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Forbes reports on Tesla's reaction to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety's crash test safety rating for the Tesla Model S:
Tesla does not take criticism well. Tesla has long had an attitude that anything said about the company, its products or CEO that isn't absolutely hagiographic is tantamount to heresy and anyone who disagrees hates humanity and the planet. Thus I was disappointed but not at all surprised to see the company's official, dismissive response this morning to the latest batch of crash test results from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which didn't reinforce the company line that everything it does is the best ever.
The Tesla Model S received only an "acceptable" rating from IIHS on its small overlap frontal crash test, a notch below the top rating of "good," with slack in the seat belt allowing a crash test dummy's head to hit the steering wheel despite the cushioning of the airbag. The less than optimal result comes after Tesla had said it had corrected the problem in the wake of a similar result in an earlier test.
A Tesla spokesperson's response was to besmirch IIHS. "IIHS and dozens of other private industry groups around the world have methods and motivations that suit their own subjective purposes." Yes they do. IIHS's purpose is to protect drivers and of course, in turn, reduce the payouts for insurance companies.
Also at CNET and Business Insider.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @07:24PM (2 children)
Some of my scariest moments while driving have been when I desperately needed to look over my shoulder, but the damn seatbelt had locked up due to braking. Oh, I'm braking hard in a stressful situation, so just take away my ability to see. If I can't see the vehicles around me, maybe I can't hit them?????
Thus I always drive with my shoulder way forward. I both hunch over the steering wheel and twist my upper body.
So far, crash avoidance has worked, despite my seatbelt's attempt to kill me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 07 2017, @08:53PM (1 child)
Sounds like you are a candidate for better-aimed mirrors. I have my side mirrors out so I can't quite see the sides of my own car (unless I move my head slightly sideways), this minimizes the blind spot. And, I'm polling the mirrors constantly in heavy traffic, so I know if someone has entered the blind spot. Only times I turn around are in parking or backing up.
Have you tried any of the newer cars with blind spot warning?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday July 08 2017, @02:23AM
When I drive a huge van, I do use the mirrors. I can aim mirrors correctly. This is not a nice way to drive; normal cars are much more enjoyable.
When driving a normal car, I want to look around. The mirrors are always small in a car. (vans have big ones) Newer cars have crap mirrors, with an extra lens that gives two small images instead of one nice big image.
I don't know much about blind spot warning. I assume it has latency issues. If it is an actual warning, it probably has false alarms all the time. If it is an LCD screen, it will have brightness problems and blur.