According to a report published by our friends at Teslarati, Tesla is working to make the Model Y in China even safer with an additional airbag. Tesla is known for emphasizing its vehicles' safety, so this comes as no surprise.
The Tesla Model Y is already among the safest SUVs on the market today thanks to earning five stars in NHTSA's rollover evaluation, which is uncommon for an SUV. The Model Y is also an IIHS Top Safety Pick+ award winner.
At any rate, Tesla China recently announced that the China-made Model Y crossover will get a new airbag to make it even safer. The announcement came from the China-based blogging site Weibo, where Tesla posted an official video. Teslarati's Simon Alvarez shared the Weibo video on his YouTube channel to accompany the news.
Tesla's Weibo announcement essentially explains that the new airbag going into Model Y SUVs manufactured at Giga Shanghai would help with "all-around safety." Teslarati explains that the new airbag is a "far-side" airbag that now comes standard in addition to the Model Y's current suite of airbags. According to the publication, Tesla shared:
“Design with safety first! Tesla China’s intelligently-made Model Y has been equipped with “remote airbags” as standard equipment to protect your travel safety in an all-around way. #Tesla# uses intelligent safety to protect every consumer, and the safety gene is always the same #ThisisTesla#."
The official Tesla video (above) reveals the far-side airbag that's mounted to the back of the Model Y driver's seat. It's designed to keep front-seat personal contact injuries to a minimum during side-impact crashes.
Teslarati mentions that Euro NCAP added "far-side occupant safety" as part of its crash-test criteria. The organization's research shows that 25 percent of crash injuries come from side collisions.
Tesla recently upgraded its Model Y production line in China, and adding the new airbag could have been at least one of the reasons for the upgrade. We'll have to wait and see if the China-made Model 3 gets the new airbag, as well as whether or not it ends up being put into Tesla's vehicles in markets outside of China.
