Tesla Totalled in Tesla/Prius/SUV Pile-up Collision

[bennelson]

I found some photos of a car crash in Denmark.








A brand-new Tesla Roadster got REAR-ENDED HARD!
Also involved in the incident was a Toyota Prius, and a VW SUV.

Apparently what happened is that the Prius rear-ended the Tesla at a high-speed, forcing it right under the SUV. (The Tesla and SUV would have been stopped at the red light. You can see the traffic light to the left of the emergency worker in the one photo.)

That would explain how the SUV got on top of the Tesla, with apparently little damage to the SUV, yet you can see little bits of Tesla red under the SUV's rear bumper.

The Roadster driver walked away with minor bruises.
Notice how the cockpit space of the car is almost completely undamaged. (Except for the windshield!)

In the only other well-documented collision of an electric car that I know of, an SUV ran a red light, T-boning the EV hard. The EV simply slid sideways, the weight of the batteries keeping it flat and level on the ground, and the EV driver never lost control of the steering.

EV's are perfectly safe vehicles, but I think these photos do show how it might be a good idea for all vehicle bumpers to be the same height. I sat in a Tesla last summer. It is so low to the ground, it is rather difficult to get in and out of.

Thanks for the photos to user SKAGMAN in Flickr.

[Christ]

Damn... I got dibs on the wrecked Tesla!!! LOL. I wish.

[bennelson]

I think we are all thinking the same thing - SPARE PARTS!

Rest assured that the car will make it's way back to Tesla Motors for inspection, and figuring out faulty points, improvement on future cars, etc.

[Piwoslaw]

Originally Posted by bennelson

I think these photos do show how it might be a good idea for all vehicle bumpers to be the same height.

Imagine jacked up SUV's and pick-ups with bumpers lower than their axles. Not good for off-roading. Or roadsters with bumpers a foot above the hood. Not good for aerodynamics. My Grandma almost got squashed by a truck which decided to start backing at a red light, with her right behind him and no way out. His bumper was just under her roofline. Honking from about 5 cars didn't help b/c the truck was so loud. Thankfully, someone in the next lane got out and jumped up into the truck's cab.
I'm all for more safety.

[LUVMY02CREW]

WOW!

It looks like the aerodynamics of the Tesla allowed the suv to glid semi-smoothly over the top.

I wonder how fast the prius was going to push those vehicles around like that??

[jamesqf]

Originally Posted by Piwoslaw

Imagine jacked up SUV's and pick-ups with bumpers lower than their axles. Not good for off-roading.

Take a good look at the undercarriage of the next few jacked-up pickups and SUVs you see. Odds are that the axles & differentials will be at exactly the same height as stock (or maybe a little bit more, if they're running oversize tires). So off-road them all you want, those (expensive) components are going to take the punishment.