First electric vehicle to be awarded Top Safety Pick+, beating out the Tesla Model S and Chevy Bolt. IIHS is still testing the Model 3, and the Model X hasn’t been tested because Telsa got their panties in a bunch when the Model S wasn’t awarded the highest award.
In the test, the seat belt in Tesla’s Model S was not effective and could lead to the driver’s head striking the steering wheel hard through the air bag, according to the report.
Tesla’s Model S received the highest rating in IIHS’s crash testing in every category except one, the small overlap front crash test, where it received the second highest rating available, a Tesla spokesperson said in an email.
“IIHS and dozens of other private industry groups around the world have methods and motivations that suit their own subjective purposes,” the spokesperson said.
After how much Tesla trumpets about how safe their cars are, I never realized that the Model S wasn’t a Top Safety Pick+ from the IIHS. For my mind it was a foregone conclusion. Do you think this award will steer people away from Teslas and look at the e-tron seriously?