearshift is on the touchscreen.

The S and X both retain a dashboard in front of you, but most of the controls moved to the touchscreen.

And the removal of stalks from all models have moved turn signals to steering wheel buttons, and most of the rest to the touchscreen.

I think the cars are really well designed, it is just that these user interface choices make you worse driver.

I dislike how 99% of cars make you look down so far. Looking to the side as well isn't an issue, especially when my gaze is scanning my mirrors.

By comparison, my older Prius has the speedometer at the base of the windshield super close to the road. It's simply better.

I haven't tried a heads-up display, though.

My 2024 Mazda CX-5 has a heads-up display and I quite like it. It presents in the windshield right above my hands on the top of the wheel, shows current speed, cruise status, and lane detection. I feel like I don't have to take my eyes off the road to get a speed update, it's nice.

I've had two cars now with head-up display info on the window. It shows speed, adaptive cruise control status, lane keeping, maximum speed, navigation info and warnings. I will definitely get it again on any future cars. It's so much easier than looking at the displays inside the car.

A small but well thought out safety future using the HUD is in the dark, when the car detects a pedestrian or cyclist on or moving into the road using the infrared camera it will show a yellow warning icon. Has shown me people walking in dark clothes on dark rural roads a few times far before I could see them myself. This is a video of the detection, mine doesn't have that spotlight, but shows the warning on the window instead: https://youtu.be/WpB8ZLGq7EE

Looking at the results.. it does make you wonder if there is something other underlying problem with the model Y vs the Model X or model 3.

Don't the aerodynamics severely limit the cornering performance of the Model Y? How can it have the same performance? Or is there only one metric of performance that is being measured?

I would suspect that it is the weight of the vehicle that is the primary driver there. There is some additional negative effects of the vehicle being taller (increasing roll), but that is probably mostly mitigated by the battery pack pulling down the (vertical) center of mass. But certainly the aerodynamics creating less down-force would play some role.

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