Last May there was an unusual event in the center of Flå. The Tesla Model S suddenly drove into the opposite direction directly in the way of a truck. Only because the driver of the truck was hampered sharply in front of the collision, the collision did not seem to be horrific. Despite this, two people from a passenger car suffered severe injuries and the authorities have reported a sixty -page report after a year’s investigation.
“The crash of a truck and a passenger car occurred as a result of a passenger car to the opposite lane at a speed of approximately 60 km/h. There were five passengers in the passenger car, two of whom were seriously injured in the rear seat, other people in the car suffered only minor injuries,” writes ” At the beginning of the analysis an accident.
The Tesla driver reportedly did not notice that the road at the collision was turning sharply and the maximum speed is limited to 40 km/h. Although the American electric car is said to meet individual requirements for seat belts and strength standards for seats, two of the three parts of the rear backrest were collapsed in the accident.
According to the Norwegian authorities, there are no regulations to stare how much the rear seat backrest should last when the cargo is carried in the luggage and all three rear seats are occupied. And this is a mistake according to investigators.
“All passengers in a passenger car had the seat belts on. The car was properly closed and no heavy objects did not get into the space for passengers from the luggage compartment,” the report says.
There was a travel luggage in the trunk and a dog according to the file. The total weight of the load in these places reached approximately 67 kg. The rear seat cushions, where two children sat, were suitable for their age and size.
The report also states that serious injuries to one adult passenger and one of the children in the rear seat may be related to the wrong use and setting of seat belts in combination with a smaller number of additional safety systems, such as belt pretensioners and power limiters. But most of all, the fact that the backrest of the rear seats relaxed in the collision from the latches.
Road management carried out static tensile tests on the reference vehicle to determine the load level that the rear seat can withstand the longitudinal overload. And to examine whether the cause of the rear seat backrest can be found.
The experiment showed that during the accident the side force was created in the backresting mechanism, which significantly reduced the strength of its attachment to the body of the car. In one of the tests, the back seat of the rear seat collapsed under pressure equal to approximately one ton. On this basis, the investigators calculated that fixing the seat backrest would withstand a maximum of 30 kg of luggage transported in the trunk if the seats were at the same time a smaller body constitution, as was the case in a real accident.
The Norwegians therefore believe that regulations should change to improve the safety of passengers in the rear seats. However, this process requires cooperation on international level.
According to them, the evaluation criteria could be created within the Euro NCAP program, which has not yet passed the test of this type in impact tests. The Norwegian public road administration also called on car manufacturers to develop tests to ensure that their own design solutions guarantee the safety of persons of different sizes on all car seats. The organization also calls for awareness to consolidate the cargo in the luggage compartment of the car. And last but not least, she also addressed Tesla to focus on the construction of the seats in her cars.
