7 seats

They are extra seats rear facing in the back, I would say the easiest way to get to them would be through the rear hatch.

i would not let my kids sitt there ... theres is (almost) no crush-collapsible zone ... for me, the 7 seat thing is more a advertising gimmick

http://www.lifepr.de/pressemeldungen/axel-springer-auto-verlag-gmbh-hamburg/boxid/215706

EV_de said:

i would not let my kids sitt there ... theres is (almost) no crush-collapsible zone ... for me, the 7 seat thing is more a advertising gimmick

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I may be wrong but I recall Tesla saying that the car would just as safe from a rear impact as it would from a head on.
Can not provide links, but it was recent.

pic: pics

I may be wrong but I recall Tesla saying that the car would just as safe from a rear impact as it would from a head on.
Can not provide links, but it was recent.

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... hard to believe , there a no airbags (right?), and not much room between the back end and the passenger's feeds ...

... BTW rear impact's are not nessary for a good NCAP crash test ..

Mitrovic said:

Is there any picture of those seats anywhere?
So the passengers on those seats are looking backwards?

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No pictures, but I'll imagine it'll be something like this:


Here's a decent picture of the hatch in the protoype (judging from the angles, the seat will probably be up against the rear seats like the station wagon, or there won't be enough head room):

PeterW said:

I may be wrong but I recall Tesla saying that the car would just as safe from a rear impact as it would from a head on.
Can not provide links, but it was recent.

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I'm not sure about that, but Tesla said: "Crash structure in back of car. NHTSA requires higher speed rear impact performance in EV (something like 35 vs 50) due to acid leak worries for lead-acid (yup, even though lead-acid isn't being used here)".
Tesla tech talk Boston

So rear impact protection should be significantly better than existing vehicles, just because of stricter testing for EVs.

My only issue, is that kids have to be in a child Safety seat until they are 4'9" (135 cm) in the U.S. I'm not sure that they considered Safety Seat and Child Height in clearance to the roof line. I'm not sure that there is room, but I may be wrong.

Don't forget that the picture of the prototype doesn't show the rear floor at the level it will be - it should end up quite a bit deeper than that.

It's been repeated many times that the rear seats will be optional "jump seats" for children. I'm imagining two child safety seats that latch in behind the rear seats.

If the kids start fighting, will there be an optional "eject feature" for these jump seats? :biggrin::wink:

mt2 said:

It's been repeated many times that the rear seats will be optional "jump seats" for children. I'm imagining two child safety seats that latch in behind the rear seats.

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Jaff said:

If the kids start fighting, will there be an optional "eject feature" for these jump seats? :biggrin::wink:

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No, but you can close the parcel shelf.

Might work...I wonder if they make 'em with soundproofing? :wink::biggrin:

Nik said:

No, but you can close the parcel shelf.

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Jaff said:

If the kids start fighting, will there be an optional "eject feature" for these jump seats? :biggrin::wink:

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Well they do have that remote opening and closing fast back. I suppose I could just open the hatch at high speed and threaten.

The rear jump seats are a terrible idea that should never make it to production, and most likely will not, with good reason. With the fastback roofline, their faces will be right up against the glass. I doubt they'll even get approval for them. I can't imagine there are any potential buyers to which 5+2 seating is a major selling point. I suspect you'll see this scrapped before too long.

mattjs33 said:

With the fastback roofline, their faces will be right up against the glass. I doubt they'll even get approval for them.

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One of my first reactions to the prototype was '7 seat? In that?'. However, don't forget that the lack of fuel tank and drivetrain under the body means that the luggage compartment can sit lower than in an ICE car.

Matt...do you know a lot more about the Model S than the engineers at Tesla--enough to know that the design cannot pass safety standards, or that children would even fit? Something tells me they've thought about this. And don't forget...the +2 seating is an option. Don't like it? Don't get the option. Easy.

Obviously I don't, but there's an old saying in engineering, if it looks right, it probably is. This just doesn't look right, that's all. I might be proven wrong, and I'm okay with that.

Considering that Elon has 4 kids and he usually gets what he wants, I'm pretty confident that the 5+2 stays in at least as an option. Though if the safety isn't good enough for Elon to put his kids back there THEN I beleive they will scrap the option. Considering how much noise they've made with this I guess they properly modeled the safety before they released the specs. So all in all I give a 90% chance for rear jump seats to be option/standard equipment.

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