The angular design of Tesla’s Cybertruck has safety experts concerned the electrical pickup truck’s stiff stainless-steel exoskeleton could hurt pedestrians and cyclists and damage other vehicles on roads.
Reuters spoke to 6 safety professors and officials who viewed videos of crash tests conducted by Tesla on its first recent vehicle in nearly 4 years and shown during a webcast delivery event last week.
Crash test videos that Tesla live-streamed at a Nov. 30 event were heavily discussed on social media.
Experts who spoke to Reuters said they needed crash-test data to achieve firm conclusions concerning the safety.
“The large problem there’s in the event that they really make the skin of the vehicle very stiff through the use of thick stainless steel, then when people hit their heads on it, it’s going to cause more damage to them,” said Adrian Lund, the previous president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), whose vehicle crash tests are an industry standard.
Tesla touted the structures of the truck that absorb impact through the crash.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said in a social media post on Tuesday that he was “highly confident” Cybertruck might be safer than other trucks for occupants and pedestrians.
Tesla didn’t immediately reply to requests for comment on concerns raised by safety experts.
The vehicle designed with flat planes and long, linear edges is visually distinct.
It’s the primary automobile with a stainless-steel exterior for the reason that launch of the DeLorean automobile which was featured within the 1985 movie “Back to the Future.”
The material has even broken the stamping machine that forms the panels, Musk said, touting the vehicle’s toughness.
Through the launch event on the factory in Austin, Texas, Tesla said cold-rolled, stainless body panels are designed to soak up impact during a crash.
The front and rear structures have energy-absorbing ribs that help dissipate energy, and through a side impact the skin of the door carried a majority of the crash load, it said.
George Washington University auto safety professor Samer Hamdar raised concerns about limited “crumple zones,” but added that other features might make up for that.
Crumple zones are parts of the automobile that deform in a crash in a strategy to more safely absorb the energy of an impact.
“There could be a possibility of shock-absorbent mechanism that can limit the indisputable fact that you’ve got a limited crumple zone,” Hamdar said.
Starting at $60,990, Cybertruck is not going to be a high-volume vehicle like Tesla’s Model Y, but Musk has said Tesla was prone to reach a production rate of roughly 250,000 Cybertrucks a yr in 2025.
‘Red flags’ in a crash
Much of the priority was focused on those outside the Cybertruck. “If you’ve got an argument with one other automobile, you’ll win,” Musk said.
David Friedman, the previous acting head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, described the effect for the loser of the crash: “In case you’re in a crash with one other vehicle that has a crumple zone and your automobile is more stiff, then their cars are going to crush and yours is resistant,” he said.
Julia Griswold, director of the University of California, Berkeley’s Protected Transportation Research Center, said she was “alarmed” by the crash test videos Tesla posted.
She said the heavy weight of the trucks and their high acceleration “raise red flags for non-occupants.”
Tesla has not said whether it would sell Cybertrucks in Europe, but its chief engineer this month told motoring publication TopGear that EU safety rules aimed toward protecting pedestrians by limiting external protrusions could make it tough to sell there.
“We hope Tesla don’t bring this vehicle to Europe. A vehicle of this size, power and big weight might be lethal to pedestrians and cyclists in a collision,” the Brussels-based nonprofit European Transport Safety Council said in an announcement.
US regulators depend on vehicle makers to self-test and certify their adherence to safety standards.
Musk said in a recent interview with auto consultant Sandy Munro that the Cybertruck had passed regulatory review.
The primary dozen or so trucks were released to buyers last week.