> Hampton Clay Gabler, a professor in the department of biomedical engineering and mechanics at Virginia Tech, [ ... ] described the vulnerability of pedestrians when struck by an SUV as a geometry problem of sorts because SUVs and pickups tend to be tall compared with pedestrians and have a blunter front end. That positioning is more likely to put someone’s head or chest in line to be struck during the initial impact with a vehicle. “(Not to diminish leg injuries but) serious head and chest injuries can actually kill you,” Gabler said in a telephone interview.
(It is probably true, though, that most vehicles this heavy are tall as well, so weight would still be correlated to how dangerous a vehicle is.)
Do they? Model X weighs 5600lbs, here - https://www.caranddriver.com/tesla/model-x - and that's bigger than any of the other, more popular, Teslas other than the Cybertruck.
Tesla 3 - up to 4065.
Tesla S - up to 4941.
Tesla X - up to 5531.
Tesla Y - up to 4416.
Chevy Bolt - 3563.
Leaf - up to 3853.
Mach-E - up to 4920.
ID.4 - up to 4848.
E-Tron - up to 5754.
BMW iX - up to 5659.
Taycan - up to 5121
Kona EV - up to 3715.
I like how you just excluded all the comparable EVs. Here they are for completeness, most coming close to or topping out the standard 7k where they will post "No Trucks" signs.
Ford Lightning - 6,893
Hummer EV - 9,063
Rivian R1T - 7,148
Lordstown Endurance - 6,450
Chevrolet Silverado EV - 8,532
RAM 1500 REV - est. 7,500
Alpha Wolf - 7,088
"No truck" signs are for semi trucks, not pickup trucks. These semis (just the truck, no trailer) weigh 2-3x more than an average pickup truck/Cybertruck and 3-5x more than an average EV.
This is not true - there are other factors at play. The angle of the bumper and where the bumper comes into contact with a human matters a lot - if it is below the human's center of mass, they are much less likely to be thrown under the vehicle and run over.
From https://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/2018/06/28/suvs-killi... :
> Hampton Clay Gabler, a professor in the department of biomedical engineering and mechanics at Virginia Tech, [ ... ] described the vulnerability of pedestrians when struck by an SUV as a geometry problem of sorts because SUVs and pickups tend to be tall compared with pedestrians and have a blunter front end. That positioning is more likely to put someone’s head or chest in line to be struck during the initial impact with a vehicle. “(Not to diminish leg injuries but) serious head and chest injuries can actually kill you,” Gabler said in a telephone interview.
(It is probably true, though, that most vehicles this heavy are tall as well, so weight would still be correlated to how dangerous a vehicle is.)