Summary

A Tesla Cybertruck crashed in Piedmont last November, killing three college students after hitting a cement wall and bursting into flames.

The California Highway Patrol (CHP) attributed the crash to intoxication and high speed but found that the victims likely died from the fire.

Testimony revealed the vehicle’s doors would not open after the crash, preventing rescue attempts. A survivor was pulled out after a bystander broke a window with a tree branch.

The CHP’s investigation into the crash remains ongoing.

  • @Pyr_Pressure@lemmy.ca
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    375 days ago

    Why are these cars even allowed to be purchased? Does America not have road safety standards? Can anyone just make a car and as long as it has headlights and seatbelts sell it to people?

    • Sixty
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      225 days ago

      I thought it obvious that law means nothing in the USA unless you’re poor now.

    • @real_squids@sopuli.xyz
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      145 days ago

      It got 5 NHTSA stars for driver safety, 4 for passenger, anyone caught outside of it are acceptable casualties. And as far as I know the manufacturer can self-certify.

    • @Aganim@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      While you are burning alive, please take the time to appreciate the fact that the Cybertruck has a 5-star NHTSA crash rating.

    • @Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      115 days ago

      Regulatory capture. For the most part, Automakers can determine if their vehicle is safe, as long as they have certain hardware requirements (Like airbags, backup cameras, and a roof that can support the weight of the vehicle.) Heck, I remember some Tesla engineer saying that the mirrors are only on the truck because they couldn’t get the legislation mandating them removed in time to replace them with cameras.

    • @BossDj@lemm.ee
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      75 days ago

      Were still kinda being held together by pre-1970s protections, but those are slowly going away, too

      • @frezik@midwest.social
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        45 days ago

        When it comes to people inside the car, they’re incredibly good. There are lots of cars you can buy in Europe and Japan that wouldn’t even try meeting US safety standards.

        That is, until some jackass decided on putting too many gizmos in a car without thinking about how you open the door while the battery is on fire. And is currently dismantling the parts of government that tell you not to do that.

        Those standards also don’t do much for people outside the car. Beyond Tesla, that’s been the real tragedy of US safety standards over the past few years.

    • @Maggoty@lemmy.world
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      45 days ago

      Our safety agency actually rejected the headlights that turn off around other cars, in favor of LED lights that blind the fuck out of everyone no matter what setting you use.

      That tells you everything you need to know about American “safety”.

    • lori
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      15 days ago

      Well we have some standards …like they forced Musk to put mirrors on the Cybertruck, because Elon wanted to make it without mirrors and just use cameras.