Tesla’s vehicles have been acing the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) crash tests for years, and the Model Y is now the latest to join those ranks, with the midsize SUV scoring five stars in every category that the group tests for crash safety.
NHTSA grades cars on a variety of crash test metrics, including frontal crashes (with subcategories for both the driver and passenger seats), side crashes (for crashes into both a barrier and a pole), and rollover scenarios. The Model Y scores five-star results across the board — although, as with the NHTSA’s previous tests, these results are only for regular, human-piloted scenarios, not Tesla’s self-driving Autopilot mode.
Of course, pictures and star ratings are all well and good, but if you’re more of a visual learner, you can enjoy the video footage of the Tesla SUV smashing into things in soothing slow motion.
The new results mean that the Model Y joins the Model 3, Model X SUV, and Model S in perfect crash test scores. (The Model S was originally granted a 5.4-star rating, before the NHTSA revised its guidelines to get rid of “impossible” scores.)
