Tesla Model S is a safe bet

Elon Musk’s electric-car company scores another win.  The electric-car maker announced this week that its Model S was awarded the highest safety rating the National Highway Safety Administration has ever given a vehicle. “Of all vehicles tested, including every major make and model approved for sale in the United States, the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants.” The Model S scored 5 on the agency’s 5-star scale, getting perfect marks in every category and out-performing the NHTSA’s highest standards in others. What made this electric car so safe? Well, it has a battery-powered engine up front that is not as big as a conventional engine filled with combustible fuel. That gives it a larger crumple-zone to absorb a high-speed, head-on impact. It also has a low center of gravity that made the car impossible to roll over using the standard testing methods.   This is the result of having a fairly heavy battery pack mounted beneath the floor.  The test team actually had to figure out a different approach way to tip it over than the other cars they test.  The lowered center of gravity improves the overall stability of the vehicle, giving the test vehicle exceptional handling, which is a safety consideration. When the safety regulators tried to test the vehicle’s roof strength by crushing it, “the crusher was crushed.” The testing machine failed after exerting pressure equal to piling four times the weight of the vehicle on its roof.  The test team didn’t even go so far as to complete the crush test, since the car had so exceeded the standard test.