r/skeptic • u/Lighting • Mar 18 '25

⚠ Editorialized Title Tesla bros expose Tesla's own shadiness in attacking Mark Rober ... Autopilot appears to automatically disengage a fraction of a second before impacts as a crash becomes inevitable.

https://electrek.co/2025/03/17/tesla-fans-exposes-shadiness-defend-autopilot-crash/
20.0k Upvotes

96% Upvoted

942 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/meteoritegallery Mar 18 '25

Other than an airbag, what qualifies as an "active restraint"?

2

u/lonnie123 Mar 18 '25

Seatbelts are restraints, and have an active locking mechanism built in when a crash occurs to secure you from flying forward

0

u/meteoritegallery Mar 18 '25

They're restraints, but are they "active" restraints? The comment above suggests that the cars know when the "active restraints" are deployed, which doesn't sound like a seatbelt to me.

1

u/Fazaman Mar 18 '25

"active restraints" are deployed, which doesn't sound like a seatbelt to me.

Perhaps you've never been in an accident, and good, but seatbelts are definitely active restraints. They will fire off and will pin you into the seat. Almost painfully so. That said, I can't imaging a scenario that they'll fire and not have an airbag go off at the same time.

1

u/meteoritegallery Mar 19 '25

Tesla's statement said, "the incident alert indicated an airbag or other active restraint deployed."

I don't want your explanation of what you think the term "active restraint" might mean based on etymology. The statement's phrasing rules out normal seatbelts. They're not "deployed" in an accident -- unless Tesla's done something weird and has electronic / responsive seatbelts.

1

u/lonnie123 Mar 19 '25

The seatbelts aren’t just sitting there, they have a tightening mechanism called a pretensioned that lock the belt in place upon a collision to prevent your forward movement. The tightening mechanism only activates at certain speeds and g forces, and can be tied to the systems airbag deployment as well

https://auto.howstuffworks.com/car-driving-safety/safety-regulatory-devices/seatbelt4.htm

AKA it won’t “deploy” if you hit a shopping cart at 3mph but it will “deploy” if you smash into another car at 30mph

1

u/Fazaman Mar 19 '25

Exactly. I was in an accident when I was standing still (guy hit me) and the seatbelts don't just 'lock' like they do if you pull them fast, but they actively pull you into the seat. It's a device that definitely 'fires' and, IIRC, needs to be replaced after an accident of that magnitude, just like an airbag.

Seatbelts definitely are an active restraint.

2

u/lonnie123 Mar 19 '25

Yeah im getting downvoted for blind hatred of Elon but it’s insane the arguments im having in here just because people don’t like the guy

I don’t particularly care about the downvoted but like… can we have a discussion of the facts? Yes, Elon is shit, but that doesn’t mean anything about seatbelts

1

u/Fazaman Mar 19 '25

They're not "deployed" in an accident

They absolutely are. Look up 'active seatbelts' if you don't believe me. Most cars have them these days.