Tesla has been on a roll lately. After paying back its government loans several years ahead of schedule, the company went on to turn its first profit in the first quarter of 2013. It’s been a long time since a new car company has arrived on the scene and managed to gain a foothold, and Tesla is doing it with electric vehicles. Not only that, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says they’re safe, too. How did they determine that? By busting up some very expensive cars.
The Model S is cheaper than the original Tesla Roadster, but it still starts north of $60,000. And that’s with the small battery. The NHTSA still needed to crash the 2013 Model S like any other car to see how safe it is. The results are another feather in Tesla’s cap — it got 5 stars (the highest rating) for front and side impacts. The videos are fun to watch, but a little painful.
The videos show virtually no cabin intrusion by the body of the car, and all airbags inflating as expected. Tesla’s newest sedan joins the likes of the Kia Optima, Honda Accord, and Volvo S60 in scoring the maximum in crash testing. That’s good company to be in — all those manufacturers have spent years perfecting safety features.
If this whole safety thing sells you on the Tesla, get in line. There is still a 3 month wait on the base model. The maxed out version has a 1 month wait, but it’s over $80,000. Hey, no one ever said safety came cheap.
Now read: Tesla demos its 90 second Model S battery swap
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