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Tesla misses insurance firm’s ‘Safest Cars’ list because its EVs don’t crash often enough

(Photo: Euro NCAP)

Published

6 years ago

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Teslas are among the safest cars on the road, and part of this is due to their suite of active and passive safety features. From Autopilot’s capabilities to standard features like Automatic Emergency Braking, Tesla’s electric cars are designed to avoid accidents, or protect its occupants in the event that a crash is unavoidable. 

Yet, despite the company’s reputation for making extremely safe vehicles, Tesla was strangely missing from a Swedish insurance firm’s recently-released list of safest cars for 2019. The reason behind this is both parts impressive and ironic at the same time. 

Every year, Swedish insurance company Folksam releases the results of its annual study on the country’s safest cars, a list that was dominated this year by the Toyota Rav4. To determine which vehicles make the cut, Folksam stated that it must be able to analyze actual crash data from an ample number of collisions. 

This proved problematic for Tesla’s electric cars, as the company’s vehicles simply did not crash often enough for Folksam to get enough data. This year, for example, the insurance company only recorded seven accidents from Tesla’s vehicles, which is simply too few. Anders Kullgren, Folksam’s head of research, explained to news agency NyTeknik that Tesla’s absence in the company’s safest vehicles list is due to statistics. 

“We saw seven accidents with Tesla in this year’s material and that is far too little. They have very many safety systems and high security, which means that they may never be included in our lists if the cars’ (number of accidents) is too small,” he said (translated from Swedish to English using Google Translate). 

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Elaborating further, the Folksam head of research explained that its safest cars list is published primarily for car buyers looking to purchase used vehicles. When asked by an electric car enthusiast on Twitter why vehicles in its safest cars list require an ample number of real accidents to qualify for the firm’s rankings, Folksam responded that it actually acknowledges Tesla, which it lists as one of its recommended new cars. 

Teslas are among the safest vehicles on the road today. The electric car maker’s Q2 2019 vehicle safety report showed one accident for every 3.27 million miles driven with Autopilot engaged. Vehicles without Autopilot but have Tesla’s active safety features engaged recorded one accident for every 2.19 million miles driven, and cars operating without Autopilot and active safety features enabled recorded one accident every 1.41 million miles. In comparison, the NHTSA recorded one accident for every 498,000 miles driven. 

The Model 3, Tesla’s more affordable vehicle yet, has also set records with its safety features. After garnering a perfect 5-star safety rating from the NHTSA, the electric sedan also granted a perfect score by the Euro NCAP in all four of its tests’ categories. Matthew Avery, head of research at Thatcham Research, which conducts the crash tests with the Euro NCAP, stated that Tesla’s emphasis on safety was evident in the Model 3’s design and features.

“Tesla has done a great job of playing the structural benefits of an electric vehicle to its advantage. The Tesla Model 3 achieved one of the highest Safety Assist scores we have seen to date,” he said.

H/T @Dagispappan.

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Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

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Investor's Corner

Tesla analyst says this common earnings narrative is losing importance

“Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy.”

Published

11 hours ago

on

October 21, 2025

By

(Credit: Tesla)

A Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA) analyst is doubling down on the idea that one common earnings narrative is losing importance as the company continues to work toward new technologies and projects.

This week, Tesla will report earnings for the third quarter, and one thing people always pay attention to is deliveries. Although Tesla reveals its deliveries for the quarter well before it reports earnings, many investors will look for commentary regarding the company’s strategy for responding to the loss of the $7,500 tax credit.

Tesla has made a few moves already, including a lease deal that takes a substantial amount of money off, launching new Standard models, and cutting up to 23 percent off of lease pricing.

Tesla makes crazy move to spur short-term demand in the U.S.

However, analysts are looking at the company in a different light.

Aligning with the narrative that Tesla is not just a car company and has many different projects, Gene Munster of Deepwater Asset Management believes many investors need to look at another part of the business.

Munster said the delivery figures for Q3, which landed at 497,099, the highest in company history, were padded by customers rushing to showrooms to take advantage of the expiring tax credit.

He believes that deliveries will be more realistic in subsequent quarters, but investors should not worry because the focus on Tesla is not going to be on how many cars it hands over to customers:

“Numbers are going down next year, but that’s ok because it’s all about autonomy.”

Tesla has been working nonstop to roll out a dedicated Robotaxi platform in various cities across the United States, and has already launched in two states: Texas and California.

It has also received regulatory approvals to test driverless Robotaxis in Arizona and Nevada, while seeking permissions in Florida and other states, according to the company’s online job postings.

Munster continued:

“Most people are hyper-focused on the Robotaxi opportunity and not focused as much on FSD.”

While Robotaxi is incredibly important, Tesla’s Full Self-Driving (Supervised) suite is also extremely crucial moving forward, as it sets the stage for the company to roll out a formidable self-driving service.

Tesla rolled out its newest FSD software to more owners last night, and as it expands, the company is gaining valuable data to refine its performance.

Earnings will be reported tomorrow at market close.

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Tesla rolled out a new feature with FSD v14 to fix a major complaint

One of the most crucial cameras for FSD operation is located at the top of the windshield, and some owners have complained about condensation or other debris accumulating here, which impacts FSD’s availability during drives.

Published

12 hours ago

on

October 21, 2025

By

Credit: The Kilowatts | X

Tesla rolled out a new feature with Full Self-Driving (Supervised) v14.1.3 in an effort to fix a major complaint from owners.

Tesla’s approach to self-driving is significantly different than other companies as it only relies on cameras for operation. Tesla Vision was launched several years ago and completely axed any reliance the suite had on sensors, as CEO Elon Musk’s strategy was unorthodox and went against the grain.

However, it has proven to be effective, as Tesla still operates the most refined semi-autonomous driving suite in the United States.

There are some drawbacks, though, and one of them has to do with the obvious: cameras get dirty and need to be cleaned somewhat regularly.

One of the most crucial cameras for FSD operation is located at the top of the windshield, and some owners have complained about condensation or other debris accumulating here, which impacts FSD’s availability during drives:

Tesla has been working to confront this issue, and in classic fashion, it used a software update to work on resolving it.

With the rollout of Full Self-Driving v14.1.3 and Software Version 2025.32.8.15, Tesla added a new feature that aims to clean the front camera efficiently without relying on the owner to do it manually.

Tesla Full Self-Driving’s new version officially gets a wider rollout

In its release notes for the suite, it said:

“Added automatic narrow field washing to provide rapid and efficient front camera self-cleaning, and optimize aerodynamics wash at higher vehicle speed.”

If the camera starts to have some issues with visibility, the car will automatically clean the front windshield camera to avoid any issues:

This new addition is a small but mighty change considering all things. It is a necessary process to keep things operational and avoid any disruptions in FSD performance. It is also a testament to how much better Tesla vehicles can get with a simple software update.

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Tesla Full Self-Driving’s new version officially gets a wider rollout

So far, v14 has introduced a handful of new features and improvements, but the first versions needed refinement before Tesla made an effort to expand the population. It had issues with a brake stutter, but this has been mostly resolved.

Published

14 hours ago

on

October 21, 2025

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Credit: Tesla Europe and Middle East | X

Tesla’s newest Full Self-Driving version is officially rolling out wider to customers outside of the Early Access Program (EAP), in preparation for a total launch of the new v14 suite.

Over the past several weeks, Tesla has been working to refine its new v14 Full Self-Driving (Supervised) in an effort to have it ready for the entire fleet of vehicles in the United States. We are lucky enough to be in the EAP, so we’ve been able to test new features and rollouts first-hand.

So far, v14 has introduced a handful of new features and improvements, but the first versions needed refinement before Tesla made an effort to expand the population. It had issues with a brake stutter, but this has been mostly resolved.

Additionally, the rollout of the new Mad Max Speed Profile has gathered some attention.

Now that Tesla has started rolling out v14.1.3 yesterday to EAP members, the company ultimately decided that it was time to expand the software to more vehicles, as many owners are reporting that they’re receiving it:

Additionally, the suite has started to expand to Model S and Model X vehicles, so this rollout is not exclusive to Model 3 and Model Y:

The only issue with this rollout is that it still appears to be missing the Cybertruck, which Tesla was transparent about earlier this month. Although the company planned to release v14 to Cybertrucks by the end of the month, there has been no hint that this is going to happen.

This is already the third iteration of v14 in the past two weeks, indicating that Tesla is truly addressing the shortcomings of past versions and rolling out updates as quickly as possible.

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