If you can handle watching a Tesla Model X getting ripped apart, Brock Archer and Advanced Extrication have an interesting video for you to better understand the Model X’s unique structure and its Falcon Wing doors.
In the past, we discussed some of the challenges first responders face with electric vehicles because of their high voltage components, but Tesla’s Model X offers different challenges that have nothing to do with it being an EV.
Its Falcon Wing doors extending all the way to the roof require ingenious reinforcement techniques to secure the passenger compartment in case of an impact.
In a first responder training video featuring the Model X, Brock Archer is joined by Denver Fire Dept. Assistant Chief, Randall Wells, to discuss how to access the passenger compartment through the Falcon Wing doors and by removing the sidewalls.
Archer explains how the Model X’s structure, while great for safety, could offer a challenge to rescuers:
“In the Tesla Model X, we have dual phase 980 boron steel (high strength steel) in the B pillar of the vehicle. It runs from the roof rail to just below the striker. We also have boron steel in the roof rail from the B pillar to about the A pillar. If we are going to be using hydraulic rescue tools to do a total sidewall removal or roof removal, we want to be aware of this steel because if we have trouble overcoming it with our power rescue tools, we want to use workaround techniques.”
Advanced Extrication developed special techniques especially for the Model X.
You can watch the video in full here, but the sidewall/Falcon Wing door removal starts at 14:30:
The Model X is expected to achieve the best safety rating of any SUV ever tested: Tesla “couldn’t flip” the Model X in internal crash tests: a look at the Model X’s safety features
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments