Spotted: Crash-Tested Cybertrucks (outside Tesla Crash Labs?)

[cvalue13]

Post doesn’t clarify where this is, but I’m assuming it’s outside Tesla’s Crash Lab in Fremont

Steady as she goes

h/t to a certain someone

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[JBee]

Do they do other vehicles there or just Teslas?

Some of those vehicles under wraps seem to not fit the current model range?
Is that because they've been misformed by a crash test, or are they new models, or somebody elses test models? How often would you use your own crash test facilities?

 

[cvalue13]

Do they do other vehicles there or just Teslas?

Some of those vehicles under wraps seem to not fit the current model range?
Is that because they'v

curious which ones you're referring to. I have my guess, but don’t want to bias the poll ?

How often would you use your own crash test facilities?

how often do they use for what?

Im not super agile with this, but as I understand it they use their own facilities a lot - like most OEMs.

data from internal tests is, among other things, how manufacturers certify they meet federal guidelines, prior to release.

many wondered before whether CTs transported in the direction of NHTSA were going there for testing, but I’m pretty sure that’s not the order of operations.

To be certified for sale, every new model sold in the U.S. must be crash-tested internally to ensure minimum federal safety standards are met. But a publicly available rating, conducted by NHTSA, isn't required.

not all vehicles sold even get NHTSA ratings - especially low volume or ‘luxury’ models.

what vehicles do get tested by NHTSA I believe are bought anonymously off of a ‘dealer’ lot.

pre-release, then, NHTSA would be going off of manufacturer-supplied data developed in house (or farmed out to independent labs).



a few unrelated videos on the Crash Lab:

 

[cvalue13]

An article on this: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/some-cars-will-never-be-crash-tested-crash-test-ratings/


All Models Must Meet Federal Standards

Even cars that lack public crash-test ratings from NHTSA or the IIHS must still meet minimum federal safety standards. In order to sell a new vehicle in the U.S., manufacturers must provide information from their own company crash tests to NHTSA to ensure compliance with federal standards. Some automakers, such as Mercedes, also told CR that they perform extra crash tests before introducing a new vehicle. "We often conduct up to 15,000 realistic crash simulations and about 150 vehicle crash tests to make an entirely new vehicle ready for customer operations," said Ashley Gillam, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz.
…

NHTSA also sometimes randomly tests vehicles that aren't part of its regular five-star rating program—including some Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, and Land Rover models—to make sure manufacturers are in compliance with federal standards.


[as of 2020, examples of cars that don’t have public crash test data]

Models Without Public Crash-Test Ratings [organized in order of average annual sales volume, listed in the right-hand column]

All Land Rover Vehicles	94,736
All Porsche Vehicles	61,658
All Jaguar Vehicles	31,051
Lexus GX	25,945
Mercedes-Benz GLS	22,225
Mercedes-Benz GLA	22,137
BMW X7	21,574
BMW 4 Series	18,621
Chevrolet Corvette	17,988
Mercedes-Benz A-Class	17,641
Mercedes-Benz S-Class	12,528
Mercedes-Benz CLA	12,400
Honda Clarity	11,654
Toyota Sequoia	10,289
Mazda MX-5 Miata	7,753

 

[JBee]

What I meant with "how often they use it" is that I'd assume they are only using the test facilities prior to production of a new or improved model, but otherwise the testing facility wouldn't have to do much testing once the vehicle has past the test? Except for if changes were made that would affect the test?

With 5 models, that's maybe 5x 6 months of testing work? Or does the facility also do prototype or more base structure BIW testing as well to keep busy in between the main crash testing periods?
I'm not sure, hence the question how utilised their facilities are, or if they hire out services to other manufactures.

As for the models that seem to be possibly different, there's a few short ones in the first three rows on the left, that seem to have a steep rear end like a hatch.

 

[JBee]

An article on this: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/some-cars-will-never-be-crash-tested-crash-test-ratings/


All Models Must Meet Federal Standards

Even cars that lack public crash-test ratings from NHTSA or the IIHS must still meet minimum federal safety standards. In order to sell a new vehicle in the U.S., manufacturers must provide information from their own company crash tests to NHTSA to ensure compliance with federal standards. Some automakers, such as Mercedes, also told CR that they perform extra crash tests before introducing a new vehicle. "We often conduct up to 15,000 realistic crash simulations and about 150 vehicle crash tests to make an entirely new vehicle ready for customer operations," said Ashley Gillam, a spokeswoman for Mercedes-Benz.
…

NHTSA also sometimes randomly tests vehicles that aren't part of its regular five-star rating program—including some Alfa Romeo, Jaguar, and Land Rover models—to make sure manufacturers are in compliance with federal standards.


[as of 2020, examples of cars that don’t have public crash test data]

Models Without Public Crash-Test Ratings [organized in order of average annual sales volume, listed in the right-hand column]

All Land Rover Vehicles	94,736
All Porsche Vehicles	61,658
All Jaguar Vehicles	31,051
Lexus GX	25,945
Mercedes-Benz GLS	22,225
Mercedes-Benz GLA	22,137
BMW X7	21,574
BMW 4 Series	18,621
Chevrolet Corvette	17,988
Mercedes-Benz A-Class	17,641
Mercedes-Benz S-Class	12,528
Mercedes-Benz CLA	12,400
Honda Clarity	11,654
Toyota Sequoia	10,289
Mazda MX-5 Miata	7,753

I'd assume a lot of those have Euro crash tests though, so not really "untested" as such.

 

[cvalue13]

I'd assume a lot of those have Euro crash tests though, so not really "untested" as such.

yes, I’m sure many do

but engineers gonna engineer (ie only vouch for their own standards)

 

[PilotPete]

With 5 models, that's maybe 5x 6 months of testing work? Or does the facility also do prototype or more base structure BIW testing as well to keep busy in between the main crash testing periods?
I'm not sure, hence the question how utilised their facilities are, or if they hire out services to other manufactures.

There are at least three times that many models. Original S, P85, P100, X XP… Then 3 RWD, 3LR, 3P, 3+LR 3+P(?) Y, YLR, YP, Y4680, CT, Y-Juni (variations) Any change in weight, configuration (motor up front or not), casting changes, door changes, bumper changes, etc. All are probably tested for evaluation.

 

[JBee]

There are at least three times that many models. Original S, P85, P100, X XP… Then 3 RWD, 3LR, 3P, 3+LR 3+P(?) Y, YLR, YP, Y4680, CT, Y-Juni (variations) Any change in weight, configuration (motor up front or not), casting changes, door changes, bumper changes, etc. All are probably tested for evaluation.

Fair point. The question is would they redo all the tests, or just a few of them for each change?
It would get pretty expensive to retest everytime, so I'd think they'd only retest in bulk as required.
My question was really only how well utilised would a facility dedicated to testing would be for a manufacturer like Tesla. For example the FSD team is only 200 people, so I wonder how many people would be working in crash testing and how often they need to test.

 

[ED_SFO]

My guess for these "newer" cars that are covered... they will be the new model 3 and new model y for testing crash worthiness...they are only covering cars they don't want us to see and they can't leave them inside to save space. There are plenty of regular model y's and 3's...but why cover a current model unless they aren't . Just imo!

 

[WHIZZARD OF OZ]

Post doesn’t clarify where this is, but I’m assuming it’s outside Tesla’s Crash Lab in Fremont

Steady as she goes

h/t to a certain someone

I dream of a yard like this. All the parts cars to keep a ROBOTAXI fleet on the road! You could 'Pirate' all the parts to your heart's content!
OPTIMUS, hand me a wench!

 

[ÆCIII]

Interesting - in the images from appearance of the covers, we at least know where a few of the current Cybertrucks are. I counted up to 13 of them.

- ÆCIII

 

[cvalue13]

Interesting - in the images from appearance of the covers, we at least know where a few of the current Cybertrucks are. I counted up to 13 of them.

- ÆCIII

I would assume that DOZENS will be crashed

Note eg Mercedes crashes 150 units of a new vehicle platform before certifying for release

While Tesla would presumably be more lean, I wouldn’t expect it to be too much

 

[Bluechip506]

Would it not be prudent for a manufacturer to run crash tests on competing manufacturers cars too? Or do they just rely on data that available to them from other sources? We know there is a lot of buying other manufacturers cars and tearing them down.

 

[CyberGus]

Would it not be prudent for a manufacturer to run crash tests on competing manufacturers cars too? Or do they just rely on data that available to them from other sources? We know there is a lot of buying other manufacturers cars and tearing them down.

Sounds expensive.

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