[nitrogen]

Driving over something at highway cruising speed doesn't seem all that major to me.

It's major enough that, as other commenters have noted, it would rip apart the undercarriage of any smaller car, and possibly enter the cabin through the floor.

[001sky]

This is wholly speculative. Floor pans are typically flexible steel. They are not puncture prone. As they are capable of deformatin (absorbs energy). The TSLA has 6mm armor plate, which is stiff and while strong is not tough. It is thus probably not good at disapating energy, so it takes the full brunt. You don't build a bumper out of 6mm armour plate. That being said, maybe TSLA just needs a V-hull to dissipate the force (by deflection, rather than absorbtion). That's how they made the military humvee more impact (blast) resistant, while keeping its armour in tact.

[Havoc]

>maybe TSLA just needs a V-hull to dissipate the force (by deflection, rather than absorbtion).

Vhulls are only useful for upwards blasts...short of IEDs showing up in California the concept is useless for a sportcar. Also...humvee doesn't have a vhull - prototypes aside. You're likely thinking of either the MRAP or some buffalo derivative.

[001sky]

Obviously not a "deep v" shape nor something blast resistant, perhaps but some form of deflective geometry might be helpful under the car. It does seem the force ultimately is going ^up^ as opposed to >in< . . .

[Havoc]

It might help in a couple of fringe cases like debris hits. You'd murder the aerodynamics though.

Pretty much every other area will suffer too - handling, aesthetics, fuel efficiency, manufacturing complexity, battery replacement etc.

Its just a horrible trade-off.

[threeseed]

It would absolutely rip the undercarriage of a small or large car.

But so what ? It would never start a fire.

[zobzu]

Never say never. Those things are random. It 100% depends where the object hits. Being the Tesla or any other car. There IS a fuel line. There ARE electronic wires. in any car. And all going underneath the car.

I've personally seen more than 1 regular gasoline car catch fire for various reasons.

[pwnna]

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