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Let me cut to the chase and then rewind for the plot: contrary to some erroneous reports, the Tesla Roadster does indeed have driver and passenger airbags.
Rewind: a while back I was talking with the web team about a desire to have a special blog created alongside these that would be reserved for us being able to comment on news items or articles that were inaccurate or misleading. The main thing that I was trying to address was the fact that with all of the coverage about Tesla, there is a lot of misinformation as well. Most of it is benign things – little facts that are wrong – but part of the difficulty is that on the web, things stick around forever and people link to articles, thus perpetuating errors ad infinitum.
If at this point it sounds like I am whining, then your reaction is the same as the web team. In fact, they started calling the project the “whiner’s blog.” Fair enough, but trying to follow up on every blog article or online post to correct facts is like a game of Whac-a-mole. It is certainly a daunting challenge with the small team we have. So you have to pick your battles. One new way we are going to try to correct articles or comment on them will be through the Tesla Twitter page. You can follow us there and get quick updates on all kinds of things that are interesting in addition to corrections and comments on articles.
But sometimes the errors are serious enough that they require special attention. Such was the case with the rumors around the battery issues, so I wrote the cleverly titled blog post “Battery Rumors Untrue.” Not a lot of humor in that one.
More recently, there was a lot of press around a waiver that Tesla Motors received for the advanced airbag requirement of the FMVSS standards.
To be clear, the Tesla Roadster has driver and passenger airbags that meet all passenger safety requirements with one exception: the front passenger airbag does not vary its deployment based on the weight of the passenger. For the sake of comparison, the same is true for the Ferrari F430 currently for sale and many other cars as well.
The waiver system was put in place to prevent small volume production car companies to be overwhelmed by small but very expensive requirements. Lotus, Ferrari, Bugatti, Lamborghini and other small manufacturers have received this same waiver. The grant of the waiver was not specific to the fact that the Tesla is an electric vehicle, but only because we are a low volume manufacturer.
I think the unusual amount of press related to the grant of this waiver is due to the high level of public interest in the company and the car, and the high degree of transparency around the car’s development. If you google “Ferrari F430 airbag waiver” you find 2 or 3 articles related to the granting of the waiver for Ferrari. If you google “Tesla Roadster airbag waiver” you had better kick back with a large bag of popcorn and settle in for some reading. I quit counting after 50 articles.
One of the articles you will find is the original culprit – an AP article by Ken Roberts entitled “Tesla Sports Car Gets Air Bag Waiver.” It’s pretty easy to see how people could be misled by that title. It’s too bad so many folks on the “Lazysphere” don’t bother to research it before they post it. Of all the articles written – exactly one reporter, Bernadine Williams, from the Automotive News, bothered to call Tesla to clarify before writing their article. Thanks Bernadine! The Automotive News requires a subscription but you can find a bootlegged copy of the article here.
So if anyone tells you they heard the Tesla doesn’t have airbags, send them right to this blog…the next installment of “Mythbusters” will address the myth that the Tesla Roadster is an electrified Lotus Elise. I’d be happy to entertain other topics for this series from the commenters.
The “lazysphere” was quoting the AP, which had a correct but very ambiguously worded article.
Does tesla tend to answer/respond to bloggers asking for verification?
Maybe you might consider making your company a little more press-friendly if you want the press to get it right. Happy to delve further; you have my email, please feel free to follow up!.
Ryan - I’m not sure how we could be any more press friendly. We are pretty much an open book. I think the fairest criticism could be that we aren’t always responsive but that is because we have a small team and are often inundated with incoming requests. - Darryl
Red - yes, we do respond to bloggers asking for verification, and appreciate it when they do call or email before going with a story.
The problem isn’t that you guys don’t respond, the problem is that you don’t do outreach and you don’t have any easy means of letting press get in touch. Would love to discuss further via email.
Its great that T is so transparent
Glad you busted these erroneous reports 
The silly criticisms of the Tesla automobile are a bit like the opposition accusing Obama of being a Muslim. It doesn’t matter whether you like or hate Obama…you have to concede that he is a serious threat to the other candidates. The mere SUGGESTION of his possible Islamic leanings, no matter how untrue, will still tarnish his image with some, and could cost him votes.
Whether you’re a US presidential candidate or the Marketing Manager of the most important new automotive venture in 50 years, you’ve gotta keep your eye on the ball. Any threat to the status quo is going to scare some people, make some people uncomfortable, and excite and motivate many others.
It is evident that no new vehicle could be offered to the people of this great (and highly regulated) country, without air bags. It is equally true that no new vehicle HAS EVER been offered to those same Americans, which does everything the Tesla does, and which IS all that the Tesla IS!
Rock on, Darryl!!!
Its the new reality, in the “transparent” world of automotive blogging everyone is an expert, everyone has an opinion, everyone is looking for an audience and to grasp attention.
There will always be someone who is seeking an “advantage” for whatever agenda they might have, and whatever outcome they might be seeking. Its captivating to see both the positive and negative aspects of social media as it relates to the automotive business.
Once Tesla delivers more Roadsters, opens its dealership, it will diminish the conjecture, and increase the focus on pragmatic facts.
## Ryan Block wrote
## The problem isn’t that you guys don’t respond, the problem is that you don’t do outreach
## and you don’t have any easy means of letting press get in touch. Would love to discuss further via email.
What do you want? Private audience? Dinner and a show? There have been auto-show appearances and magazine articles plus these guys have been blogging as often as they can for over eighteen months now.
It’s all on this website. Good. Bad. Ugly. This is the outreach. Whatever your question, someone will have asked it / discussed it before. Do the “Find on this Page” thing.
Alternatively, please feel free to post your questions here. Okay, so the replies will be from Tesla fans rather than (somewhat busy) company staff. In which case, read through some of the other replies they have posted on earlier blogs to check if they seem to be reliable contributors.
If you want more possible myths I would go with the green impact myths.
1. The Roadster just moves the pollution to the powerplant (always strange why when I run my AC from a coal plant I never pollute
2. Batteries are expensive and full of toxic materials
3. etc.
Sindre aka Cobos
I, for one, would like to see a regular “mythbusters” blog. You might call it “Truth Squad,” as a way of alerting blog readers that there are untruths out there, and motivating committed fans to spread the truth. I like the “Whack-a-mole” mental image, by the way. You should go to the Boardwalk or some other carnival and get your official blog photo taken while you are playing “Whack-a-mole.” (I think at the Beach Boardwalk, we have “Wacky Gator” and something else, possibly featuring clattering crabs.
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Great post Darryl Siry. Thanks.
This “Mythbusters” series is completely necessary. I’ve been following Tesla Motors news for over 2 years and became a huge fan of both the company and the car because of it. I catch myself having to clarify a lot of this mis-information to friends and people that barely know about the car.
I think out of all the myths/rumors floating around the “Elise” myth is probably the greatest. Just because a few “generic” components are shared, does not mean it’s “based on”, or “the same” car as an Elise. Heck, the Lamborghini Gallardo uses Audi Switchgear, an Audi steering wheel, and tons of other misc. components. I don’t hear anybody calling the Gallardo a “modified Audi”.
I can’t wait for you to keep posting this “Mythbusters” series. Then I can just link people to this page.
Keep up the great work guys. The group of people involved with Tesla motors is probably the most exiting thing that happened to the automobile industry in decades!
Max, I’m as big a fan as you’ll find of the Tesla Roadster…I only wish I could afford one! But to say it isn’t ‘based on’ the Elise is just denying the obvious. It isn’t an electric Elise, but you have to understand that to most people that is quite a convenient shorthand way to refer to it. For those of us who are really interested, all of the information about the real differences between the Roadster and an Elise are detailed in blogs here. There isn’t a blog here that I haven’t read in all its detail. For people who are just casually discussing the car, a quick way of explaining what it is is to say that it’s ‘kind of’ an electric Elise. It may irritate the hell out of Martin Eberhard and Darryl and all those good ol’ Teslans who know exactly the effort that went in to make sure the car had all the many changes that were necessary. But at the end of the day it was ‘based on’ an Elise. They took that car and made a large number of changes so that it became another car, which is the Tesla Roadster, but that’s exactly what you do when you ‘base’ something on something else. There’s just no sense in getting irritated about it….people are going to talk about it that way for ever and you can’t stop them. Lotus itself has a number of cars all of which are ‘based on’ the Elise.
There’s the Europa, the Exige and a whole bunch of other cars….all ‘based on’ the Elise. The Lamborghini has some Audi components but its body and interior are completely unique and very different from any Audi and I believe the chassis is completely unique and unlike any Audi. That wouldn’t be true of Tesla and Lotus even if no individual panel is identical. The new Mini, made by BMW now has a mark two version where no two panels are identical but everybody recognises that it’s still a Mini and one car is clearly ‘based on’ the other, so much so that most people can’t tell the difference at a glance.
I just finished a draft of the next Mythbusters blog addressing this issue. I look forward to your comments! - Darryl
Just to be a bit facetious: one can say that the Ford Mustang is “based on” the Model T.
Andrew, I can kind of see your point, but this shorthand is what “hurts” the Tesla Brand. (I for one don’t see anyhing wrong with basing a product of Lotus’ ideals of “Simplicate, and add lightness.”) The problem is that everyone equates that to a kitcar.
At the same token, nobody ever says that the DeLorean DMC-12 was based on a Lotus Esprit. Yet in that regard it’s quite similar.
Cool to see more “mythbusters” explaining this in detail though.
Darryl, as your most famous customer would say “I’ll be back!”
I’m so intrigued by your blog, Darryl. Perhaps even more by the product you represent. Thanks for helping to clear the air on the untruths. I, for one, would definitely read the whiner’s blog!
When will the price come down to Mr. Average price, maybe half what your asking now? I would dearly love to trade in my Mazda RX8 for one.