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Tesla Model S and ICE Compact Crash Leaves the Latter in Smoke and Flames

Among all the cool features - two of which being the EV with the longest maximum range and the ability to use a proprietary network of superchargers - the Tesla models also happen to be quite safe.
Model S crash with an ICE car 1 photo
Photo: 5minutes.rtl.lu
Elon Musk, the company's CEO, has made it very clear that the Model S has earned top marks from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In fact, he's gone a little over the top saying it received 5.4 stars, which was probably a joke as the NHTSA made it very clear that they don't rate cars beyond the maximum five stars, nor do they differentiate between equally starred models. So, ignoring Musk's little outburst, it's pretty clear the Tesla Model S is a safe car.

Obviously, it all has to do with its powertrain. The absence of a large and heavy engine up front means that the engineers are free to design the crumple zones as efficiently as possible. It also means that in the case of a frontal collision, the risk of having the engine pushed towards the passenger cell is null. Then there's the battery pack which is located under the floor, providing the car with a very low center of gravity, excellent stability and a very high tolerance to flipping over. So much so, in fact, that the Model X SUV, for example, was deemed virtually impossible to roll over.

Yesterday, around 15:00, the old and the new had a less friendly encounter on a road near Luxembourg. A red Tesla Model S and a yet unidentified black compact car (hard to tell the make and model when there are flames all over) were involved in a collision that ended with the vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine catching fire. The local website 5minutes.rtl.lu reported the accident, but didn't have other information regarding what (or who) caused it and whether everyone involved was alright.

Judging by what we see in the picture, we'd say that either one or both vehicles were traveling dangerously close to the center of the road, if not beyond it, and they clipped each other as they went by. The wet road surface might have played a role, too. The extra weight of the Model S came in handy as it looks as though it remained on course, while the smaller compact was turned sideways. A fuel leak led to a fierce fire, but the open driver's door gives us hope that everyone got out of it OK. Plus, considering how close the cars remained after the crash, it's possible they weren't going all that fast.

Funnily enough, this comes just a few days after Elon Musk talked about how the Autopilot function reduces the chances of being involved in a crash by 50 percent. We doubt the Tesla Model S driver was using the feature on a narrow road such as this, so assuming everyone was OK, this will surely add to the Autopilot's favorable statistics.
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About the author: Vlad Mitrache
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"Boy meets car, boy loves car, boy gets journalism degree and starts job writing and editing at a car magazine" - 5/5. (Vlad Mitrache if he was a movie)
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