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Comment by jquery | Hacker News Reader

This is precisely why I bought a Mercedes instead of a Tesla a couple years ago. I don’t trust Tesla with my life and limb, yet.

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Even if you completely write off the FSD, Tesla's safety scores are really good. The model 3 got 5 stars in every NHTSA category, and the lowest probability of injury of any vehicle they ever tested.

https://www.tesla.com/blog/model-3-lowest-probability-injury... (first party, but sourced with links)

I’ve wondered if that is part of their autonomous strategy. Autopilot makes things less safe but other aspects make it more safe, so it becomes harder to point the finger at autopilot.

> Autopilot makes things less safe

Having owned 3 different models now, I would disagree.

Regardless, even without autopilot. The Automatic emergency braking, Collision Avoidance, and Obstacle Aware Acceleration saved me countless times. Those are also all features that come standard with every car.

Meanwhile, other manufacturers will charge money for advanced safety features. Even basic autopilot made my drive along windy Oregon roads with dense fog much safer.

Autopilot also pretty much eliminates driver fatigue on long road trips.

Or you know, they just want to make safe cars. If you go back you will see that Musk talks about safety as a core feature in every car long before they even had their own Self-driving team.

A Tesla will probably be my next car. I just wanted more road data.

Interesting take. I'm coming from driving MB.

Their driver assist and safety systems have rarely worked and will always trigger false alerts.

Tesla on the other hand have actually saved me from a few potential frontal, rear and side swipe accidents. Before I even realized what was happening.

I didn’t get MB for self driving capability. I got Mercedes because when there’s a serious accident, I have a very low risk of death. With Tesla it may be low, but at the time there wasn’t enough data to be sure. Tesla could have been the safest or the car version of the 737 Max. For the sake of my family’s safety I made the conservative choice.

> I didn’t get MB for self driving capability.

I wasn't referring to "self driving" capabilities. I was mainly referencing DISTRONIC PLUS®, Lane keeping assist(LKAS), Automatic emergency braking (AEB) and collision avoidance.

We owned 2 MB sedans and an SUV and all had the same issues.

> I got Mercedes because when there’s a serious accident, I have a very low risk of death

I definitely get where you're coming from. There just isn't enough data available for Tesla yet from the IIHS. At least from their latest report dated May 28, 2020. I hope it comes out soon.

What I do know is that the Tesla Model 3 scored high (if not the highest) marks as tested by multiple orgs such as NHTSA [1], Euro NCAP [2,3], IIHS [4].

[1] https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2020/TESLA/MODEL%2525203/4%252...

[2] https://youtu.be/z3cqj5AAP5I?t=27

[3] https://www.euroncap.com/en/press-media/press-releases/euro-...

[4] https://www.iihs.org/ratings/vehicle/tesla/model-3-4-door-se...

The Tesla Model X was also "The First SUV To Receive A Perfect Crash Test Rating"

https://mashable.com/2017/06/13/tesla-model-x-safety-rating/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hnctrWc_g4

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