September 10, 2022 at 5:40 PM
A Tesla decoder has found a number of additional software flags in cars destined for crash testing, potentially bringing crash test results into question.
A Twitter user known for exclusively revealing upcoming Tesla features based on code deployed to vehicles in over-the-air updates claims the brand is modifying software within vehicles being supplied to crash testing bodies.
We recently wrote about the Tesla Model Y scoring almost perfect scores for crash testing by European crash testing body Euro NCAP. These results were then followed up with locally-adapted results published by Australian crash testing body ANCAP.
Tesla followed these results by stating the Model Y is the safest car ever tested by Euro NCAP under its new protocols.
Tesla just added ANCAP support in their code. This is in addition to already existing “I VISTA” (Chinese testing grounds), EuroNCAP and Korea NCAP
One wonders why do it (they also give testing houses one-off builds with the testing house in the name (with tweaked settings?) )
— green (@greentheonly) September 10, 2022
“As part of this assessment, Model Y received the highest Overall Score among any vehicle tested under Euro NCAP’s newest, most stringent test protocol,” the Tesla blog said.
“This was based on an evaluation of Model Y’s ability to protect adults, children and vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians, as well as its safety assistance features.”
Twitter user green has now cast doubt on the validity of the tests, claiming there are provisions within the code of the cars that attach crash body labels to vehicles depending on where they’re being tested.
“Tesla just added ANCAP support in their code. This is in addition to already existing “I VISTA” (Chinese testing grounds), EuroNCAP and Korea NCAP…”
“One wonders why do it (they also give testing houses one-off builds with the testing house in the name (with tweaked settings?) ),” said green.
Is Tesla modifying cars and software specifically for crash testing?
While green couldn’t confirm whether these labels modify any specific functions of the vehicle, the user did confirm Tesla has the ability to geofence certain features, such as FSD Beta for certain regions.
“…they do enable/disable other things based on car location (like disable FSDBeta in Vancouver downtown) so the capability is there,” said green.
We are seeking comment from Euro NCAP and ANCAP to better understand how cars are selected for crash testing and will update this story as more information comes to hand.
In theory there should be no reason cars selected for crash testing are specifically built, or have code flagged for crash testing, if they are meant to be representative of the vehicles being delivered to customers.
A Twitter user known for exclusively revealing upcoming Tesla features based on code deployed to vehicles in over-the-air updates claims the brand is modifying software within vehicles being supplied to crash testing bodies.
We recently wrote about the Tesla Model Y scoring almost perfect scores for crash testing by European crash testing body Euro NCAP. These results were then followed up with locally-adapted results published by Australian crash testing body ANCAP.
Tesla followed these results by stating the Model Y is the safest car ever tested by Euro NCAP under its new protocols.
Tesla just added ANCAP support in their code. This is in addition to already existing “I VISTA” (Chinese testing grounds), EuroNCAP and Korea NCAP
One wonders why do it (they also give testing houses one-off builds with the testing house in the name (with tweaked settings?) )
— green (@greentheonly) September 10, 2022
“As part of this assessment, Model Y received the highest Overall Score among any vehicle tested under Euro NCAP’s newest, most stringent test protocol,” the Tesla blog said.
“This was based on an evaluation of Model Y’s ability to protect adults, children and vulnerable road users like cyclists and pedestrians, as well as its safety assistance features.”
Twitter user green has now cast doubt on the validity of the tests, claiming there are provisions within the code of the cars that attach crash body labels to vehicles depending on where they’re being tested.
“Tesla just added ANCAP support in their code. This is in addition to already existing “I VISTA” (Chinese testing grounds), EuroNCAP and Korea NCAP…”
“One wonders why do it (they also give testing houses one-off builds with the testing house in the name (with tweaked settings?) ),” said green.
Is Tesla modifying cars and software specifically for crash testing?
While green couldn’t confirm whether these labels modify any specific functions of the vehicle, the user did confirm Tesla has the ability to geofence certain features, such as FSD Beta for certain regions.
“…they do enable/disable other things based on car location (like disable FSDBeta in Vancouver downtown) so the capability is there,” said green.
We are seeking comment from Euro NCAP and ANCAP to better understand how cars are selected for crash testing and will update this story as more information comes to hand.
In theory there should be no reason cars selected for crash testing are specifically built, or have code flagged for crash testing, if they are meant to be representative of the vehicles being delivered to customers.
