Re:Elon Musk defiant in face of federal investigation of Tes...
by SwellJoe on Wednesday November 20, 2013 @05:13PM
(#6771582)
Safety data is relevant. There are dozens of new car models on the road right now that are more dangerous to drive than a Tesla. It is demonstrably true that if you crash one of those cars you are more likely to be killed than if you were driving a Tesla.
This is a somewhat silly attack on a new technology. Tesla is, and has, responded appropriately to every one of the safety issues they've encountered. I'm not necessarily a "let the market decide" kinda guy on this issue, given the way corporations have behaved in the past and given the nature of the corporate veil protecting the manufacturers from liability (often even in cases of gross negligence), but when it's clear the company is doing right on a scale much larger than most other auto companies (I can't actually think of any companies that have been more careful about the safety of their cars; maybe Volvo and Volkswagen).
"We are talking about people's lives here."
This is one of those "Think of the children!" kind of statements. When it comes to cars, we're always talking about peoples lives. Driving cars is the most dangerous thing most people do every day, by far. If you want to think of saving peoples lives, start campaigning for more mass transit and fewer cars. Campaign for self-driving cars. Campaign for dedicated cycling lanes so that more people will stop driving and start biking (without the risk of cars bringing their deadly influence into the picture).
That's not to say Tesla shouldn't always improve the safety of their cars, but past behavior indicates they have that built into their values as a company.
I'm just saying that if there's going to be investigations, why not start with the Dodge 1500 pickup truck (one of the longest running, most dangerous, vehicles on the road)? Or the Cheverolet Colorado pickup? Or the Mazda CX-9 or Jeep Wrangler? These are all dangerous vehicles to drive; they crash poorly and are involved in more vehicle accidents where someone is killed or injured than average (and a helluva a lot more than Tesla).
Statistics give us the ability to make rational choices in the face of something horrible like car accidents and death. Sure, Tesla should mitigate or solve the fire problem...but, when there are millions of more dangerous cars on the road, why pick on Tesla?
This is a somewhat silly attack on a new technology. Tesla is, and has, responded appropriately to every one of the safety issues they've encountered. I'm not necessarily a "let the market decide" kinda guy on this issue, given the way corporations have behaved in the past and given the nature of the corporate veil protecting the manufacturers from liability (often even in cases of gross negligence), but when it's clear the company is doing right on a scale much larger than most other auto companies (I can't actually think of any companies that have been more careful about the safety of their cars; maybe Volvo and Volkswagen).
"We are talking about people's lives here."
This is one of those "Think of the children!" kind of statements. When it comes to cars, we're always talking about peoples lives. Driving cars is the most dangerous thing most people do every day, by far. If you want to think of saving peoples lives, start campaigning for more mass transit and fewer cars. Campaign for self-driving cars. Campaign for dedicated cycling lanes so that more people will stop driving and start biking (without the risk of cars bringing their deadly influence into the picture).
That's not to say Tesla shouldn't always improve the safety of their cars, but past behavior indicates they have that built into their values as a company.
I'm just saying that if there's going to be investigations, why not start with the Dodge 1500 pickup truck (one of the longest running, most dangerous, vehicles on the road)? Or the Cheverolet Colorado pickup? Or the Mazda CX-9 or Jeep Wrangler? These are all dangerous vehicles to drive; they crash poorly and are involved in more vehicle accidents where someone is killed or injured than average (and a helluva a lot more than Tesla).
Statistics give us the ability to make rational choices in the face of something horrible like car accidents and death. Sure, Tesla should mitigate or solve the fire problem...but, when there are millions of more dangerous cars on the road, why pick on Tesla?