Safety, Driver Assistance, and Warranty
Safety, Driver Assistance, and Warranty Rating:
Although the Model S has sparked a nationwide conversation about the safety of partially autonomous vehicles and has been reported to catch fire after certain types of high-speed impacts, its safety credibility is buoyed by decent crash-test results from the IIHS and the knowledge that car fires aren't uncommon, both in electric- and gasoline-powered vehicles.
Crash-Test Results
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the nonprofit, independent Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) evaluate vehicles for crashworthiness in the United States. NHTSA assigns cars an overall rating out of five stars. IIHS uses a different set of tests, grades cars on a scale of Good to Poor, and awards the vehicles that perform best across its tests with Top Safety Pick or Top Safety Pick+ honors, the latter of which requires that the subject's automated forward-collision-braking system performs well.
Read more about how NHTSA and the IIHS crash-test cars.
Although it hasn't yet been put through the IIHS's new passenger-side small-overlap test, the rest of the Model S's crash-test results are adequate.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Test Results
2018 Tesla Model S
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) Test Results
2017 Tesla Model S
Airbags, Child Seats, and Spare Tire Location
The rear seat of the Tesla Model S is spacious enough to easily accommodate a rear-facing infant carrier. Installing the base takes a little bit of patience, though, as the LATCH anchors are buried in the seat fabric.
Active-Safety Features
Forward-collision warning, automated emergency braking, lane-departure warning, and blind-spot monitoring are standard across the Model S lineup. More advanced features accompany Tesla's optional Enhanced Autopilot partially autonomous driving mode, including lane-keeping assist and adaptive cruise control.
Warranty and Maintenance Coverage
Tesla offers a comprehensive warranty package to protect the Model S's powertrain and hybrid components but lacks the lengthy bumper-to-bumper and complimentary scheduled maintenance packages of the Jaguar I-Pace.
Read more on what you need to know about warranties.
Warranty Comparison
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