Electric car thread

[nomadpete]

Further to vehicle crash safety:

Last night I was talking with a Road Crash guy (he's the one who operates 'jaws of life' to cut trapped folk out of crashed cars).

 

His hates those European cars - they are much harder to cut up! Much tougher reinforcement is built into them - sometimes it breaks the jaws.

 

I admit he didn't comment on chinese cars.

[facthunter]

Practically All of them now use High Tensile steel which often cannot be satisfactorily repaired IF it's creased.  Nev

[Siso]

I wouldn't like to hit a roo (or any animal larger then a sheep) in a tesla, low bonnet,  may end up inside with you.

[octave]

Australian (and European) Tesla models have a little-known feature called "active hood"

 

"Tesla has installed a pyrotechnic system that raises the rear portion of the hood (closest to the windshield), if a frontal pedestrian crash is detected. The hood immediately lifts by a few inches so that the pedestrian's impact hits a softer, and more movable surface than that of the solid parts beneath the hood, or even the windshield."

 

https://insideevs.com/news/333820/teslas-active-hood-safety-feature-could-save-lives/

 

There have been cases of this deploying during a collision with a kangaroo. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited 7 hours ago by octave

[nomadpete]

4 minutes ago, octave said:

Tesla has installed a pyrotechnic system that raises the rear portion of the hood (closest to the windshield), if a frontal pedestrian crash is detected.

I believe some european vehicles (eg Volvo) have a front bumper bar airbag for this purpose. The plastic bumper drops and the airbag pops up.

[octave]

The active hood has been around on European cars since 2005, so not a new feature

 

The Jaguar XK was the first car to feature a deployable bonnet pedestrian safety system in 2005, although the system was first unveiled by Honda in a concept vehicle in 2004 and introduced in a production model in 2008. The system uses pyrotechnic actuators to lift the rear of the bonnet upon impact with a pedestrian, creating a cushioning effect to reduce head injuries. 

• Jaguar XK (2005): This was the first vehicle to publicly unveil the production system, which was designed to meet new European safety legislation. The system automatically "pops" the hood up a few inches to create a cushion between the pedestrian and hard points in the engine compartment.
• Honda (2008): Honda unveiled its "Pop-up Hood System" technology in 2004 and incorporated it into a production vehicle in 2008. Honda's system uses sensors in the bumper to detect an impact, then an actuator raises the rear of the bonnet by about 10 centimeters.
• General Motors (2007): GM introduced its active hood system in 2007 in the European market. This system works at speeds between 25 and 48 km/h (16-30 mph) and is designed to reduce pedestrian fatalities.
• Buick Regal (2017): Buick made the active hood standard in China with the new generation Regal in 2017.