Tesla’s cars are some of the safest cars you can drive. They continually earn the highest safety ratings and positive owner testimonies. The Model 3 is no different, but it still has some major safety concerns, to which Elon Musk is personally addressing.
A Tesla fan posted an account on Reddit of what should have been a fatal crash, but the Model 3’s design saved his life. The paramedics told him he should be dead, yet he still survived to tell the story even though the car’s front end was completely destroyed. It speaks to Tesla’s focus on safety, but he did point out some issues he has with the Model 3.
He noted how the glove hand compartment was inaccessible after the crash because the display was damaged. The only way to open the glove hand compartment is through the display. He also said the display, which sits upon the dashboard, broke his passenger’s arm during the impact.
Elon Musk eventually stumbled upon Teslarati’s coverage of the Reddit thread and addressed the driver’s complaints on Twitter.
Adding software feature to open glovebox automatically when car comes to a stop after a crash. Will look at bonding a thin plastic sheet to the front or back of screen.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 16, 2018
Both of Musk’s solutions are viable, but it seems like these fixes should be in place already. One of the main complaints of having all the controls on the display of the Model 3 is what happens if it is incapacitated? Then you get issues like not being able up the glove hand compartment.
The decision to put the display on top of the dashboard rather than integrating it like the Model S and X was an early safety concern, and it’s not proving to be warranted. Musk’s solution may prevent the display glass from cutting people, but it won’t prevent people from getting injured during accidents due to its placement.
Nevertheless, it’s good to see Musk being understanding of the complaints and coming up with a solution rather than ignoring the issue altogether.
