Tesla’s Active Safety Features Prevent Accidents, Caught On DashCam

Published on December 18th, 2018 |
by Kyle Field

December 18th, 2018 by Kyle Field

Accidents happen. It sucks. But with a Tesla, you have extra protection to help keep you out of one.

As you’ll see below, a collision in front of a Tesla caused the car’s automatic emergency braking system to kick in, keeping one bad accident from getting much worse. Thanks to Tesla’s recent dashcam update, the whole thing was caught by the TeslaCam.

The video serves as a poignant reminder about how quickly Tesla’s network of sensors is evolving and just how good it is at preventing accidents. The mainstream media might report on anything that remotely resembles a fire as if the company were approaching a cliff at high speed, but the near misses thanks to Tesla’s advanced hardware and software inevitably go unreported.

Thankfully, Tesla’s new dashcam feature is able to capture some of these near misses and the excerpts we get show just how good the system is at preventing accidents. In this case, a stopped car forced an unusual merge. That, combined with insufficient following distances for human drivers, resulted in a collision between the two cars ahead of the Tesla. The Tesla reacted almost instantaneously to the change and prevented a two-car accident from becoming a three-car pile-up (or worse).

Looking through the comments on the Reddit thread, you can see multiple accounts of similar stories from commenters. The most impressive part of the tech to me is that the system not only looks at the car in front of it, but is often able to see two cars ahead for potential slowing or dangerous behavior and then reacts to that.

One Redditor noted that, “A few weeks into having the car I was driving with AP on. My car braked hard for no apparent reason. A second later the car in front of my slammed on its breaks. It was a big SUV so I couldn’t see around it. Turns out there was a stopped car making a left in our lane and the driver in front of me wasn’t paying attention.”

That’s freaking cool and adds real value by avoiding what would otherwise be definite accidents. My family and I have thankfully not had any close calls that required the use of the AEB system, but I regularly get help from the early detection setting on the forward-collision warning system. With this setting, it beeps at me loudly when the vehicle in front of me is slowing down and I am still accelerating. The early setting gives me enough warning that I can start slowing down without having to slam on the brakes, which could lead to getting rear ended from the next driver in line.

These features work together in a car that Tesla’s third quarter safety data imply is 4 times safer than the average non-Tesla vehicle, according to data from the US NHTSA. With Enhanced Autopilot engaged, Tesla’s vehicles are seemingly 7 times safer than the average US driver. That’s impressive and meaningful. Even if the possibility of getting hurt isn’t threatening enough, being able to avoid the headaches associated with an accident might be worth upgrading.

If you enjoy the content here on CleanTechnica and are looking to purchase a new Tesla, feel free to use my referral link (here).

Source: YouTube via Reddit

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About the Author

Kyle Field I'm a tech geek passionately in search of actionable ways to reduce the negative impact my life has on the planet, save money and reduce stress. Live intentionally, make conscious decisions, love more, act responsibly, play. The more you know, the less you need. TSLA investor. Tesla referral code: http://ts.la/kyle623