Feds tighten crash test advertising rules

[Nathan Smith]

Totally with the NHTSA on this one...

Let's use a simple baseball analogy. A homerun is a homerun - don't care if you it's 500 ft over the fence or 2 ft over the fence, they count the same. Telling the batter how far his homerun went may help the batter a bit (Babe, you don't need to swing so hard -- might save some wear on tear on your body over the long run), but it doesn't change his score against the metric.

 

[SCW-Greg]

You know the only reason this discussion ever happened was because the manufacturers of those 90% cars cried and whined like babies back to the NHSTA.

That... or NHSTA acted out of the same fear if said concern.

Agree with other posts here too. Don't disclose what you don't want out there. Everything else is fair game.

 

[Krugerrand]

Totally with the NHTSA on this one...

Let's use a simple baseball analogy. A homerun is a homerun - don't care if you it's 500 ft over the fence or 2 ft over the fence, they count the same. Telling the batter how far his homerun went may help the batter a bit (Babe, you don't need to swing so hard -- might save some wear on tear on your body over the long run), but it doesn't change his score against the metric.

Yeah, that analogy isn't working for me. Different ballparks have different distances to that homerun fence. Different levels and leagues of baseball have different distances to that homerun fence. True, if you get it over the fence it's a homerun, but the measure of the homerun is always there. And, it's advertised quite frequently by hitter, parents, teammates, the media...

Don't measure the distance to the fence and then put a great big white number on it, if you don't want people to know how far you hit the ball. Don't give scores to the manufacturers if you don't want them to blab the good ones to the world to promote their product. In no way do I support the gagging of manufacturers from telling the numbers if they so wish. In fact, I think it ought to mandatory that ALL the numbers be made public. By not letting them be public, I'm going to have assume you've got something to hide.

 

[skdave]

I agree +1

 

[omarsultan]

So, just to be clear, the 5.4 is not something Telsa Marketing dreamed up, it is the actual Vehicle Safety Score that NHTSA provided to Tesla (details in this post Op-Ed: NHTSA Takes Aim at Tesla With Updated Guidelines; Tesla Model S Remains Safest Vehicle Ever Tested ) and 5.4 is the highest score any car tested has received ( see this post: Which Vehicle is Closest to Tesla Model S in Overall Safety? ).

My guess is that all came from crying ICE manufacturers who were upset they did not take the time to actually dig into their numbers. At the end of the day, this is what market disruptors do. In the past, everyone strived for 5 stars then stopped caring. It took Tesla to come in and re-frame the conversation and look beyond 5 stars.

O

 

[SCW-Greg]

So, just to be clear, the 5.4 is not something Telsa Marketing dreamed up, it is the actual Vehicle Safety Score that NHTSA provided to Tesla (details in this post Op-Ed: NHTSA Takes Aim at Tesla With Updated Guidelines; Tesla Model S Remains Safest Vehicle Ever Tested ) and 5.4 is the highest score any car tested has received ( see this post: Which Vehicle is Closest to Tesla Model S in Overall Safety? ).

My guess is that all came from crying ICE manufacturers who were upset they did not take the time to actually dig into their numbers. At the end of the day, this is what market disruptors do. In the past, everyone strived for 5 stars then stopped caring. It took Tesla to come in and re-frame the conversation and look beyond 5 stars.

O

Exactly!

 

[Krugerrand]

So, just to be clear, the 5.4 is not something Telsa Marketing dreamed up, it is the actual Vehicle Safety Score that NHTSA provided to Tesla (details in this post Op-Ed: NHTSA Takes Aim at Tesla With Updated Guidelines; Tesla Model S Remains Safest Vehicle Ever Tested ) and 5.4 is the highest score any car tested has received ( see this post: Which Vehicle is Closest to Tesla Model S in Overall Safety? ).

My guess is that all came from crying ICE manufacturers who were upset they did not take the time to actually dig into their numbers. At the end of the day, this is what market disruptors do. In the past, everyone strived for 5 stars then stopped caring. It took Tesla to come in and re-frame the conversation and look beyond 5 stars.

O

Yes, precisely!

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

…/ In the past, everyone strived for 5 stars then stopped caring. It took Tesla to come in and re-frame the conversation and look beyond 5 stars.

O

In general terms I agree. But looking more closely I’d say that’s a little unfair towards Volvo and Saab though.

But unfortunately Saab ended up in the not so very competent hands of GM, and Volvo in the not that much better hands of Ford (again, competence wise). And they both lucked out with the wrong administration in charge in Sweden when it really mattered. Therefore, Saab is no more, and Volvo ended up in the not so particularly ‘clean’ hands of the Chinese Communist Party…

:crying:

 

[stopcrazypp]

In general terms I agree. But looking more closely I’d say that’s a little unfair towards Volvo and Saab though.

Volvo's the one that came right behind the Tesla, so I get your point that Volvo's still a striving for safety. But without that "5.4" no one would know that. There's a whole bunch of cars that gets "5 stars" and it's no longer a huge accomplishment.

http://www.autotrader.com/research/article/best-cars/189887/

 

[omarsultan]

In general terms I agree. But looking more closely I’d say that’s a little unfair towards Volvo and Saab though.

You are correct--I apologize for the overly broad characterization. Companies like Volvo and Saab are due credit for getting vehicle safety in the public's consciousness in the first place.

O

 

[brianman]

The whole thing is ridiculous. You know the only reason this discussion ever happened was because the manufacturers of those 90% cars cried and whined like babies back to the NHSTA. They are all scared Tesla's gonna render both their cars and business models obsolete and they will act like little children instead of accepting defeat. This is the world we live in today where they don't know what responsibility and hard work is like. Bitch and moan and whine and cry like little babies and suck up and ass kiss to get your way. These teenage brats may now be adults in age and run companies now but they still act like little children. If they were to just spend their time doing some real R&D maybe they'll invent something good enough to keep there company afloat once genIII comes out. At least BMW is trying with the i3 whereas all the other ones are throwing together stupid compliance cars that nobody actually wants.

"Everybody gets a trophy"
Same mentality.