Brain impact from launches ?

[Phil K]

Don't worry, the acceleration won't cause brain damage. One possible explanation of the funny feelings afterwards is after effect of an adrenaline rush.

And yes, I'm a medical doctor.

 

[bp1000]

I jumped of a wall the other day it was slightly shorter than me but I experienced 5g and my eyes popped out momentarily

I'm sure the headache was unrelated

 

[Todd Burch]

Yep, no risk. There is a larger impact than the acceleration of 1 (or 1.5) g, but the headrest is padded, so your head decelerates over some distance greater than if you were hitting a concrete wall. This larger distance for deceleration means less peak force and lower deceleration values.

You probably get more brain damage if your car is in fresh air mode and is sucking fumes in from the car in front of you!

 

[efusco]

You probably get more brain damage if your car is in fresh air mode and is sucking fumes in from the car in front of you!

Good point!

 

[joefee]

Some would say those who spent over 100K on a car already have brain damage!

 

[sorka]

I was talking with someone today about Tesla's and offered them a ride in mine. They gave a quite emphatic no and said that they'd ridden in someone else's P85D a few weeks ago and had an achy feeling head for nearly a day afterwards and said that it'd begun after a launch (and said that they had their head back against the headrest prior to the launch so it wasn't a head jerk). Any neurology types on here that can share some expertise?

I just read your message and haven't even started the rest of the thread yet, but this happened to me the first few test drives. I just picked up my P85D and drove 120 miles home and haven't done any 0-60 launches yet and I'm wondering when I got back into it and try it if I'm going to experience this again.

Each time, I had a mild headache, nauseated, and had that feeling that I had when I was a kid and I had smacked my head on the concrete(don't know a better way to describe it).

Had lots of motorcycles in my life that did 0-60 in 3 seconds and never had that happen.

However, the P85D has one area of acceleration that exceeds any sport bike I ever rode and that is at 0.9 seconds into a launch, it's pulling 1.3 gs just for a moment. I suspect it's this point that's doing it and that I'm sensitive to it in a way that most or many aren't.

I doubt it's dangerous, but I don't really know.

- - - Updated - - -

Well, yes and no. IIRC, it is closer to 1.4G on acceleration. And a major difference is that when you're just standing there that 1G of force is a smooth steady pressure. But if you hold your head 1 foot off the ground and drop it to the ground with 1.4G of force (as it would be for your head being slammed back against a headrest on launch) then you have risk for the brain being sloshed around and sustaining a potential coup and contracoup type impact injury from the inside of the skull. If you fall from the 2nd floor of a building it's "only" 1G of force...until you hit.

This is more a F=MV squared type issue than a gravity issue.

That said, I agree that it's more likely hypochondria.

When you fall, you go from experience 1g to 0g until air resistance causes your acceleration to slow and eventually reach terminal velocity.....or the ground...whichever comes first.

When the P85D pulls 1.3 G forward, you're experience 1g down and one 1.3 gs back, so the vector is a bit more than that.

- - - Updated - - -

In fact, this was actually one of the reasons I ended up ordering an 85D vice a P85D. I would probably only rarely use the insane mode because I don't want the headaches.

Your reason for getting the 85D is exactly the reason why I got the P85D

 

[LineofSight]

I am not a medical doctor, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night. You are much more likely to get brain damage by reading strange opinions on the internet. Just look at any global warming discussion.

 

[Geist]

Same here!!! I am that kind of person do not get a headache when I have a ride in roller coaster or sth else. The headache came right after I just seated in, before the drive.

I was also wondering why this happened to me in the first ride. and I was afraid of the EMF so at a later test-drive, I even brought a EMF detector to test it. It recorded a quite low amplitude. even lower than normal vehicle. (But I recorded a quite high amplitude near the Charger) And I read articles about EMF of Tesla. They are all telling its low. But I still have this worry in my mind even now I have bought a model s. May be the frequency I detected was not the right frequency? Or may be I am just hypochondria?

 

[Damiano]

I hope all P85D drivers are received appropriate James Bond Style g-force training before attempting launches:
There is a centrifugal bond present - YouTube

 

[inductionpowered]

Not an MD - just a mathematician with a bit of physics knowledge...
The force to be worried about shouldn't be the 1.4G of acceleration, but instead the deceleration as your head hits the headrest. That could be significantly higher than those 1.4G.
Current research seems to indicate that repeated exposure to deceleration of 4 - 10G could cause long term negative effects (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC155415/).
But my understanding of what a bit of googling showed me seems to indicate that the likelihood of trauma from deceleration with less than 4G is rather unlikely. And if the passenger really had their head on the headrest the deceleration would equal the acceleration so a maximum of 1.4G. So I'd go with hypochondria as well. Or more likely the head wasn't really on the headrest and a soft tissue issue resulted which caused a head ache as a side effect.

Touche...

 

[mikeash]

Some would say those who spent over 100K on a car already have brain damage!

I just bought a regular S85, so no dain bramage here.

 

[Jaff]

Really???

My father, son, and I went on a P85D test drive. He complained, having being seated in the back seat, of having some sort of headache. I definitely did not do any kind of "insane" acceleration. Maybe due to some EMF?

 

[Khatsalano]

I have an S85D and I've also ridden in my friend's P85D. The P85D launch does hurt ... I felt my guts hitting the back of my rib cage. I felt like I was winded like falling on my back. No headache after though because my friend told me to put my head against the headrest first.

Always advise that your passengers put their heads in contact with the headrest before launch ... the driver should probably do the same.

 

[CHG-ON]

Sorry, but I think that's just plain ridiculous.

 

[ecarfan]

I have an S85D and I've also ridden in my friend's P85D. The P85D launch does hurt ... I felt my guts hitting the back of my rib cage. I felt like I was winded like falling on my back. No headache after though because my friend told me to put my head against the headrest first.

I don't own a P85D but did a test drive this year and enjoyed doing to max acceleration launches. Exhilarating but no pain or any sort of unpleasantness.

Seriously, I don't see how someone could get a headache from their head being pushed back into the headrest, but people do vary quite a bit.

 

[astrothad]

My opinion - as worthless as it is as I have no formal training in biological fields - is that any electric motor vehicle (other than maybe the BYD - bleah) has this potential. I can make myself have that post-amusement park ride feeling in my electric smart car. I love getting up to speed quickly. I don't get headaches, but I do notice effects I couldn't duplicate in lower torque ICE cars.

I did get to drive a Model S85 for a weekend and made sure to do a few launches in it. It was thrilling, but not jarring. A friend gave my wife and I a taste of some P85 launches, and it was euphoric but not disorienting (it also helped convince her that we should eventually get a Tesla). I have yet to experience what the P85D can do.

From a physics perspective, though, I can tell you that EMF at such low frequencies are not going to affect tissue. There's no molecular mechanism in tissue for EMF to interact with. Not from cars or power lines, or even higher frequency devices like cell phone towers. If there's no way for the photons to be absorbed, there's no way for them to cause an effect. You are not a good filter for electromagnetic waves at these frequencies.

 

[Auzie]

As a very experienced migraine sufferer in the past, I feel I can claim some small competence on the headache subject. I used to strictly control my environment to avoid headache triggers, and triggers were numerous and had a low threshold. It took me years to learn how to completely eliminate these disabling headaches, now I am headache free :biggrin: That is a happy headache free face

My understanding is that the OP stated that someone claimed headache after a ride in Tesla. If someone claims to have a headache, that has nothing to do with hypochondria. By definition, hypochondria is a worry about disease. The person was not worried, he experienced a headache and if he said so then it was so, there was a headache, it was not imagined as the pain was real, otherwise the person would not say they had a headache.

Speaking from my long gone headache experience, I can see a high likelihood of getting a headache after a wild ride if one is already predisposed to headaches. It is just not for everybody.

There are people that do not enjoy roller coasters. Perhaps the same group of people will not enjoy the insane mode. Unless of course they wish to change and learn how to enjoy it, but that is a choice left to each individual.

 

[wcalvin]

The 1g normal is usually countered by support force. It is the change in acceleration that is important here. If there is a real problem, I would suspect the neck pressing backward. The normal S-shape seen in a lateral XR would shift to a C shape (as in bent-over reading) under acceleration, which would tend to engage the facets anteriorly, maybe causing some temporary ache if there is enough arthritis (as in parrots beak) or disk narrowing.

 

[brucet999]

I await the detached optical nerves.

Perhaps Elon could hold a press conference touting P85D for repair of detached retinas?

 

[nico1199]

Sorry, but I think that's just plain ridiculous.

Couldn't have said it better. Either some people should have stuck to their Prius, or their friends who conplain should just stick to their town cars. Can't believe this is a serious thread/issue.