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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAnother win for Tesla Motors and Elon Musk...
Tesla Model S scores highest marks ever on U.S. crash testingLeave it to Tesla to provide the first hard evidence with data from U.S. government tests showing the Model S sedan may be the most crash-proof passenger vehicle on the road today.
Normally, Tesla's garnering of five stars on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's crash tests wouldn't be a headline; most new cars and trucks get at least five stars in frontal crash protection and four stars in side impact. But the Model S did better than that; it got five stars in all tests; front, side impact, pole and rollover prevention. Plus, the scores of its frontal, side and rollover test combined were higher than any car ever crashed by NHTSA and according to Tesla, at one point the testers nearly broke their equipment trying to damage the Model S.
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NV Whino
(20,886 posts)I love to see good engineering rewarded.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)I end up staring and smiling. A bit out of my budget but a boy can dream!
Motown_Johnny
(22,308 posts)I have seen them at the Auto Show, but never anywhere else.
Chevy Volts are everywhere around here but no Teslas.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)I commute on the Mass Pike and 128 to get where I need to go, and it's a given that I will see at least one a week (though it feels more often since I get so excited).
http://www.bizjournals.com/boston/blog/bbj_research_alert/2013/02/25-most-popular-cars-in-massachusetts.html?page=all
calimary
(81,238 posts)Feels good to see!
physioex
(6,890 posts)I have noticed tons of Nissan Leafs.
NV Whino
(20,886 posts)Parked next to the sports model in the Safeway lot and had a chat with the owner.
Beautiful cars!
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)DirkGently
(12,151 posts)Looks great, but it also looks so "normal" you have to blink to realize it's not the usual ICE machine.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)I notice it and think, "What IS that? It's so cute!"
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)backscatter712
(26,355 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)my next car is likely to be a Tesla.
Damn good work, Tesla Motors!
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)if I drove.
P.S. Tesla owners get free charging at Tesla charging stations. They are, at least, along the I-5 corridor between the Bay Area and SoCal, and I-95 between DC, NYC and Boston.
Stuart G
(38,421 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Love the the car... pretty much a fanboy so this just makes it easier!
DirkGently
(12,151 posts)He suggested American capitalism might work better if businesses stopped trying to make a buck gambling on Wall Street and seeking out ever-cheaper labor, and maybe worked on ... building "a better mousetrap" again.
flvegan
(64,407 posts)But that's okay. It never starts out cheap. Nice work, Tesla. Built here in the States, right? Proof that Americans can still build a kickass car, through kickass R&D, and still generate kickass performance.
I'm no hybrid nor electric fanboy, but this is still very good.
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)unless you want the long-distance battery, which brings it up to about $90K. Perfect for, say, taxis, especially if combined with the Google self-driving system.
LeftyMom
(49,212 posts)Iirc the family sedan version is 40k or so, which is not cheap but plenty of people buy swanky sedans in that price range.
steelmania75
(864 posts)Once they can produce a model that's $30,000 and the supercharger stations are set, here we go!
Phlem
(6,323 posts)which sets him up for climbing future. Dare I say the future of travel?
He's going to be wonderful to watch.
-p
lonestarnot
(77,097 posts)joshcryer
(62,270 posts)Once SpaceX has an IPO, woot.
Go Vols
(5,902 posts)since the early '80s.Now you can get better than 5 stars?
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)JimDandy
(7,318 posts)hundreds of thousands of them please, so the price will come down and we can get rid of the strangle-hold of the whole fucking oil industry and the mess they have made of this world.
Safetykitten
(5,162 posts)Go Vols
(5,902 posts)Mother Muckraker
(116 posts)There's no such thing as a "5.4 star" rating. The "5.4" is something the Tesla marketing dept. made up for Elon Musk to sell to a gullible public.
The "strongest roof" is also misinformation. The feds did not do that test. It was an unnamed commercial company with an undisclosed testing method and machinery. For all we know, the machine could've broke for some other reason not related to a strong roof or it might not have ever happened. The "strong roof" only came from Elon Musk's mouth.
http://www.freep.com/article/20130822/BUSINESS0104/308220164/Tesla-automotive-electric
Also, the timing of the safety revelations is interesting as it follows a story of a lady that crashed her Model S in Tennessee while "messing" with the touchscreen.