First responders call it a miracle that occupants inside a Tesla Model Y survived a horrific crash.
NBC News
First responders frequently go to Devil's Slide, 20 miles south of San Francisco on Highway 1. It's a scenic but treacherous drive, with the road just a few feet from an edge and a 250-foot drop to the rocky beach below. Unfortunately, fire and ambulance crews were again called to the area on Monday, January 2. But this time it was different.
Brian Pottenger, battalion chief with Cal Fire's Coastside Fire Protection District, said, "We go there all the time for cars over the cliff, and they never live. This was an absolute miracle." He stated, "the damage to the vehicle would indicate that it hit, and then flipped several times," and that is why crews were shocked when they spotted movement inside the wreckage.
Safest Vehicle in the World
The fire department tweeted some horrific images from the scene. But you can make out that the wreckage is a white Tesla Model Y, one of the safest vehicles in the world. Incredibly, all four people inside the Model Y, two adults and two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 7-year-old girl survived. The children were unharmed, and the adults suffered non-life-threatening injuries. Sadly, the police have determined the crash was intentional and have arrested the driver, Dharmesh A. Patel, on suspicion of attempted murder and child abuse.
Tesla's mission is to "accelerate the advent of sustainable transport vehicles," but it prioritizes safety in its design. The website states: Tesla vehicles are engineered to be the safest in the world. Each one combines powerful onboard technology with an all-electric design to help protect every driver, passenger, and pedestrian on the road.
Commitment to Safety Continues
That's not just rhetoric, as proven in this horrible crash. The Model S, 3, X and Y have received five out of five stars on every test run by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including rollover protection. They have also been scored with the lowest overall probability of injury of any vehicle ever tested by the U.S. government's New Car Assessment Program. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has numerous times given Teslas the top safety pick. Most recently, calling the Model 3 the Top Safety Pick of 2022.
Tesla hasn't stopped there. Last year it introduced a Seat Belt System Enhancement. The enhanced onboard camera system detects when a crash is imminent and applies tension to the seatbelt. Regrettably, the seatbelt system hasn't been improved for decades. It only tightens the belt once the vehicle has made an impact.
Tesla's commitment to safety clearly played a significant factor in saving those four lives and has undoubtedly saved thousands of other people from injury and death.
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For the first time in a while, Tesla’s executives have started mentioning and hyping FSD V13 again. We previously reported on Elon Musk confirming V13 was around the corner, but this time more members of Tesla’s AI team have taken to X to talk about V13.
Starting a Fire…
Ashok Elluswamy started it all, and then Elon hopped in with a rocketship emoji.
Shortly after, other members of Tesla’s AI team started posting about V13 on their own accounts, and it really seems like it's starting to come together.
And that little fire has kept going, with more members of the team chiming in shortly thereafter. And there’s a lot more than that too. We’ve just captured a few of the reactions - and this is the first time we’ve seen so much positivity around an FSD release amongst so many Tesla employees.
With all the chatter around V13, it sounds as if it had or is about to have a limited employee release. We may even see it released to early-access testers with AI4 vehicles sometime next week. In fact, Ashok Elluswamy mentioned that engineers were even working on it Thanksgiving morning before taking time off to spend with their families.
Chuck Cook also recently caught a Cybertruck on his famous unprotected left turn near his house. The truck was likely testing a new version of FSD on the ADAS test vehicles before it was pushed out wider.
The @Cybertruck ADAS Operator is out validating a future version of FSD Supervised today. I haven't seen any other vehicle types out and about. Maybe we will be getting our new horn with a fresh version of FSD! @Tesla_AIpic.twitter.com/XgiT9u77jJ
Tesla’s usual modus operandi for rolling out updates is to its internal ADAS testers first - and when it passes their rigorous safety testing, it's off to a wider set of employees before being given to early access testers. If all testing continues to go well, Tesla then begins small deployments to other Tesla owners.
That said, we’re hoping to see FSD V13 launch widely in time for the holidays—after all, what’s better than a holiday road trip with a new version of FSD?
If you own or are considering a new Model 3 or a 2021+ Model S/X and prefer stalks over buttons, we’ve got something exciting to share with you.
Enhance Auto (Enhauto), of S3XY Buttons and S3XY Knob fame, gave us a preview of their upcoming product, the S3XY Stalks. While Tesla’s new stalk-less design is great for most — they’re not for everyone. That’s exactly where Enhance Auto’s new product comes in. They give owners the ability to add stalks back to their vehicles.
S3XY Stalks
The Enhauto Stalks bring back the turn signal stalks for the new Model 3 and redesigned S/X with full functionality. They’re wireless and communicate via Bluetooth LE to the Enhauto Commander. They’re powered by batteries, which means that they're super easy to install—which we’ll get into later. Because they communicate with the Commander, they’re also very customizable.
The stalks are configurable in the S3XY app, and you get multiple configuration sets—one set while the vehicle is driving and another while in park. With a tap of the lever, you can assign just about any command to the stalks, from turn signals to enabling Autopilot.
You’ll be able to set 17 actions per stalk, with actions assignable to things like a single tap, double tap, or even long press - as well as partially pushing down the stalk. It’s a ton of customizability, and for literally anything you can imagine - you could precondition your car with a double tap of the button on the end of the stalk, for example.
Not a Tesla App
You can customize it as much or as little as you want. For example, you can customize it so that the left stalk turns on the turn signals when you push it up/down, and the button activates the wipers. Similarly, you can have the right stalk activate Autopilot and shift gears. However, there’s so much more you can do. You can have a double press of a button activate your heated seats or adjust your climate temperature. The options you choose and how much you customize them are completely up to you.
Installation
The Bluetooth S3XY Stalk
Not a Tesla App
The installation procedure is super simple, especially if you’ve already got S3XY Buttons or a S3XY Knob. Simply power them on, peel off the 3M tape protector, and place them on the steering control column where you’d normally have your stalks.
This means that you don’t have to disassemble the steering wheel and remove the airbag inside. Removing the airbag is dangerous and, depending on your regional regulations, can potentially void your warranty.
If you don’t have the buttons or the knob, don’t panic - installing the Commander only takes a few minutes, and then you can set it up in the S3XY app.
Enhauto's website has instructions broken down by Tesla model and more detailed instructions based on model year to ensure you get the right fit.
Check out Enhauto’s launch video here:
How It Works
The stalks are battery-powered and wireless, removing any need for wires to the vehicle or to the main unit. They connect via Bluetooth to the Commander, the brains of the whole system, which communicates directly with the vehicle through the car’s OBD2 port. The Commander is the same unit that powers other Enhauto accessories such as the S3XY Buttons and Knob.
So the wireless stalks communicate with the Commander over Bluetooth and the Commander is directly connected to your vehicle to send commands like turning on your turn signals.
Who Is It For?
This product is perfect for people who love the idea of getting into a new Tesla or even getting their first one but are put off without having stalks to control turn signals or shifting. Plenty of people have built driving habits over decades, and suddenly having to re-learn how to operate an entirely different vehicle can be difficult.
The S3XY Stalks help bridge this gap and let anyone drive a new Model 3, Model S, or Model X without a major learning curve.
How Do I Buy It?
Pre-orders begin on Enhauto’s website today, and there’s an early bird special of 20% off - which will continue until December 20th. Use our code “NATA”, which helps support our site and receive an additional 10% discount.
If you order during the early bird special, deliveries will begin in late February - if you order after the 20th, you’ll see an April delivery window.
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