In all honesty, the Tesla Model X doesn’t make any sense. How can you have an up to 7 seater SUV that goes from 0-60mph in 2.7 seconds? How in the world has that become a possibility? Sit in a Model X P100D with ludicrous mode on, and this car will speed past the Lamborghini URUS, Porsche Cayenne Turbo, Bentley Bentayga W12, Mercedes-AMG GLC 63S, and many others. It is an unbelievable piece of engineering that has blown other carmakers out of the water.
As of late 2019, the Tesla Model X is the second-fastest SUV in the market according to TopGear, only being beaten by the Jeep Grand Cherokee Trackhawk. SUVs are more often than not considered family cars, and picked for their safety and spaciousness. This alarming speed on a family SUV makes consumers wonder whether Tesla jeopardized the safety of its SUV purely for its speed.
Unfortunately for other car companies, the exact opposite happened. The Tesla Model X was the first SUV to receive a perfect 5-star crash test safety rating. SUVs are in most cases considered safer than regular sedans because of their size. Every extra bit of size that gives the driver any space between them and the colliding vehicle is always a benefit. This size comes at a significant disadvantage, due to their high center of gravity, most of these SUVs roll over easily. A car rolling over at high speeds can easily eject a passenger and can cause serious damage.
According to business insider, rollovers in 2016 only occurred in 1% of accidents but caused for ⅓ of collision-related deaths, an absolutely staggering number. Because of the low positioning of the battery pack on the underbelly of the Model X, the center of gravity of the car is way lower than other SUVs. This makes the Model X the safest car in the market for roll-overs. In other safety aspects of Tesla’s in general, because of the “Frunk” or front trunk, there is an additional empty space to absorb more energy from frontal collisions.
Finally, we can’t forget the specially constructed side sills and pillar structures to reduce the impact of passengers in the event of a side collision. The Model X is considered the safest SUV ever tested and we forgot to mention their collision avoidance system and automatic emergency braking. So there we have it, the second-fastest SUV in the current 2019 market, and at the same time, it is the safest SUV ever tested? Once again, this car doesn’t make any sense.
To make it even more extraordinary, Tesla has only been around since 2003. Tesla isn’t even 20 years old and they are leaving all other carmakers behind. There are a plethora of incredible characteristics of the Model X that we didn’t go into, that we will save for another blog. We just wanted to briefly touch on speed & safety, just to highlight two basic topics that show how much better Tesla is than other cars. ;)