The claim appears to be that the Tesla should have prevented it happening in this instance. There is a question of how much reliance on safety features lead to negligence and poor driving.
Air bags do not save lives. Air bags provide no better margin of safety than seat belts alone. The argument for air bags is that they passive restrains. However empirical evidence does not show any safety benefit for similar vehicles with over those without.
Tesla safety features may encourage bad driving, which cancels whatever supposed increase in safety is available, much like radar assisted braking.
I’ve heard physicians say the opposite though - when airbags became more common, they saw a decrease in the severity of injuries.
I agree that L3 driving assistance features can encourage the driver to pay less attention. The data is mixed, automatic emergency brake systems do reduce rear-end collisions.
In this instance, I think we’d need to understand the details better.
“ The argument for air bags is that they passive restrains.”
I’ve long argued that airbags and seat belts should be removed and replaced with a 9 inch long stainless steel spike in the center of the steering wheel.
That would focus driver concentration pretty well.
L
“ The argument for air bags is that they passive restrains.”
I’ve long argued that airbags and seat belts should be removed and replaced with a 9 inch long stainless steel spike in the center of the steering wheel.
That would focus driver concentration pretty well.
L
“Air bags do not save lives. Air bags provide no better margin of safety than seat belts alone. The argument for air bags is that they passive restrains. However empirical evidence does not show any safety benefit for similar vehicles with over those without.”
Might you have any studies to that effect? I’ve always had difficulty in understanding how airbags can do more than seat belts in restraining people in crashes. As you imply the case for airbags was that people didn’t wear seatbelts...well that bridge has been crossed, every state now has seat belt laws (some pretty silly, like making high school kids sit in boosters, but that’s another issue), and the vast majority of people wear their seat belts. So are airbags even needed anymore?