Tesla isn’t shy when it comes to boasting about the strengths of its vehicles, including literally in terms of structural integrity and safety. A huge crash in Germany with a Model S does well to reiterate the company’s point.
These harrowing images show the result of a high-speed crash that took place in Pullach, Germany. According to Germany media reports, the driver, an 18-year-old daughter of the car’s owner, was driving with four other passengers at the time of the crash – all survived.
It’s understood she was driving at very high speed when she misjudged a bend. This apparently saw the car leap off the road some 25 metres through the air, only to come crashing down in the middle of a field.
As you can see, the nose of the Model S took the brunt of the impact, before the car likely pirouetted and rolled. Unlike combustion-engined vehicles the Model S is able to have much more effective crumple zones. These are structural areas of the car that are designed to crush in to absorb the energy of an impact.
Judging by these images, the Model S’s front crumple zone worked extremely well. In fact, the entire passenger compartment looks pretty much perfect while the front end is non-existent. You can also see the windscreen is mostly in tact, and the roof doesn’t appear to be buckled at all.
Reports say some of the passengers were taken to hospital and some were left with serious but not life-threatening injuries.
The Tesla Model S has been given a five-star ANCAP rating, with a score of 35.45 out of 37.
I think most modern cars would have performed about the same.
Please do some research on this subject instead of instantly discrediting Tesla like so many trolls do. Most “modern cars” still have internal combustion engines up front. The ICE severely limits the amount of space available for effective crumple zones. In a crash like this one, your average “modern car” would have deposited its engine into the cabin (killing the front seat passengers). The Tesla’s long nose is designed to be a very effective crumple zone. So far, in all crash tests performed on the Model S, it has scored 5 stars in every category and sub-category. It is literally the safest car EVER tested in a crash. If these kids were in any other vehicle, some or all of them would probably be dead right now.
What’s interesting to me is that there’s no broken glass.
This implies a fairly stiff structure at least where the glass is mounted.
It looks like the car went end-over-end to some degree (damage and dirt on the front and rear of the car – not so much on sides and roof), so it’s pretty impressive that the passenger compartment appears to have maintained its full integrity (though a stiff structure does imply less energy absorption – the soft ground may have helped significantly here).
The ANCAP rating you published here of 35.45 out of 27 is incredible! 🙂