Tesla earlier this month posted details about the construction of the Model 3 along with some videos demonstrating how it’s supposed to behave in a collision.

The information provides insight for repairers considering certification to work on the popular new sedans. It also illustrates just how critical it is for a repairer to follow OEM procedures and preserve the kind of manufacturer-engineered crash energy management vividly indicated here. Tesla is by no means the only OEM designing safety roles into bodies-in-white and associated structures.

“Like Model S and Model X, Model 3 benefits from its all-electric architecture and powertrain design, which consists of a strong, rigid passenger compartment, fortified battery pack, and overall low center of gravity,” Tesla wrote. “These safety fundamentals help to prevent intrusion into the cabin and battery modules, reduce rollover risk, and distribute crash forces systematically away from the cabin – all while providing the foundation for our superior front crumple zone that is optimized to absorb energy and crush more efficiently.”

Tesla announced recently that it had delivered 55,840 Model 3s in the third quarter — “limited to higher-priced variants, cash/loan transactions, and North American customers only.”

Bloomberg on Wednesday pointed out that had all of those deliveries been in the U.S. — Canadians received some of them — Tesla’s Model 3 would have outsold every sedan but Honda’s Civic and Accord and Toyota’s Camry and Corolla in the third quarter.

A Tesla video compares its “Long Range Rear-Wheel Drive” Model 3 up against an unspecified Audi A4. As there’s no front motor — which would have been the case on a dual-motor Tesla — the rear-wheel drive electric vehicle sports a particularly large crumple zone to protect occupants. (Diagrams of the dual-motor Model 3 also suggest a lot of sacrifical front space will still exist under that configuration.)

“We expect similar results for other Model 3 variants, including our dual-motor vehicles, when they are rated,” Tesla wrote.

Based on a CrashNet1 video, the Audi in Tesla’s video appears to be the 2017 A4, which like the Model 3 carries a five-star National Highway Traffic Safety Administration safety rating. (However, the A4 received four stars for frontal crash protection, while the Model 3 rear-wheel drive scored five.)

The 2017 Audi A4 is also has received the top honor of Top Safety Pick+ from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, which is a tougher tester than the federal government. The IIHS hasn’t published Model 3 crash-test results yet.

Thus, the video offers repairers a great example of how two OEMs have engineered frontal crash safety into their vehicles and what the various parts shops work with daily are supposed to be doing during a crash.

“Like Model S and Model X, Model 3 benefits from its all-electric architecture and powertrain design, which consists of a strong, rigid passenger compartment, fortified battery pack, and overall low center of gravity,” Tesla wrote. “These safety fundamentals help to prevent intrusion into the cabin and battery modules, reduce rollover risk, and distribute crash forces systematically away from the cabin – all while providing the foundation for our superior front crumple zone that is optimized to absorb energy and crush more efficiently.”

Tesla also posted a crash simulation offering another look at the front crumple zone on what also appears to be the rear-wheel drive Model 3.

“In frontal crashes, Model 3’s efficient front crumple zone carefully controls the deceleration of occupants, while its advanced restraint system complements this with pre-tensioners and load-limiters that keep occupants safely in place,” Tesla wrote. “Specially designed passenger airbags are shaped to protect an occupant’s head in angled or offset crashes, and active vents dynamically adjust the internal pressure of the frontal airbags to optimize protection based on the unique characteristics of the crash. Front and knee airbags and a collapsible steering column work to further reduce injury, all contributing to Model 3’s 5-star rating in frontal impact.”

Tesla also touted the Model 3’s performance during a frontal pole impact crash, and it provides collision repairers with many great details about the components they’re likely to encounter during front end work. Highlights include an ultra-high-strength steel beam above the suspension, a sway bar, an aluminum bumper reinforcement beam, and many parts engineered to move in a certain way during the pole crash.

“In pole impact crashes, in which a narrow obstruction impacts the car between the main crash rails, energy-absorbing lateral and diagonal beam structures work to mitigate the impact,” Tesla wrote. “This includes a high-strength aluminum bumper beam, a sway bar placed low and forward in the front of the car, cross-members at the front of the steel subframe that are connected to the main crash rails, and additional diagonal beams in the subframe that distribute energy back to the crash rails when they aren’t directly impacted. An ultra-high strength martensitic steel beam is also attached to the top of the front suspension to further absorb crash energy from severe impacts, and the rear part of the subframe is shaped like a “U” and buckles down when impacted.”

Tesla wrote that these parts will “continue to be effective” even on a dual-motor Model 3, “due to the fact that the subframe is designed to pull the nose of the motor down and out of the way.”

Tesla also reported that it patented its “pillar structures and side sills,” technology allowing the OEM to get a 5-star rating in the side-impact test. The “fortified battery architecture” helps too, according to Tesla.

It contrasted itself with the the 2016 Lexus ES, which also received an overall five stars from NHTSA and was an IIHS Top Safety Pick+. Like the Model 3, the ES received five stars overall on NHTSA side crash tests as well, though it only drew four out of five on the side pole test within that subset.

Tesla said its Models 3, S and X were “the best ever rated by NHTSA,” and the Model 3 “has the lowest probability of injury of all cars the safety agency has ever tested.”

It based this upon the Model 3’s Vehicle Safety Score of 0.38, “which is lower than any other vehicle rated in NHTSA’s public documents.”

NHTSA apparently took exception with this characterization. Without calling out Tesla by name, the agency stressed two days later, Oct. 9, that it “does not distinguish safety performance beyond that (overall 5-star) rating, thus there is no ‘safest’ vehicle among those vehicles achieving 5-star ratings.”

Regardless, the Model 3 sounds like a pretty safe car so far, so take pains to keep it that way.

More information:

“Model 3 achieves the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by NHTSA”

Tesla, Oct. 7, 2018

Tesla certification and repair procedures (Must be certified or in Massachusetts to get repair procedures)

Images:

The first Tesla Model 3 deliveries are shown in 2017. (Provided by Tesla)

Tesla earlier this month posted videos demonstrating how the Tesla Model 3 behaves in a collision. (Tesla videos)