Photo: Cantonal Police Aargau
A strange accident happened Sunday in Switzerland when a Tesla Model X suddenly veered right while traveling at speed on the A3 highway near Möhlin. The crossover rolled over several times and came to a stop lying on its side on a utility road next to the highway.
While many websites reporting the crash emphasized Tesla Model X safety after all four occupants escaped with minor injuries, the real question here is why it even happened. We know Tesla vehicles are filled with assistance systems, and even the basic Autopilot should be able to keep the lane on a highway without issues. And then it’s the SUV resting on its side that is even more intriguing.
Tesla made waves years ago when tests showed that, in certain conditions, the bottom-heavy SUV would return on all four wheels after a rollover. Moreover, the Model X has “the lowest probability of rollover and overall injury of any SUV,” according to Tesla, following NHTSA test results in 2018. It’s still mesmerizing to watch the video of a Model X returning every time in its upright position after testers tried to roll it over (see below).
Sure, the rollover accident in Switzerland happened at highway speed, so rolling over was guaranteed once the Model X swerved right. But we don’t know what made the SUV stop on its side rather than flipping into an upright position as expected. This is proof that real-world scenarios are sometimes more complex than everything engineers and testers can imagine in a lab.
Happily, the crash didn’t have tragic consequences. A family of four, including two children aged six and nine, escaped with minor injuries from the crash, according to local authorities. The Model X did protect its passengers in this case, but wasn’t it supposed to prevent this type of accident from happening in the first place? This accident is not the first of its kind involving a Tesla vehicle.
In 2018, a deadly crash happened on a highway in California while a Model X was driving on Autopilot. The car struck a median concrete divider on Highway 101, jumped into the air, and then got hit by two other vehicles. The family indicated that the Autopilot acted strange on several occasions in the same spot before.
More recently, a Tesla Model S was caught on camera swerving left for no reason on a highway while operating on Full Self-Driving Mode. This is equally strange and something it shouldn’t have happened either. There are other cases when Tesla vehicles were involved in inexplicable accidents, so maybe a tad of skepticism when dealing with technology would not hurt.
Tesla made waves years ago when tests showed that, in certain conditions, the bottom-heavy SUV would return on all four wheels after a rollover. Moreover, the Model X has “the lowest probability of rollover and overall injury of any SUV,” according to Tesla, following NHTSA test results in 2018. It’s still mesmerizing to watch the video of a Model X returning every time in its upright position after testers tried to roll it over (see below).
Sure, the rollover accident in Switzerland happened at highway speed, so rolling over was guaranteed once the Model X swerved right. But we don’t know what made the SUV stop on its side rather than flipping into an upright position as expected. This is proof that real-world scenarios are sometimes more complex than everything engineers and testers can imagine in a lab.
Happily, the crash didn’t have tragic consequences. A family of four, including two children aged six and nine, escaped with minor injuries from the crash, according to local authorities. The Model X did protect its passengers in this case, but wasn’t it supposed to prevent this type of accident from happening in the first place? This accident is not the first of its kind involving a Tesla vehicle.
In 2018, a deadly crash happened on a highway in California while a Model X was driving on Autopilot. The car struck a median concrete divider on Highway 101, jumped into the air, and then got hit by two other vehicles. The family indicated that the Autopilot acted strange on several occasions in the same spot before.
More recently, a Tesla Model S was caught on camera swerving left for no reason on a highway while operating on Full Self-Driving Mode. This is equally strange and something it shouldn’t have happened either. There are other cases when Tesla vehicles were involved in inexplicable accidents, so maybe a tad of skepticism when dealing with technology would not hurt.
Model X is the first and only SUV to achieve a NHTSA 5-Star safety rating in every category and subcategory, with the lowest probability of rollover and overall injury of any SUV pic.twitter.com/V0f8ljeIBp
— Tesla (@Tesla) May 20, 2018
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