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NEWS: 5-star safety rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP)!!

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Benz

Active Member
Nov 15, 2012
1,905
20
Netherlands
I just received this email from Tesla Motors:

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Model S Achieves Euro NCAP 5-Star Safety Rating

AMSTERDAM, November 5, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

We're pleased to announce that the Tesla Model S has received a maximum-possible 5-star safety rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP).

Model S is one of just a few cars to have ever achieved a 5-star safety rating from both Euro NCAP and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Additionally, Model S is the only car this year to have achieved both a 5-star Euro NCAP rating and 5 stars in every NHTSA subcategory, including frontal impact, side impact, and rollover. Only two other cars have earned the same recognition since 2011 (when NHTSA introduced its latest rating scheme).

The reason so few models achieve 5-star ratings in both Europe and the U.S. is that each program places emphasis on different safety aspects in the assessment process. NHTSA emphasizes structural and restraint safety, with a deep focus on how well the vehicle can withstand and absorb the energy of an impact while protecting its occupants. It is also primarily concerned with adult occupants. On the other hand, Euro NCAP assesses a wider range of scenarios, including tests for child and pedestrian safety. Unlike for NHTSA, active safety is also an important part of Euro NCAP's 5-star requirement. Every year, the European organization raises the standard for a 5-star rating to account for technological advances in the industry.

The dual 5-star ratings for Model S validate our holistic approach to safety. We have been engineering passive and active safety systems in parallel, so the car is structurally sound and is also designed to intelligently anticipate and react to potentially dangerous situations.

Structurally, Model S has advantages not seen in conventional cars. It has a low center of gravity because its battery pack, the largest mass in the car, is positioned underneath the passenger compartment, making rollover extremely unlikely. It also has a large front crumple zone because of the lack of an engine, meaning it can absorb more energy from a frontal impact, the most common type of crash resulting in fatalities. Its body is reinforced with aluminum extrusions at strategic locations around the car, and the roof can withstand at least 4 g's. It was for these reasons that Model S achieved 5 stars in every subcategory when tested by NHTSA in 2013.

This quarter, we started implementing the Model S active safety system in conjunction with the introduction of new Autopilot hardware, consisting of 12 ultrasonic sensors that sense up to 16 feet around the car, a forward-looking camera, a forward radar, and a digitally controlled, high-precision electric brake boost. We specifically selected this hardware to accommodate the progressive introduction of new safety features via software updates over the course of the next several months.

While the features already pushed to the Model S fleet - Lane Departure Warning and Speed Limit Warning - have proven sufficient to merit a 5-star NCAP rating, we will go much further with active safety systems. Features coming soon include Forward and Side Collision Warning and Avoidance, Blind Spot Warning, and Automatic Emergency Braking.

Safety has always been Tesla's top priority, and we remain committed to continuously improving Model S to ensure that adults, children, and pedestrians alike receive the best possible protection from the car and its technology. In the meantime, Model S owners can be secure in the knowledge that this recognition from Euro NCAP reaffirms their car's outstanding safety qualities.

Press Contact: [email protected]

SOURCE Tesla Motors Inc
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Congrats to Tesla for achieving the maximum rating in both EuroNCAP and NHTSA tests, we expected nothing less!!!

My favorite quote from the blogpost:
"While the features already pushed to the Model S fleet – Lane Departure Warning and Speed Limit Warning – have proven sufficient to merit a 5-star NCAP rating, we will go much further with active safety systems. Features coming soon include Forward and Side Collision Warning and Avoidance, Blind Spot Warning, and Automatic Emergency Braking."

It keeps getting better :)
 
Tesla Model S | Euro NCAP - For safer cars crash test safety rating


Much more detailed analysis of the crash tests. A lot more information and diagrams given than NHTSA.

An interesting tidbit:
Readings from the passenger dummy indicated good protection of all body areas except the head. Analysis of the dummy kinematics showed that the airbag on the passenger side had 'bottomed out' i.e. there was insufficient inflation to prevent the head flattening the airbag and coming into contact with the facia, through the airbag material. Tesla investigated the issue and found an error in the airbag calibration software supplied by the vendor. Euro NCAP has been informed that this error has been corrected in all vehicles supplied to customers. Although the calculated injury parameters were not hazardous, protection of the passenger head was penalised and rated as adequate.

And for those who worried about whiplash on front and rear passengers:
Protection against whiplash injury in the event of a rear-end collision was rated as good for the front and rear seats.
 
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The Tesla is equipped with an 'active' bonnet. When the system detects that a pedestrian has been struck, actuators lift the bonnet to provide greater clearance to hard structures underneath.

It does?! This is the first I've heard of this feature. Wonder if it's always been there, or only on more recent cars, or only on European cars.

Separately, what's with the "weak" result on abdominal injury for the side pole test? On the NHTSA side pole test there was next to zero intrusion, thanks in large part to the beefy battery stopping the pole cold.
 
It does?! This is the first I've heard of this feature. Wonder if it's always been there, or only on more recent cars, or only on European cars.

Separately, what's with the "weak" result on abdominal injury for the side pole test? On the NHTSA side pole test there was next to zero intrusion, thanks in large part to the beefy battery stopping the pole cold.
You can see the side pole test video here:
Euro NCAP mediacenter


Looks like it held up nicely, from what I could see.
 
Those data looked very good to me until I probed the NCAP site. I looked at just one other vehicle - the Ford Ranger. NOT an auto that I normally would think of as being extremely safe.

Not only did the Ford also receive 5 stars, but below is the comparison of the Model S vs the Ranger (they tested the 2012 model year) - can't properly align these data columns; sorry!:

VEHICLE Adult Child Pedestrian Safety Assist

Model S 82 77 66 71
Ranger 96 86 81 71

Even assuming a better Adult rating for the Model S from the properly-calibrated passenger airbag, the Ranger's numbers are handsomely higher in the Child and Pedestrian categories. Are there any Europeans with insight into the NCAP program?
 
Those data looked very good to me until I probed the NCAP site. I looked at just one other vehicle - the Ford Ranger. NOT an auto that I normally would think of as being extremely safe.

Not only did the Ford also receive 5 stars, but below is the comparison of the Model S vs the Ranger (they tested the 2012 model year) - can't properly align these data columns; sorry!:

VEHICLE Adult Child Pedestrian Safety Assist

Model S 82 77 66 71
Ranger 96 86 81 71

Even assuming a better Adult rating for the Model S from the properly-calibrated passenger airbag, the Ranger's numbers are handsomely higher in the Child and Pedestrian categories. Are there any Europeans with insight into the NCAP program?

tests change - when I compared Volvo V60 2012 test to Tesla MS 2014 tests, its clear that tests were not the same.

Same car that got X points few years ago, would get less points in 2014.
 
And for those who worried about whiplash on front and rear passengers:
Protection against whiplash injury in the event of a rear-end collision was rated as good for the front and rear seats.
Question is if that's with the current seats or the new ones? Wasn't it stated that the new ones would provide better whiplash protection?
 
Question is if that's with the current seats or the new ones? Wasn't it stated that the new ones would provide better whiplash protection?

Tesla has been far from clear about the seats. But the impression that I've been left with is that all the seats were being updated for this. Not just the new bolstered seats in the P85D's.

I drew this conclusion from the D blog post and this text:

The following features are either in production or will be delivered with Dual Motor Model S (as indicated).
  • Seat comfort improvements and taller headrests for whiplash protection

Note that the seat improvements were not specified as coming with the D. In fact the only thing that's specified as being unique to the D is the self closing charge port door.
 
Whoa, did anyone notice this? The car physically reconfigures itself depending on the stature of the pedestrian it's about to hit. Another glimpse into features of the autopilot system.

"The Tesla is equipped with an 'active' bonnet. When the system detects that a pedestrian has been struck, actuators lift the bonnet to provide greater clearance to hard structures underneath. Tesla showed that the system detects all statures robustly over a range of speeds and the car was tested with the bonnet in the deployed position. Protection was adequate or marginal over most of the surface of the bonnet with poor results recorded only at the base of the windscreen and on the stiff screen pillars. The bumper offered predominantly good protection to pedestrians' legs while the front edge of the bonnet gave good results towards the centre of the car but poor results at the outside edges."
 
I was wondering the same thing. If you look at just the 2014 results of the 5 star cars, Tesla is in the lower of them....

http://www.euroncap.com/results/2014.aspx

Tesla - 82 77 66 71
Mercedes C-Class - 92 84 77 70
VW Golf Sportsvan - 87 85 62 73
Mercedes GLA - 96 88 67 70
Mercedes V - 93 87 67 85
Nissan Qashqai - 88 83 69 79
Nissan Pulsar - 84 81 75 68
BMW 2 - 84 85 60 70
Skoda Fabia - 81 81 69 69

Those data looked very good to me until I probed the NCAP site. I looked at just one other vehicle - the Ford Ranger. NOT an auto that I normally would think of as being extremely safe.

Not only did the Ford also receive 5 stars, but below is the comparison of the Model S vs the Ranger (they tested the 2012 model year) - can't properly align these data columns; sorry!:

VEHICLE Adult Child Pedestrian Safety Assist

Model S 82 77 66 71
Ranger 96 86 81 71

Even assuming a better Adult rating for the Model S from the properly-calibrated passenger airbag, the Ranger's numbers are handsomely higher in the Child and Pedestrian categories. Are there any Europeans with insight into the NCAP program?