The following video both delights and upsets me at the time time.
I’m delighted because the Tesla Model S has received the highest safety rating of any car ever tested. Yet I’m upset because my dream car gets destroyed on three separate occasions.
The Model S absolutely crushed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) safety tests. The car was awarded 5 stars in every single available category. And for the overall Vehicle Safety Score (VSS), the Model S captured a combined score of 5.4 stars, according to a recent release by Tesla Motors.
The Model S’s VSS not only beats out all other sedans, but it even beats the safety scores of any SUV or minivan. Simply put, this means the Model S has the lowest probability of injury to passengers from front, side, rear, and rollover accidents of any vehicle ever tested by the NHTSA.
If that doesn’t impress you, maybe this will: at an independent testing facility, during a roof crush protection test, the Model S withstood 4 g’s of pressure before the testing machine failed. That’s right – the Model S literally destroyed a testing machine.
Uniquely Safe
Much of the safety the Model S brings to the table can be attributed to design features only possible in an electric vehicle (EV).
First, the Model S does not require a gasoline engine under the hood of the car, allowing for a much larger crumple zone than conventional vehicles.
Second, the Model S’s heavy battery pack is mounted on the bottom of the vehicle. This feature lowers the center of gravity, providing better traction and a higher resistance to rollover.
In addition to these designs unique to EVs, the Model S mirrors a technique used by NASA’s Apollo Lunar Lander in order to absorb and transfer impact energy from side pole intrusions. The Model S preserved an additional 55.7 percent of driver residual space during pole intrusion tests when compared the next safest vehicle (Volvo S60).
This just one more achievement to add to Tesla’s growing list of accolades. I spoke a little last week about how Tesla is cutting through the headwinds, and this is a perfect example of that.
The valuation on Tesla shares is a little iffy at the moment, but the company still has some incredibly strong momentum going for it right now. With every bit of news that comes our way, it is looking more and more like Tesla will become a leading (if not the leading) global car manufacturer in the near future.
Turning progress to profits,
Jason Stutman
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