The sixteenth verse of the Analects of Ji Shi, "Do not suffer from widowhood but from inequality." Uneven distribution and unfair treatment often cause the greatest outrage and undermine social harmony. Recently, reports about domestic Tesla's differential treatment of Chinese users have once again pushed this brand with its own traffic to the cusp of the storm.
Chinese car owners "don't deserve" to be protected by knee airbags?
Recently, netizens have reported that after opening the part where the knee airbag is installed in the main passenger seat of their domestic Tesla Model 3, they found nothing for half a day, and the original car was not equipped with knee airbags. But before that, he deliberately consulted a lot of information and found that the Model 3 in foreign countries was equipped with knee air bags.
What makes the owner feel even more unhappy is that when consulting Tesla customer service on why there is no knee airbag, the staff actually said that this does not affect the safety of the whole vehicle, and the knee airbag has a low effect on the safety protection of the whole vehicle when an accident occurs, so the domestic Tesla is not equipped with knee airbags.
After the media reported on this matter, it triggered a heated discussion among netizens, and some netizens said that there were so many things before and after, Tesla was not safe; and some netizens said that the safety problem was put aside first, and the key was why should Chinese and foreign consumers be treated differently? Should the safety of Chinese consumers be ignored? ......
Indeed, if, as Tesla customer service said, knee airbags do not make much sense, then why should foreign versions be equipped?
After all, the importance of airbags is almost well known to all, as the most important component of passive safety, whether it is head airbags, seat airbags, side airbags or knee airbags, in the event of a vehicle collision, it can directly and minimize the injury to the occupants of the vehicle.
Of course, the more airbags, the better, but they also involve a lot of costs. So in different price points of the car, the difference in the airbag equipment is also acceptable to everyone, but looking at the mainstream models in the market, compact models, Volkswagen Sagittarius, Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, Toyota Leiling, Toyota RAV4 Rongfang, Ford Ruiji and Haval Big Dog are equipped, with reference to the price of domestic Model 3 (the entry-level version of the landing price of about 260,000), other brands of car prices are even cheaper than it Half of the car has a knee airbag, indeed more than Tesla thick.
There are more models of mid-size cars or SUVs with overlapping prices equipped with knee airbags, including BYD Han, Toyota Camry, Volkswagen Passat, Volkswagen Magotan, Toyota Asian Dragon, Buick LaCrosse, Toyota Highlander and Volkswagen Tanyue. Of course, many of them are also medium and high-end models, but people have at least ah.
Tesla's "de-allocation" seems excusable?
However, looking at the consequences of the "reduction" of Tesla's Chinese version of the knee airbag, Tesla staff said that it did not affect the safety of the whole vehicle, and it was not all fooling or "playing hooligans". After all, in the crash test evaluation of the domestic Tesla Model 3 released by the China Insurance Research Institute in 2020, its car member safety index and vehicle auxiliary safety index two won excellent (G) evaluations. Although the domestic Model 3 was delayed in the evaluation of the "legs and feet" project of the front 25% bias crash test mainly because of the absence of knee airbags, it also received an A (good) evaluation, and the overall evaluation of the positive 25% bias crash test was also excellent (G).
And from the crash test pictures and videos released by The China Insurance Research Institute, the Model 3 in the most difficult to deal with the front 25% bias crash test, although the left front wheel fell off, but did not invade the crew compartment, the airbag also bounced open normally; the A pillar was not broken, the door can still be opened and closed normally. It can be seen that the domestic Model 3 body rigidity and collision protection are generally trustworthy.
It is very interesting that the Model 3 equipped with knee airbags in the European E-NCAP (can be understood as European C-NCAP) and the United States IIHS (similar to the Sino-Insurance Research Institute test standard) of the front 25% bias crash test, but the A-pillar bend angle is larger, the driver's leg is also more invaded (compared to the domestic version). That is to say, the price is more expensive, equipped with a knee airbag of the imported version of the Model 3 but the safety protection is worse, no wonder the previous purchase of the imported version of the Model 3 owner helpless self-deprecation, it turns out that we are the real leeks.
Tesla's real problem is not "de-allocation"
In fact, compared with the difference between China and foreign airbags, from the perspective of safety testing, it does not have too serious an impact, but the differential treatment will make Chinese consumers feel despised. But at least the actual degree of harm is not as good as the previously exposed Tesla series of accidents, including frequent battery fire spontaneous combustion, driving bumper falling off, touch screen failure, the most serious and exaggerated publicity "automatic driving", after turning on the auxiliary driving function due to system failure crashes and so on.
But these do not hinder Tesla's popularity in the Chinese market, the data shows that in the domestic market, Tesla's annual sales in 2021 should be about 450,000 vehicles, accounting for almost half of its global sales (936,200 units), but also far behind other new energy vehicles and new car-making forces. Perhaps it is precisely because of this "preference" of Chinese consumers and the extra "tolerance" of the Chinese market that Tesla has the confidence to treat Chinese products differently in order to save costs.
Just think, if Tesla's previous series of negative news, especially the safety accidents that caused user casualties, can attract more attention, does this brand dare to do so? Perhaps it can be said that, to a large extent, Tesla's "privilege" in the Chinese car market is also given by consumers. Chinese auto consumers still need to be more rational and mature. Not to let others mourn and not to learn from them, but also to make future generations mourn and mourn future generations.