Tesla Cybertruck’s stiff structure, sharp design raise safety concerns - experts::The angular design of Tesla’s Cybertruck has safety experts concerned that the electric pickup truck’s stiff stainless-steel exoskeleton could hurt pedestrians and cyclists.

  • hardcoreufo@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I don’t like Teslas, Musk or the cyber truck but it can’t be any more dangerous than the 4 ft wall of radiator traditional pickups have now. Not saying this isn’t a concern but I am way more concerned about the millions of pedestrian crushing rolling walls already on the road.

    • SkepticalButOpenMinded@lemmy.ca
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      11 months ago

      Your wording makes it sound like the existence of even more dangerous trucks somehow excuses this dangerous truck. Both the 4 ft wall and the sharp metal blade edges are dangerous and irresponsible designs.

    • imaqtpie@lemmy.myserv.one
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      11 months ago

      I’m pretty sure it actually is significantly more dangerous. The front end of traditional pickups will still crumple and absorb a great deal of force. If the cybertruck is more rigid and the sharp edges have a potential to gash pedestrians on impact, that’s two factors that don’t apply to current pickups.

      • Zetta@mander.xyz
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        11 months ago

        I don’t actually know the ride height but it looks like the cyber truck has a much lower nose when driving on normal roads compared to a lot of trucks, so while it may be very stiff, maybe it’ll just launch you over the hood.

        • weew@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          The shorter and lower nose should improve visibility too. Regular pickups have a blind spot as large as an entire daycare center.

      • intensely_human@lemm.ee
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        11 months ago

        So are we really contemplating pickup trucks as more safe in a pedestrian collision because they have crumple zones?

        When a truck hits a pedestrian and the front of the truck crumples, is that pedestrian okay?

        • DV8@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          There’s a difference between a shattered pelvis and being impaled because someone thought sharp corners are cool and safety standards are oppression.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      11 months ago

      And those are largely banned from the EU as well. The issue is the lack of regulation in the US, it’s killing pedestrians daily.

    • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Tesla seem confident it’ll be safer in part because of that.

      I’m wondering if they’ve done some something that can lower the front further if an imminent crash is about to happen with a pedestrian to lower the nose even more. Maybe it won’t work if you’re already at lowest setting, but if you’re raised at all maybe.

      You think they’d have advertised a feature like that though by now, so maybe not, but I bet they could.

      Would be a good feature for any vehicle with air suspension that can detect an imminent crash with a pedestrian

        • MrSpArkle@lemmy.ca
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          11 months ago

          This is not true.

          Anti collision systems of various sorts have been around for over a decade. The problem space is minuscule compared to self driving, and almost all car manufacturers offer both forward and reverse collision detection at this point.

          In fact I think EU is making it a requirement soon.

          • Buddahriffic@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Detecting a pedestrian where you would want to lower the front vs say a deer or moose (or other vehicle for that matter) where you don’t want to lower it is more complicated.

            Better to just not build the vehicle out of sharp polygons like it needs to be rendered on a Super Nintendo with FX chip.

          • NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Any car with AEB has this capability which is a lot of cars ya.

            I don’t know how fast they can lower the vehicle though? There isn’t a lot of time between when AEB kicks off to slow you down and the accident.

        • fosforus@sopuli.xyz
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          11 months ago

          It definitely detects pedestrians: the live on-screen image shows them when they are nearby. They also claim to have automatic emergency braking when it detects pedestrians being in danger. I haven’t seen this in action, but then again, I don’t drive where pedestrians walk, so… But I can tell that my Tesla does weird short brakings on a motorway when nobody is close. Detects my future ghost, probably.

          Their own claim is that their cars are quite a lot safer than USA average: https://www.tesla.com/VehicleSafetyReport – but I have heard it being rumoured that sometimes companies lie.