News
Tesla Model S owner reminds us of ‘Active Hood’ pedestrian safety feature
A relatively unknown Tesla safety feature called ‘Active Hood’, designed to reduce head injuries to pedestrians in the event of a frontal collision, was brought to light in a recent Model S owner’s video that attempts to capture Tesla’s Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) in action. Active Hood which exists on European and Australian Model S vehicles uses pyrotechnics to raise the rear of the hood by several inches in order to soften the impact of a pedestrian and cyclist against a windshield during frontal impact.
Model S owner and Tesla Motors Club forum member Carspotter Daily posted a video that attempts to simulate a vehicle-pedestrian interaction. The vehicle was a first generation Autopilot vehicle under Firmware 8.0. It’s unclear whether CarSpotter was intentionally trying to trigger Tesla’s Active Hood feature or whether they were looking to test the AEB system, but despite not being able to trigger either feature the end result revealed, once again, Autopilot’s ability to detect humans. Another Tesla owner YouTuber KmanAuto first detected the pedestrian alert last November when he put a friend in front of of his moving Model S.
This type of granular detection of objects allows the vehicle to respond to potential collisions in the most appropriate way, with the objective to reduce collisions entirely. Though Active Hood was mentioned in the trailing notes at the end of the recent video, it’s not clear if the vehicle used in the video is a U.S. spec Model S or a European/Australian version that was included with that safety feature.
ALSO SEE: DIY Tesla Model S Pedestrian Alert: ‘Horn’ for the Oblivious
Active Hood is not a new feature but the fact that it has only been implemented on Tesla vehicles in select markets that mandate the technology has kept it largely under the radar. The technology was built into Tesla vehicles to comply with Euro NCAP Pedestrian Safety requirements that mandate vehicle manufacturers to maintain clearances between the hood and structural components underneath, to protect pedestrians in the event of a low to medium speed collision. These accidents often prove fatal to the pedestrian, as collisions at low to medium speeds typically cause the pedestrian’s body to fold over the hood with the head hitting the windshield.
The system was put to use in real world conditions in Australia in 2015 when someone driving a Tesla Model S collided with a kangaroo which caused the system to deploy. From what they saw after the accident, it looked like the adolescent ‘roo had a broken leg but was conscious enough after the accident to limp away which seems to indicate that it was successful in preventing immediate head trauma.
Tesla had a special challenge when designing Active Hood since the front trunk of a Model S is sealed to keep water out whereas hoods to internal combustion engine vehicles are generally vented. US Patent Application US20130076076 A1 details the specific challenges and solutions developed to allow the hood to pop up in response to an imminent collision with a pedestrian.
The English European version of the Tesla Model S manual lays out the technology in a much more user friendly format:
Active Hood
With Active Hood technology only existing on vehicles destined for the European and Australian markets, and Tesla being so aggressive about implementing safety features, the natural question is “why hasn’t Tesla made this a standard global safety feature?” An early Euro NCAP crash test video showed that Tesla began working hard at doing everything it can to avoid the accident in the first place. After all, avoiding a collision in the first place is far better for all parties involved than just mitigating what happens afterwards.
Cybertruck
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
Tesla’s new Cybertruck offering has had its delivery date pushed back once again. This is now the second time, and deliveries for the newest orders are now pushed well into 2027.
According to Tesla’s Online Design Studio, the new All-Wheel-Drive Cybertruck will now be delivered in April 2027. Earlier orders are still slated for early this Summer, but orders from here on forward are now officially pushed into next year:
🚨 Tesla has updated the $59,990 Cybertruck Dual Motor AWD’s estimated delivery date to April 2027.
First deliveries are still slated for June, but if you order it now, you’ll be waiting over a year.
Demand appears to be off the charts for the new Cybertruck and consumers are… pic.twitter.com/raDCCeC0zP
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 26, 2026
Just three days ago, the initial delivery date of June 2026 was pushed back to early Fall, and now, that date has officially moved to April 2027.
The fact that Tesla has had to push back deliveries once again proves one of two things: either Tesla has slow production plans for the new Cybertruck trim, or demand is off the charts.
Judging by how Tesla is already planning to raise the price based on demand in just a few days, it seems like the company knows it is giving a tremendous deal on this spec of Cybertruck, and units are moving quickly.
That points more toward demand and not necessarily to slower production plans, but it is not confirmed.
Tesla Cybertruck’s newest trim will undergo massive change in ten days, Musk says
Tesla is set to hike the price on March 1, so tomorrow will be the final day to grab the new Cybertruck trim for just $59,990.
It features:
- Dual Motor AWD w/ est. 325 mi of range
- Powered tonneau cover
- Bed outlets (2x 120V + 1x 240V) & Powershare capability
- Coil springs w/ adaptive damping
- Heated first-row seats w/ textile material that is easy to clean
- Steer-by-wire & Four Wheel Steering
- 6’ x 4’ composite bed
- Towing capacity of up to 7,500 lbs
- Powered frunk
Interestingly, the price offering is fairly close to what Tesla unveiled back in late 2019.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
Elon Musk has clarified when SpaceX will first attempt to catch Starship’s upper stage with its launch tower. The CEO’s update provides the clearest teaser yet for the spacecraft’s recovery roadmap.
Musk shared the details in recent posts on X. In his initial post, Musk confirmed that Starship V3 Ship 1 (SN1) is headed for ground tests and expressed strong confidence in the updated vehicle design.
“Starship V3 SN1 headed for ground tests. I am highly confident that the V3 design will achieve full reusability,” Musk wrote.
In a follow-up post, Musk addressed when SpaceX would attempt to catch the upper stage using the launch tower’s robotic arms.
“Should note that SpaceX will only try to catch the ship with the tower after two perfect soft landings in the ocean. The risk of the ship breaking up over land needs to be very low,” Musk clarified.
His remarks suggest that SpaceX is deliberately reducing risk before attempting a tower catch of Starship’s upper stage. Such a milestone would mark a major step towards the full reuse of the Starship system.
SpaceX is currently targeting the first Starship V3 flight of 2026 this coming March. The spacecraft’s V3 iteration is widely viewed as a key milestone in SpaceX’s long-term strategy to make Starship fully reusable.
Starship V3 features a number of key upgrades over its previous iterations. The vehicle is equipped with SpaceX’s Raptor V3 engines, which are designed to deliver significantly higher thrust than earlier versions while reducing cost and weight.
The V3 design is also expected to be optimized for manufacturability, a critical step if SpaceX intends to scale the spacecraft’s production toward frequent launches for Starlink, lunar missions, and eventually Mars.
News
Tesla FSD (Supervised) could be approved in the Netherlands next month: Musk
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk shared that Full Self-Driving (FSD) could receive regulatory approval in the Netherlands as soon as March 20, potentially marking a major step forward for Tesla’s advanced driver-assistance rollout in Europe.
Musk shared the update during a recent interview at Giga Berlin, noting that the date was provided by local authorities.
“Tesla has the most advanced real-world AI, and hopefully, it will be approved soon in Europe. We’re told by the authorities that March 20th, it’ll be approved in the Netherlands,’ what I was told,” Musk stated.
“Hopefully, that date remains the same. But I think people in Europe are going to be pretty blown away by how good the Tesla car AI is in being able to drive.”
Tesla’s FSD system relies on vision-based neural networks trained on real-world driving data, allowing vehicles to navigate using cameras and AI rather than traditional sensor-heavy solutions.
The performance of FSD Supervised has so far been impressive. As per Tesla’s safety report, Full Self-Driving Supervised has already traveled 8.3 billion miles. So far, vehicles operating with FSD Supervised engaged recorded one major collision every 5,300,676 miles.
In comparison, Teslas driven manually with Active Safety systems recorded one major collision every 2,175,763 miles, while Teslas driven manually without Active Safety recorded one major collision every 855,132 miles. The U.S. average during the same period was one major collision every 660,164 miles.
If approval is granted on March 20, the Netherlands could become the first European market to greenlight Tesla’s latest supervised FSD (Supervised) software under updated regulatory frameworks. Tesla has been working to secure expanded FSD access across Europe, where regulatory standards differ significantly from those in the United States. Approval in the Netherlands would likely serve as a foundation for broader EU adoption, though additional country-level clearances may still be required.
Tesla drops latest hint that new Cybertruck trim is selling like hotcakes
Elon Musk outlines plan for first Starship tower catch attempt
