It seems everyone’s always talking about Tesla’s active safety systems, which arguably may not be all that different from those of some rival automakers. However, aside from Tesla’s Autopilot technology and FSD beta program, the company has always put an emphasis on the passive safety of its EVs.
Tesla, along with other EV makers, will argue that electric cars, in general, are just plain safer than gas cars for a number of reasons. However, you’ve probably heard they catch fire all the time and run over children. The truth is, there are ways to improve a vehicle’s passive safety, and an EV allows for some advantages since it has a low and heavy center of gravity, no massive engine in front of the driver, no highly flammable liquid on board, etc.
In order for Tesla to continue to claim that it makes the safest cars on the planet, its EVs need to continue getting top scores in crash tests. The positive news surrounding Tesla’s crash test ratings – especially those of the newer Model 3 and Model Y – may serve to offset all the negative reports of fires and active safety system concerns.
That said, Tesla has now officially revealed that it’s building a new crash test lab in Austin, Texas. This comes as no surprise since it has a new factory there, and it also already has such a lab in California.
Tesla crash tests its own vehicles, which isn’t uncommon, and it also tracks the EVs’ real-world safety and publishes periodic crash and safety reports, which isn’t something we tend to get from most other automakers. In order for the US EV maker to provide such data, not only does it need to track every car in its fleet, but also run its own simulations and tests to ensure that its safety engineering is actually working as intended.
A recent LinkedIn post by Tesla recruiter Aaron H. confirms the lab, as well as the fact that Tesla is already hiring:
As you can see, it appears Tesla is already building the lab and hiring Engineering Technicians. If you click on the link in Aaron’s post, it takes you to the Tesla Careers website to a job listing entitled, “Engineering Technician, Passive Safety Crash Test Lab.” It’s a full-time position in Austin, and the job description is as follows:
“The Passive Safety Crash & Sled Test team is responsible for executing, analyzing, and reporting on crash and sled tests within required program timelines, primarily focusing on vehicle development, regulatory certification, and consumer protection crash testing.”
If more information becomes available, we’ll update this article or provide a follow-up story. In the meantime, let us know what you think of this news by leaving a comment below.
