
Tesla Model 3 rollover crash shows its real-world safety - bdcravens
https://www.engadget.com/2018/07/15/tesla-model-3-rollover-crash/
======
olivermarks
The Reddit thread link
[https://old.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/8yy3jk/my_wife...](https://old.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/8yy3jk/my_wife_rolled_our_model_3_at_highway_speeds_she/)

Engadget article is a clumsy rewrite of this with some added padding. I too
wonder how this car is on the market without having passed federal safety
tests.

IIHS link
[http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/tesla/model-3-4-d...](http://www.iihs.org/iihs/ratings/vehicle/v/tesla/model-3-4-door-
sedan)

~~~
dsfyu404ed
>I too wonder how this car is on the market without having passed federal
safety tests.

You don't have to crash test a car to sell it. You just get in trouble for
selling it if the results (either real world or lab) turn out to be
unacceptable after the fact. This system of requiring compliance and then
doing spot checks and enforcing after the fact seems to work fine (across many
industries, not just cars).

~~~
olivermarks
Based on my understanding of some european cars not being allowed to be sold
in the USA because of failing frontal crash tests, I was under the impression
all cars had to pass local tests before being available for purchase
[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26444467/ns/business-
autos/t/perfe...](http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26444467/ns/business-
autos/t/perfectly-safe-car-just-not-us/#.W0yyp4ljNE4)

~~~
decebalus1
Regulations around selling foreign made cars in the US have absolutely nothing
to do with safety.

~~~
olivermarks
It appears to be emissions restrictions rather than safety that causes import
issues thanks [http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/display-speed-under-
sho...](http://autoweek.com/article/car-news/display-speed-under-show-or-
display-exemption-americans-can-now-import-previously)

------
Shank
The inside pictures are quite stunning from my perspective. The cabin is
almost fully in tact with no compression inside and what looks like a totally
functional main control screen. The only real crash indicators are the airbags
and the cracked windshield. I’m no expert, but it seems like it did an
excellent job at keeping the occupant alive by virtue of simply keeping the
entire cabin healthy.

[https://m.imgur.com/a/33RUwEN](https://m.imgur.com/a/33RUwEN)

~~~
decebalus1
The pictures are indeed stunning but with no other _verifiable_ information
(like the exact circumstances such as speed) these should be taken with a
grain of salt especially on Reddit, which is considered basically Tesla's
astroturf.

------
slivym
So is this just the gratuitous 'Musk has fucked up, better send out some PR
pieces'? Because this article is basically just some guy off reddit. How would
you feel walking into a showroom asking about how it fairs in crash tests and
the salesmen says 'well some guy on reddit said it was fine'?

~~~
josefresco
Pretty sure the sales guy would mention, you know... _actual_ crash test
results. I agree this might be PR spin but the Tesla (all of them) tests quite
well, well enough that they don't need to rely on "some guy on Reddit".

Edit: I realized this is specifically about the Model 3, which doesn't have
official data yet. What I said is probably still accurate - what do BMW
salespeople say about a new model that doesn't have data in yet? Probably:
"Look how safe our other cars are!"

------
gambiting
Wait.....so if official crash test results are not available yet, how on earth
is this car allowed to be sold?

~~~
perl4ever
If you look up crash ratings, you will find it's not uncommon for new car
models to be missing them. It just isn't something that is done before the
first unit is sold - presumably because as other people mentioned, it has to
be done independently to be useful. Of course there must be internal tests,
but there's no use in publicizing them because of the conflict of interest,
and I'm sure if Tesla did that, people would point out the problem.

People who are _concerned_ about Tesla unwittingly give away the fact they
don't browse the IIHS web site for fun. It is educational.

If you search for the Honda Insight on said IIHS site, you will find the old
one that ceased production in 2014, not the new one that just arrived at my
local Honda dealer. This is not shocking if you had any interest in the
subject independent of Tesla.

The NHTSA site lists the 2019 Insight, but surprise, surprise, it says it is
not rated.

~~~
gambiting
It does make sense, I just always thought that new models had to be crash-
tested before being allowed on the market. I'm clearly wrong in this
assumption.

------
melling
Tesla is still having problems increasing production of the Model 3. The
automation didn’t work as planned. Is there any hope that they can get close
to 10,000 cars a week?

They are about to cross 50,000 Model 3’s shipped.

[https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-
tracker/](https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2018-tesla-tracker/)

A few analysts seem to think that around 60,000 Model 3’s a quarter will get
them to profitability.

—- UPDATE

Guess I perceived as a Tesla hater. I’m not but I guess I got branded as one
for asking about their production line.

I offer a fanboy blog post as evidence that I’m not a hater:

[http://h4labs.org/tesla-is-about-to-ship-its-10000th-
model-3...](http://h4labs.org/tesla-is-about-to-ship-its-10000th-model-3/)

~~~
Retric
I don't think they can maintain 5,000 Model 3's a week pace without improving
their process. However, ramping from 5,000 to 10,000 cars per week is simpler
than getting to 5,000 per week.

Also, 5,000 is in reference to just Model 3's. "The delivery breakdown for the
quarter was 18,440 Model 3’s, 10,930 Model S vehicles, and 11,370 Model X
SUVs." [https://electrek.co/2018/07/02/tesla-official-
model-3-produc...](https://electrek.co/2018/07/02/tesla-official-
model-3-production-numbers-q2/) 5,000 Model 3's per week ~= 65,000 per
quarter.

~~~
agumonkey
We don't have the details on what's going on at Tesla.

\- Musk rushed the lines design (mistake) \- Car were still too wire friendly
(mistake)

Now IF musk and his partners start to get a hold of line design and
programming, and if they're able to redesign internals to meet the previous
point. They might be able to get stable.

