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Mark Z
Active Member
But are you safer because you can see what is hitting the top?
In Model S the roof can hide the objects that are descending from the sky, like large baseball sized hail. The faster I know that hail is falling, the faster I can get under an overpass and save the vehicle. I was lucky last spring in Texas. Model S was saved because I turned off the interstate at the first small hail hit. Conditions get crowded at the underpass as vehicles jam in for safe cover while the hail continues to fall. Stay alert, the weather maps don't always warn you in time.
One advantage of the larger windshield is less metal to have dents removed. It takes large rock hard hail to create breakage, but smaller hail can cause dents in the metal.
http://www.chaseday.com/hailstones.htm
Hail Size Chart - HailStrike Blog
http://www.crh.noaa.gov/images/iwx/publications/Hail_Chart.pdf
I do remember a press photo from long ago with a huge tree fallen on a Model S and the passengers getting out of the car unharmed. I would guess that a passenger in a Model X in the same situation would not do as well. But it is kind like worrying about sharks when swimming or lightening in a storm; it would be dramatic to die this way but very unlikely. Having a good front crumple zone and side collision and offset collision scores along with software/hardware automated avoidance abilities is where the Model X will save lives not the one in a billion situation of a tree falling on the car.
MrBoylan
Member
The Model S broke the test machine that was trying to crush it horizontally. Why would the X be any different from a structural integrity standpoint? How would an X with pano windshield be different from S with pano roof?
That is a reasonable question. I am not going to play structural engineer and try to answer it. Here are two photos, one from the inside of Model S with pano roof and one of the Model X with pano windshield. I invite any structural engineer to weigh in. if they care.
I live in Sweden and here we have problem with stags on the roads. Many of them who hit a stag unfortunately die because of the how big and heavy they are. Because the high you hit the leg with the front of the car and then the body hit the windshield. I'm not sure but the lack of pilar in the front between the A-pilars on the Model X could make it even more dangerous then if it had been one.
pvogel
Member
Keep in mind that there's a mechanism to pop the frunk to reduce the impact from exactly that kind of scenario.
Peter+
CarlK
Active Member
Don't worry there is the autobraking you won't hit anything hard if at all.
As for rollover protection all race cars rely on the roll bar just behind the driver to protect the driver in case of a rollover. I'm sure Tesla has beefed up B pilars and center beam to work the same way.
As for rollover protection all race cars rely on the roll bar just behind the driver to protect the driver in case of a rollover. I'm sure Tesla has beefed up B pilars and center beam to work the same way.
I used to drive an '81 Land Cruiser. One winter night when there was blowing snow, I couldn't really see where the lanes were on the highway. I said to myself "You're making a mistake, you're too far over," and the next instant I realized I was in the ditch rolling. Came out without a scratch. Roll bars did their job well.
pvogel
Member
One look at the B pillar and cross beam in person, not to mention the center beam from B to C beam, and you'll have no doubt at all...
Will that stop things like this from happening? Maybe the pilar don't protect so much but I don't think it's pointless.
Attachments
Ouch. To be fair, I don't think there's much that would stop this from happening, aside from an active accident avoidance system.
taurusking
Member
I am not sure if active accident avoidance system would work in such cases...these things happen so fast...sometimes even radar cannot catch this if the impact is side ways.
I was T boned by a deer and did not even see it.
That system is there to protect a Person being hit by the car. It's a pedestrian safety system not for the people in the car.
pvogel
Member
Yes. But it does take some energy out of the impact before it hits the windshield, which is why it helps protect the pedestrian.
Is the question whether the model X windshield is so unsafe that it won't stop something that no other windshield will stop?
FarmerDave
Member
pvogel
Member
Given that safety is always their first priority over anything else, I highly doubt that the lack of an A crossbeam was found to be a problem. The thing got a 5 star in all categories of crash test, something no other SUV/CUV on the market has achieved.
Granted, there's no "falcon rocket attempts to land on windshield" test, but I think that's an unlikely event
If I think about the kinds of event that would cause a penetration from above or through the A crossbar I can't think of any where the outcome would be different because of an A crossbar other than, perhaps, a tree falling on the car just right that it falls through the windshield and does not hit the much beefier B crossbar. That feels like an unlikely enough scenario that I'm not concerned. The tree penetrations/impacts that I've seen have all been either large branches falling on an unoccupied vehicle from above in which case they typically all fully horizontal across the top of the car, or storm-hurled trees/branches that fully penetrate the front windscreen underneath the A crossbeam.
Granted, there's no "falcon rocket attempts to land on windshield" test, but I think that's an unlikely event
If I think about the kinds of event that would cause a penetration from above or through the A crossbar I can't think of any where the outcome would be different because of an A crossbar other than, perhaps, a tree falling on the car just right that it falls through the windshield and does not hit the much beefier B crossbar. That feels like an unlikely enough scenario that I'm not concerned. The tree penetrations/impacts that I've seen have all been either large branches falling on an unoccupied vehicle from above in which case they typically all fully horizontal across the top of the car, or storm-hurled trees/branches that fully penetrate the front windscreen underneath the A crossbeam.
