Tesla Model S Gets Highest Safety Rating

From what I could find, federal standards back in the mid 90s was for the roof to resist 5000 lbs of pressure. The tests have been updated since then, comparing vehicle by how well they did on different tests is... problematic.

The Aurora had a curb weight of about 4,000 pounds, so 2 1/2 times its weight. Just about any modern car would reach that level.
The Model S cleared 4x its curb weight before it broke its roof testing machine or about 19,000 lbs and we still don't know when it eventually failed.

 

The Aurora did it in 1996. In the ~15 years since then, one would hope that things have gotten better.

 

Absolutely, I was just responding to your comment that the Aurora had "similar results", when it really isn't comparable and is actually a very poor result compared to today's cars.

 

Is a tesla much safer than say a prius v, a car the IIHS seems to be picking on lately. Here we need to understand the statistics of small numbers. Those tests where the IIHS finds fault really in radar cruise control and partial impact crashes really are situations where the driver is distracted or gulp reckless. This is really a small percentage of driving. Now that same poorly performing prius v in the news articles gets 5 NHTSA stars over all the highest rating available. It does however have lower (still excellent 4 star) rating for front and rollover. The tesla S is better here. We also have the report of a reckless tesla S driver smashing into an accord head on, killing the 2 occupants but ending up fine. We should not oversestimate these results, or think 5 really is more than 5. If you drive off a cliff in a tesla S you will still die. If you drive safely in a tesla S or gulp a lower rated 5 star car like the prius v you will likely be pretty safe. In 5 years we can look at the death statistics, once there are enough miles to observe them. Until then to me both are extremely safe cars unless there is operator error on the drivers pert.

That accord was rated a very safe car when it was new. Cars are safer now, but the number one way not to die in a rollover is not to roll over your car I still count those 2 fatalities on the accord against the tesla S, because that tesla S's chief safety equipment, the driver, was not working properly. The drunk driver in the accord that crashed into the volt and die, that is on the accord.

 

No doubt the most important safety device is the driver. However, you can not have an objective test that rates the safety of the driver.
You can quantify how well the vehicle protects occupants of that vehicle, which is exactly what these tests strive to measure.

And yes, I can answer now that the Model S rated much higher than the Prius V in areas where details are provided.
For example, the Prius V was rated with a 13.6% roll chance in the NHTSA tests, the Model S only 5.7%. The very best sedans only get 8.9%.

So even in cases where both cars get a rating of 5, there can be substantial distinctions.

I do hope the IIHS does test the Model S as I would like to see how the do with the off center tests.