How the Tesla Model 3 became the World's Safest Car!

as you probably already know the Tesla Model 3 is a safest car tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ever out of over 900 cars tested so far this car is estimated to have the lowest probability of injury and a collision making it likely the safest mass-produced passenger vehicle in the world several brands like volvo and mercedes and subaru have been designing cars specifically around passenger safety for generations so how did a company that's only been making car since 2006 beat the safest cars any of those brands have managed to make in all that time as you can see it's not actually the first time Tesla set the record the car with the second lowest probability of injury is the Tesla Model S and the car with the third lowest probability of injury is the Tesla Model X 2 vehicles they've been making for years and in that time they've learned a lot about how to make a car even safer that experience went into the design of the Model 3 of course but all three benefits from one important fact Tesla only makes battery electric vehicles and that's actually the foundation for the brand's record-setting safety using a big flat battery instead of an internal combustion engine means that the physical drivetrain is safer it allows Tesla to cradle a more rigid passenger compartment between a larger front and rear crumple zone than you could do with a gas tank in the back and an engine in the front here's what that looks like in the model 3 this is a front trunk or what most of us call the front it's just polymer molded to make some of this space usable for storage here's a picture of what's underneath that tub in the front you have a big radiator for all of the battery and drive unit coolant but other than that it's almost nothing but air at the level of the passengers this animation shows what would happen if you drove a dual motor model 3 like mine right into something like a telephone pole one of the deadliest objects you can hit with a car as you can see the bumper and subframe Bend and wrap themselves around the pole as they gradually decelerate the car when the impact reaches the front motor the motor drops below the battery and away from the passenger compartment if this were a gasoline-powered car the engine and transmission will be pushed into the firewall and eventually into the passenger but with the model threes enormous crumple zone whatever you hit will have to make it through the entire front end before anything even has the chance of deforming the passenger compartment in case you doubt the accuracy of a simulation here's what the head looks like in real life this model 3 was totaled after hitting a pole head-on but other than the deployed airbag the interior looks brand-new that passenger compartment is caged in a combination of aluminum and steel and what are some of the fattest pillars and rails in the automotive world just look at that a pillar it is huge and it's carried all the way to the back of the car the two cross beams of the roof are even thicker and they're placed insured they absorb not only forces that might crush the roof but also the forces of a side impact this footage shows the roof in action preventing a pole from intruding into the passenger compartment completely look up any car on NHTSA website that you think is super safe and watch it go through this test you will not see this little deformation and that makes those cars airbags have to work harder to protect their occupants airbags can only cushion your impact with the interior of the car itself but they aren't very useful if the car ends up actually displacing where you're sitting but it's not just these rails and cross beams that keep the side of the car from collapsing under impact on top of those safety rails lies a beautiful glass roof it's heavily tinted and has both infrared and ultraviolet blocking coatings so it opens the car to the sky without blinding you or baking you with the Sun it's actually pretty amazing to experience but at the same time it's only natural to think that a glass roof can't possibly be safe but it most definitely is the panel used to make the metal roofs on most modern cars it's usually the thinnest panel on the car you're not likely to lean on it or sit on it or push on it really hard so manufacturers can get away with keeping the panel really thin and save weight which increases fuel efficiency it mainly keeps the weather out of the car while providing a place to put a headliner on the inside and a bunch of switches and buttons that are on the screen of a model 3 anyway that's it in a rollover accident those thin sheet metal tend to buckle they could even rip right open and since there's a headliner in there you have less room between your head and an injury inducing impact the roof panels of the model 3 are made of two layers of hardened glass laminated with reinforcing thermoplastic just like a windshield just like a windshield they're bonded to the roof with vibration absorbing ultra strong polyurethane just like a windshield these panels and their stiffness increases the structural integrity of the entire car yes a glass roof just like this makes a stiffer car than you can get with a thin sheet metal roof one that better protects the passengers from impacts from all angles and not just one that involves the car rolling over when you look at the side pole impact test again from this angle you can see that the glass panels resist deformation then break but they didn't just break at the location of the impact they broke from one end to the other and that's because they're tempered glass has special structure that balances forces of compression and tension I get it it's a concept that's really hard to wrap your head around but it allows the entire panel of glass to provide strength for any one part of the panel in other words in order to fold this panel in half like you often see with metal roofs in a rollover you have to break the bonds between compression and tension throughout the entire panel all of those cracks and the roof panel on those crash tests show how the structure of glass absorbs and redirects impact forces across the entire panel sheet metal can't do that even though the glass panels will crack the reinforcing thermoplastic will hold the PISA together so they can continue to resist and distribute the impact forces that might otherwise deform the passenger compartment this is actually why thermoplastic laminated glass makes such great armor against bullets and high-speed shrapnel no the glass and the model three roof is not bulletproof but it is still much much stronger than most people appreciate and an important contributor to the car's safety the battery in a long range model 3 weighs just over a thousand pounds but all that weight sits at the very bottom of the car the floor pan it's attached to is the heaviest part of the body the motors sit between the wheels each placing about 200 pounds of parts between the hubs and then of course you have the suspension and the wheels and the tires themselves that's a lot of weight just riding inches off of the ground which is why the model three is very hard to get to tip over in fact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration estimates the model three to have a six point six zero percent chance of tipping over in a severe collision compare that to the Chevy Camaro with an eight point three percent chance the Audi a6 with a nine percent chance the Ford Mustang with a nine point three percent chance the BMW 3-series with a nine point five percent chance the Mercedes c-class all-wheel-drive with a surprising 11 percent chance of tipping over in a severe collision in fact the only vehicle that I could find with a lower probability of tipping over was the Model S with a 5.7 percent estimated chance you might get a Model 3 to tilt from a severe impact but it's unlikely you're gonna get it to roll completely over without wedging something underneath and flipping it any event it does roll over the structure makes it very unlikely that the roof is going to collapse into the passenger compartment it's been tested to support four times its mass which tests the points out on our website is equal to having two full-grown male African elephants sitting one on top of another as low as the probability of rolling over is for the model three it has happened this is a model three that was forced into a divider by another car at seventy miles per hour and rolled multiple times before coming to a stop the driver reportedly suffered a minor fracture from being flung around violently during those high-speed rollovers but she survived the type of accident that often results in a fatality don't let the dangling headliner fool you the side curtain airbags are tucked underneath and when they blow the headliner simply pops out of place these pictures show how the glass cracked while still protecting the driver in fact even with all of those cracks the panel remains in nearly its original thanks to the extremely strong laminated reinforcement it is incredible to see how intact the passenger compartment remains even after such a violent rollover accident the model 3 batteries location isn't the only way it contributes the passenger safety it's also the most advanced large format battery in the world and not just in electric vehicles it's the most advanced battery of its size in any application much of its advancement center around preventing thermal runaway from spreading from damaged cells to healthy cells getting enough of a collision to damage cells in a battery pack and you will still have thermal runaway in those cells however the connections between the cells are designed to melt at a much cooler temperature than needed to create thermal runaway in a healthy cell cells are also separated by cooling vanes that are much more efficient at pulling away heat from damaged cells even when the fluid is not being mechanically pumped through the pack each cell also has an emergency vent that allows hot gases to bleed off instead of generating enough pressure to explode to date not a single model 3 has been consumed by thermal runaway and that's including instances where there's been significant damage to the battery pack I doubt you'll find a single gas power vehicle with over 300 thousand units on the road the kids say the same thing about its gas tank as I've explained at length in another video it should not surprise you that batteries are safer than flammable liquid for powering passenger vehicles I'll put a link in the video description in case you're interested in learning how we know this having no engine in the front and no gas tank in the back also means the model 3 has a very low polar moment of inertia that makes it easier for the stability control to help you steer your way out of trouble because it takes less force to rotate the car on its center of mass think about an ice skater doing a twirl the tighter she holds their arms the faster she spins even though she's not adding any energy that's what keeping the mass towards the centre does for a car making a turn in fact the Tesla Model 3 has the best polar moment of inertia of any production vehicle including mid-engine supercar that are designed specifically to maximize this aspect of handling when you're trying to avoid a collision total grip between the tires and the road is divided between breaking and turning the less script needed to make a turn means that more grip is available for breaking before experiencing a control robbing skid yes a lot of the effort of turning is accelerating the entire mass of the car and an arc but the effort to rotate that mass is not insignificant and if you can't point your car where you want to go to avoid a collision it can't get there that also means in certain types of impact the model 3 will more easily rotate to bleed off impact energy instead of having to absorb it instead of trying to push through whatever is colliding with causing the car to buckle and potentially invade the passenger compartment the model 3 can better spin around the source of impact yes this creates other challenges for keeping passengers safe but that's why the model 3 has some of the most advanced airbags and seatbelts available if you do end up in a collision the seat belts have ballistic pretensioners to make sure the passengers are secured before g-forces start to climb the driver and front-passenger are protected by three separate airbags in addition to the side curtain airbags running the entire length of the car so that doesn't break any records for airbags so you have to remember that in every accident imaginable the model 3 will likely have more space still available for those airbags to deploy and protect the passengers that fact alone might possibly be the most significant reason the model 3 has such a low probability of injury in a collision all that only comes into effect once a collision takes place but the model 3 also has a whole host of features to prevent an accident in the first place features that don't yet have an objective scoring system like crash tests I'm gonna go a bit out of order from the way they're displayed on the screen here note that most of these are similar to features that are offered on many cars but it's still helpful to point out that the model 3 has them - also note that every one of these features is for when you're driving the car yourself autopilot already takes care of these things when it's activated forward collision warning alerts you when the sensors predict you're about to rear-end the car in front of you if you don't apply the brakes right away you can have it set to OFF or three different levels of sensitivity we keep it set to the early swarn impossible and just isn't a problem in fact we only get the occasional false alarm when passing parked cars on side streets but other than that it's never gone off without me already deciding to hit the brakes because the car in front of me suddenly stopped or somebody cut me off on the highway this is just an alarm accompanied by flashing red on the screen if the sensors predict an impending collision that can't wait for you to hit the brakes yourself automatic emergency braking kicks in it's design a scrub at least 25 miles per hour off of your speed differential without you doing anything yourself but of course if you hear the alert and feel your car suddenly braking you're probably gonna finish the job by fully applying the brakes what's really cool is that the model threes radar can see the car in front of the car in front of you even if you can't see them several owners have reported their cars automatic emergency braking unexpectedly kicking in only to then watch as the car in front of them rear ends the car in front of them lane departure avoidance kicks in when it thinks you're drifting across a lane line unintentionally you can turn this off have it give you just a gentle vibration on the steering wheel as a reminder or let it nudge you back to the center of the lane even when you have this on your turn signal deactivates this because you're basically telling the car that yes you meant to cross that Lane line emergency lane departure avoidance is like lane departure avoidance on steroids it only kicks in when it thinks you're driving completely off the road or a collision is imminent and it will loudly alert while steering you away from danger blind spot collision warning time will activate a pleasant chime if you're starting to change lanes into the path of another vehicle if you ignore the chime emergency lane departure voids will kick in as previously described but only if it's clear you're gonna sideswipe another car Tesla's have instant and very fast acceleration which can be tricky for some people to adapt to especially when maneuvering in places like tight parking garages obstacle aware acceleration limits your acceleration when you're driving at parking lot speeds and it senses an obstacle in front of you that makes it much less likely you're gonna launch your torque monster through the back of your garage or into the car parked in front of you something not shown on this menu that no other car has that I'm aware of is red light recognition if you're on autopilot and the car predicts you're going to run a red light it will we alert this is clearly a step towards actually slowing down and stopping for a red light all without driver input but it's pretty cool that Tesla is able to release this as a safety feature even as they're perfecting red light recognition for fully autonomous driving and of course there's autopilot it's not a fully autonomous system but it is an amazing driver system that handles a lot of the easy parts of driving for you Tesla keeps track of accidents that happen to their cars and the data on autopilot safety is pretty amazing while passenger vehicles overall in the u.s. experienced one accident for every four hundred and thirty six thousand miles driven Tesla's on autopilot managed only one accident per whopping 2.7 million miles driven see that that's pretty cool Tesla radar is capable of seeing the car in front of the car in front of you and responding to it even if you can't see that I've had that happen myself when my model 3 slowed down unexpectedly only to see the car in front of me slam on its brakes to avoid hitting a car making a right turn into a parking lot no collision occurred but my stop was certainly safer and more comfortable than that experienced by the car directly in front of me it's absolutely true that I could have made a video as long as this one detailing the safety features of just about any modern car but those would be very different videos nonetheless I didn't buy a Tesla Model 3 because it's an electric vehicle I bought it because the only way it could be as safe as it is is by being an electric vehicle if you're thinking about getting the safety of a Tesla for you and your family they have a really cool referral program that will get you free super charging I'll put a link in the video description as well as pin in the comments with all of the details be sure to subscribe so you can see my next videos on the safety of electric vehicles as a whole I really appreciate you watching the tech of tech and I hope to see you next time [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Channel: The Tech of Tech

Views: 400,326

Rating: 4.8846154 out of 5

Keywords: tesla, model 3, electric car, electric vehicle, ev, nhtsa, national highway traffic safety administration, crash test, renewable energy, solar, solar power, autopilot, tesla autopilot

Id: bkayYiwrjyQ

Length: 18min 0sec (1080 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 10 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/QueueWho]

We should all send this to our moms. Mine thinks my sister's wrangler is safer than my model 3.

[u/ShadowLiberal]

Thanks for the explanation on how safe the glass roof is and why. Haven't bought a Tesla yet, but I've been wondering how a glass roof could possibly be safer then the normal metal/plastic roofs. Loved the explanation of why the ICE automakers who have been making cars for decades haven't been able to make a safer car then Tesla's either to. It was a very informative video.

[u/croninsiglos]

Great Video!

[u/gotrice1111]

Excellent video. Don't miss his other video explaining why the model 3 is the most patriotic video you can buy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MiDWgh7jhTE

[u/raleel]

frankly, a very strong video. good voice, good information, good presentation.

[u/2050project]

Very well done.

[u/Prelsidio]

Great detailed video about the technology in the car. I've subscribed. Waiting for more similar content. I'm hoping it's not all about Tesla, but other tech like the channel name implies.

[u/EricTheYellow]

This is such a great video. This is the kind of information that needs to get out there. Recently, my 8yo son told me his friend said “Teslas catch fire more than gas cars.” I was sad to hear that since I know he’s just echoing the 💩 being blasted on the news. But on the bright side, most youngins are excited about Teslas.

[u/jbrassow]

u/TWANGnBANG Super video! I love all the content you put in the videos. Never boring - always learn something.