
Stolen Tesla Crashes, Splits in Half in Fiery Multi-Car Wreck - earino
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Stolen-Tesla-High-Speed-Chase-Fiery-Crash-in-West-Hollywood-265813821.html
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warble
Summary: some jackhole was going 100 miles per hour and hit a honda carrying 5
people, then struck a pole which cut the car in half. Half of it stuck in a
building, and the other half of the tesla caught on fire.

This has nothing to do with Tesla and EV fire concerns. Try doing this with an
internal combustion engine car and see what happens.

~~~
Zancarius
> This has nothing to do with Tesla and EV fire concerns.

Exactly. There was a rash a year or two ago of idiots wrecking their high end
sports cars, splitting them in half (and usually killing themselves in the
process). The focus of those articles was on the driver and not the car (the
titles reflected it too).

Curious that he managed to "significantly damage at least four vehicles." That
should be a testament to the Tesla's build quality.

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jameskilton
If it wasn't a Tesla, it would just say "Stolen car". Why is the article so
focused on it being a Tesla?

~~~
warble
Because it's a TESLA and they're dangerous!! (sarcasm)

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rdl
Wow, the driver (thief) appears to have survived (even if in critical
condition at the hospital)?

Not sure if that's an endorsement of the Tesla's safety, quality of EMS in LA,
or billions of years of evolution, but I wouldn't expect someone to survive an
accident like that.

~~~
bradleyland
The car split in half and the driver was ejected. It would be very difficult
to make a case that the driver survived on the merits of the Model S's safety
features. That is not an indictment of the Model S, however.

Automobiles are engineered for safety within an expected operating envelope.
Automobile safety engineering is a compromise of three factors cost, weight,
and safety. Tesla goes above and beyond in their engineering of their safety
features, but they still target an operating envelope that is sane. The forces
involved in a car accident increase rapidly with speed, so the compromises
involved fail hard when you push well outside the envelope.

What is an operating envelope, exactly? Roadway speed limits are (ideally) set
based on conditions. Things like the number of side streets, shoulder
clearances, road quality, and even the design of road infrastructure (like
guardrails) are taken in to consideration. Interstates are the only
environment where an automobile should exceed 55 MPH (if you're obeying
traffic laws). Roadside obstructions on an interstate are designed with this
in mind. City streets are not. When you drive within the confines of traffic
laws, you're within the operating envelope. Exceed these parameters, and
you're pushing in to territory that was not explicitly considered when
engineering the car.

Put more simply, there is no testing standard for impact with telephone poles
at >55 MPH because that is never an expected outcome for accidents where
operators are driving within an expected operating envelope.

~~~
maxerickson
I would be surprised if they actually use 55 mph as the cutoff, I would think
they look at driving behavior rather than the legal limits, and the effective
max speed in many areas is 60 or 65 mph.

It's also the case that states with a lot of rural roads have speed limits, on
undivided highways, higher than 55 mph (Wikipedia seems to be fairly
comprehensive on this topic:
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_Stat...](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_limits_in_the_United_States)
).

~~~
bradleyland
Surprise! :) The bar is (literally, not figuratively) set by the crash test
regulations in a given market. In the US, this is the NHTSA.

In the incident outlined in the article, the driver struck a pole orientated
(roughly) perpendicular to the direction of travel. The testing standard for
this type of impact is currently 20 MPH[1]. Why 20 MPH? Because, as you
suggested, research [2] indicates that most accidents involving fixed poles
don't occur at high speeds. Roadside hardware present on highways are designed
to crumple and absorb impact, or are situated such that they would deflect the
car, rather than cause it to stop abruptly. Yes, you can find exceptions to
this rule, but they are exceptions, and would be considered a deficiency to be
resolved, not an engineering standard.

Tesla exceeded the required criteria for this test by a sizable margin, but
you've got to look at the physics of kinetic energy to understand why anything
above 55 MPH is still wildly outside of the range considered in the safety
engineering of the car.

In a crash, the kinetic energy of the vehicle must be dissipated somehow. This
energy is governed by the formula (1/2)mv^2. The important part of that
formula is the velocity-squared portion. The velocity coefficient impacts the
kinetic energy as a square. Just have a look at a graph of that function:

[http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1%2F2%282100x%5E2%29+fr...](http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=1%2F2%282100x%5E2%29+from+x%3D0+to+55)

As much as I commend Tesla for their safety efforts, when you drive like this
guy did, your only ally is dumb luck.

1:
[http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+FAQ#fifteen](http://www.safercar.gov/Vehicle+Shoppers/5-Star+FAQ#fifteen)

2:
[http://www.nhtsa.gov/CARS/rules/rulings/SideImpact/index.htm...](http://www.nhtsa.gov/CARS/rules/rulings/SideImpact/index.html)

~~~
maxerickson
My point was more that if they are doing some design calculation, they aren't
just going to plug 55 mph into the front of that calculation, they are going
to use some consideration.

Shortly after posting my other reply, I was pondering how worthwhile it was
and what prompted me to post it, and I decided that I found the 55 to be
overly specific. I haven't changed my mind about that, but I don't see much
reason to try to argue about it.

~~~
bradleyland
Then how do you plain that the car split in half in this incident? If the
information presented doesn't change your mind, then maybe you're just more
concerned with maintaining your point of view than you are understanding the
matter.

~~~
maxerickson
I suppose the key point is that I over-read _Interstates are the only
environment where an automobile should exceed 55 MPH (if you 're obeying
traffic laws)._ (which is simply not true) and looked past _there is no
testing standard_ (which does a nice job of qualifying what you were saying).

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api
So EVs are good enough for Los Angeles high speed chases now... does this mean
they've finally arrived?

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keehun
I wonder what would've happened if Tesla both had the ability to remotely shut
the car down AND then shut it down in compliance with the police involved.
Less people would be hurt, a synagogue would not have those damages, a whole
lot of people with less stress.

Precedent from 2009 with OnStar:
[http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/10/onstar-
gp...](http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/10/onstar-gps-
carjacking.html)

~~~
th3iedkid
i wonder if its safe to shut down or slow down a vehicle remotely because
speed & approach judgements are best left to drivers of the vehicle unless of-
course its remotely driven.

~~~
dllthomas
Probably dangerous, but probably safer than a high-speed chase.

~~~
th3iedkid
Yes you are right , for the resultant set of safe times and coordinates to
slow-down/shutdown should be algorithmic derivations; given fast computing and
enough data-gathering.But am wondering if modern GPS remote mechanisms do
these ?

~~~
dllthomas
It seems like you could probably do pretty well by 1) alerting the driver, and
2) gradually reducing the max speed.

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kristaps
Real criminal genius - steals a car that is constantly connected to the
mothership and can't be chopped up for parts (hardly think there could be a
market for that).

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bryanlarsen
Why was there a high speed chase, anyways? Don't most police departments have
rules that high speed chases should only proceed when lives are endangered?

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paulyg
I've seen plenty of pictures on the internet of supercars sliced in half and
burned after crashes at that kind of speed. For example the Paul Walker crash.
From the picture of the Honda I assume the Tesla broadsides the Honda whiched
caused it to spin, slide, and strike the pole.

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matiasp
It would be great for Tesla if first person to die in a Model S was a car
thief.

Someone is going to be the first. Lets hope is not a child :S

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sergiotapia
This reeks of a smear campaign for Tesla Automobiles. A regular petrol car
would have exploded and hurt much more people.

~~~
kristaps
If anything this could be an involuntary ad for Tesla's safety, since the
driver survived.

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Moral_
Why was this even posted to HN?

~~~
th3iedkid
keyword 'Tesla'

