Tesla Model S Earns Highest Safety Rating Ever From US Agency
By Billy Gallagher From TechCrunch
The Tesla Model S earned a 5-star safety rating, both overall and in each individual category, from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The company claims that the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars.
Around 1 percent of cars tested by the NHTSA earn five stars in every category. Tesla claims that the Model S was able to earn a 5.4 star rating because the NHTSA, which does not publish star ratings above 5, captures safety levels above 5 stars in the Vehicle Safety Score, which it sends to manufacturers. Tesla says this rating is tops among every major make and model in the United States.
The best part of the company’s release was this badass factoid:
“Of note, during validation of Model S roof crush protection at an independent commercial facility, the testing machine failed at just above 4 g’s. While the exact number is uncertain due to Model S breaking the testing machine, what this means is that at least four additional fully loaded Model S vehicles could be placed on top of an owner’s car without the roof caving in.”
In the press release, Tesla noted that “it is possible to game the regulatory testing score to some degree by strengthening a car at the exact locations used by the regulatory testing machines.” However, the company claims that it analyzed the Model S, determined the car’s weak spots, and then retested until it was sure the car would receive a 5-star rating no matter how the test was administered.
The safety rating prompted Salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff to tweet high praise.
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It’s official: General Motors sees Tesla as a threat
By Antony Ingram, Green Car Reports, From Business Insider
“History is littered with big companies that ignored innovation that was coming their way because you didn’t know where you could be disrupted.”
General Motors will be hoping those words, from vice chairman Steve Girksy as the automaker begins to study electric upstart Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA], don’t become too prophetic.
They’re a clear indication that major automakers are starting to worry about the startup electric automaker, as GM CEO Dan Akerson looks into how Tesla may affect the 104-year old GM’s business.
According to Bloomberg, studying Tesla is just one way that Akerson is hoping to change GM’s culture after its financial difficulties in 2009.
The world economic crisis and the big bailouts required as a result of it shook the major U.S. automakers out of a complacency that had let them fall behind rivals from overseas–and improvements from the Big Three are already apparent as quality, performance and efficiency climb inexorably upward.
Several internal processes at GM have changed since Akerson took the reins, but improving the company’s future means improving its products too.
Most important from a technology perspective is continued development of the Volt–the next generation of which could arrive in 2015 or 2016, according to Akerson. Reducing cost will be a major hurdle to overcome, with engineers working to cut as much as $10,000 from the cost of each car.
While the Volt currently undercuts Tesla’s Model S by quite a margin, rumblings of a more compact, more affordable Tesla sedan mean GM can’t afford to sit around. Even this year, first-quarter Model S sales were higher than Volt sales.
It’s a car intriguing GM, and no doubt plenty of other automakers too.
“In the old days, they would’ve said, ‘It’s a bunch of laptop batteries and don’t worry about it and blah, blah, blah,’” Girsky told Bloomberg, referring to GM’s old methods.
Now though, things are different. “I don’t know if [the Model S is] going to work or not work. All I know is if we ignore it and say it’s a bunch of laptop batteries, then shame on us.”
The subtext? Modern GM probably wouldn’t have crushed hundreds of examples of its most innovative vehicle. With Tesla Motors around, it simply can’t afford to.
PHOTO: AP Photo/Pat Sullivan
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