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Tesla’s Q2 Safety Report continues company’s trend of safe driving

(Photo: Tesla)

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Tesla has officially released its Q2 2020 Quarterly Safety Report, indicating that the company’s Autopilot functionality and driving assistance features are safer than cars that operate without it.

The company reported that it registered one accident for every 4.53 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. This marks the second safest quarter in company history, only trailing Q1 2020, which recorded one accident for every 4.68 million miles driven.

Additionally, cars operating without Autopilot but with other active safety features enabled registered an accident once every 2.27 million miles. This is a sizeable increase from the figures Tesla released in Q1 2020, where cars that were not operating with Autopilot but utilizing other safety features recorded an accident once every 1.99 million miles.

Finally, Tesla drivers who did not have Autopilot nor any of the company’s active safety features activated registered one accident for every 1.56 million miles driven. Statistically, Tesla drivers, whether they are using Autopilot, active safety features, both, or neither, are safer than the average driver.

Data from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, or NHTSA, states that there is an automobile accident once every 479,000 miles traveled.

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Tesla has made significant strides in its Autopilot and Full-Self Driving technologies in 2020. The company is set to release Automatic Driving on City Streets soon, which will complete the highly-anticipated Full-Self Driving Suite.

CEO Elon Musk has also indicated that the company’s Autopilot functionality will receive upgrades from 2.5~D to 4D. Musk highlighted the developments during the Q2 Earnings Call on July 22.

“Things like isolated pictures and doing image recognition on pictures that are harshly correlated in time but not very well and transitioning to kind of a 4D, where it’s like — which is video essentially,” Musk said. “You’re thinking about the world in three dimensions and the fourth dimension being time. So that architectural change, which has been underway for some time but has not really been rolled out to anyone in the production fleet, is what really matters for Full Self-Driving.”

Musk believes the company will be able to roll out a 4D Autopilot system later this year, which will be capable of navigating through traffic lights, stop signs, turns, and changes in speed.

Autopilot is always improving. Once again, Tesla has proven that driving with the characteristic is safer than driving without it. Tesla’s goal with autonomy and driving is to create a safer driving environment on the road for everyone, including those who do not own the company’s electric cars. Increasing safety, however, can be done quickly and efficiently by purchasing one of the company’s vehicles.

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Tesla’s safety report is available below.

Accident Data

In the 2nd quarter, we registered one accident for every 4.53 million miles driven in which drivers had Autopilot engaged. For those driving without Autopilot but with our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 2.27 million miles driven. For those driving without Autopilot and without our active safety features, we registered one accident for every 1.56 million miles driven. By comparison, NHTSA’s most recent data shows that in the United States there is an automobile crash every 479,000 miles.

Joey has been a journalist covering electric mobility at TESLARATI since August 2019. In his spare time, Joey is playing golf, watching MMA, or cheering on any of his favorite sports teams, including the Baltimore Ravens and Orioles, Miami Heat, Washington Capitals, and Penn State Nittany Lions. You can get in touch with joey at joey@teslarati.com. He is also on X @KlenderJoey. If you're looking for great Tesla accessories, check out shop.teslarati.com

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Tesla Model X lost 400 pounds thanks to these changes

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Credit: Tesla

The Tesla Model X has always been one of the company’s most loved vehicles, despite its low sales figures, which can be attributed to its high price tag.

However, the Model X has been a signature item on Tesla’s menu of cars, most notably recognized by its Falcon Wing Doors, which are aware of its surroundings and open according to what’s around it.

But recent improvements to the Model X were looking slim to none, but it appears most of the fixes actually happened under the body, at least according to Tesla’s Vice President of Powertrain, Lars Moravy.

In a recent interview with Car and Driver, Moravy detailed all of the changes to the 2026 iteration of the vehicle, which was about 400 pounds lighter than it was originally. The biggest change is a modification with the rear motor, switching from an induction-type motor to a permanent-magnet design and optimizing the half-shafts, which shed about 100 pounds.

Tesla also got “almost 80 pounds out of the interior bits and pieces,” which “included making parts thinner, different manufacturing process choices, and incorporating airbag-deployment requirements into the headliner fabric,” the report said.

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Additionally, the standard five-passenger, bench seat configuration saved 50 pounds by ditching pedestal mounting. This also helped with practicality, as it helped the seat fold flat. Engineers at Tesla also saved 44 pounds from the high-voltage wiring through optimizing the wiring from the charge-port DC/DC converter and switching from copper to aluminum wiring.

Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X

Tesla also simplified the cooling system by reducing the number of radiators. It also incorporated Nürburgring cooling requirements for the Plaid variant, which saved nearly 30 pounds.

Many Tesla fans will be familiar with the megacastings, manufactured in-house by presses from IDRA, which also saves more than 20 pounds and boosts torsional stiffness by around 10 percent. Tweaks to the suspension also saved 10 pounds.

People were truly disappointed with what Tesla did with the Model S and Model X, arguing that the cars needed a more severe exterior overhaul, which might be true. However, Tesla really did a lot to reduce the weight of the vehicle, which helps increase range and efficiency. According to Grok, every 200 pounds removed adds between 7 and 15 percent to range estimations.

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This makes sense considering the range estimations both increased by 7 percent from the Model X’s 2025 configuration to the 2026 builds. Range increased on the All-Wheel-Drive trim from 329 miles to 352 miles, while the Plaid went from 314 miles to 335 miles.

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Tesla launches its new branded Supercharger for Business with first active station

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Credit: Tesla

Tesla has officially launched its first branded Supercharger just months after initiating a new program that allows third-party companies to brand their own charging piles.

The site opened in Land O’ Lakes, Florida, and features eight V4 Supercharging stalls offering up to 325 kW of charging speed. It appears it was purchased by a company called Suncoast Credit Union. This particular branch is located Northeast of Tampa, which is on the Gulf of Mexico.

It features graphics of Florida animals, like alligators:

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Tesla launched this program back in September, and it basically was a way to expand its Supercharger presence and also allow companies to pay for the infrastructure. Tesla maintains it. When it announced the “Supercharger for Business,” it said:

“Purchase and install Superchargers at your business. Superchargers are compatible with all electric vehicles, bringing EV drivers to your business by offering convenient, reliable charging.”

The program does a few things. Initially, it expands EV charging infrastructure and makes charging solutions more readily available for drivers. It can also attract people to those businesses specifically.

Tesla launches new Supercharger program that business owners will love

The chargers can also be branded with any logo that the business chooses, which makes them more personalized and also acts as an advertisement.

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The best part is that the customers do not have to maintain anything about the Supercharger. Tesla still takes care of it and resolves any issues:

“We treat your site like we treat our sites. By providing you with a full-service package that includes network operations, preventative maintenance, and driver support, we’re able to guarantee 97% uptime–the highest in the industry.”

It appears the Superchargers will also appear within the in-car nav during routing, so they’ll be publicly available to anyone who needs to use them. They are still available to all EVs that have worked with Tesla to utilize its infrastructure, and they are not restricted to people who are only visiting the business.

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Tesla reveals its Cybertruck light bar installation fix

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u/Kruzat, see page for license, via Wikimedia Commons

Tesla has revealed its Cybertruck light bar installation fix after a recall exposed a serious issue with the accessory.

Tesla and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) initiated a recall of 6,197 Cybertrucks back in October to resolve an issue with the Cybertruck light bar accessory. It was an issue with the adhesive that was provided by a Romanian company called Hella Romania S.R.L.

Tesla recalls 6,197 Cybertrucks for light bar adhesive issue

The issue was with the primer quality, as the recall report from the NHTSA had stated the light bar had “inadvertently attached to the windshield using the incorrect surface primer.”

Instead of trying to adhere the light bar to the Cybertruck with an adhesive, Tesla is now going to attach it with a bracketing system, which will physically mount it to the vehicle instead of relying on adhesive strips or glue.

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Tesla outlines this in its new Service Bulletin, labeled SB-25-90-001, (spotted by Not a Tesla App) where it shows the light bar will be remounted more securely:

The entire process will take a few hours, but it can be completed by the Mobile Service techs, so if you have a Cybertruck that needs a light bar adjustment, it can be done without taking the vehicle to the Service Center for repair.

However, the repair will only happen if there is no delamination or damage present; then Tesla could “retrofit the service-installed optional off-road light bar accessory with a positive mechanical attachment.”

The company said it would repair the light bar at no charge to customers. The light bar issue was one that did not result in any accidents or injuries, according to the NHTSA’s report.

This was the third recall on Cybertruck this year, as one was highlighted in March for exterior trim panels detaching during operation. Another had to do with front parking lights being too bright, which was fixed with an Over-the-Air update last month.

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