How to increase your Tesla Safety Score

If you've opted-in to Tesla's assessment of your driving behavior, then you're likely trying to get access to Tesla's FSD Beta. In order to do that you'll need as high of a score as possible. The higher the score, the sooner you'll be granted access to the FSD Beta.

Tesla's very transparent about how your Safety Score is calculated. We'll share some information for each category Tesla is grading and also share some tips on how you can improve your score.

There are five categories that Tesla is actively measuring drivers against. It's important to be familiar with them, as not everything counts toward your Safety Score. Your performance in each category is measured to the median of Tesla's fleet.

Forward Collision Warnings (FCWs)

First, we have Forward Collision Warnings. This is the car giving you a warning that you're going at a high rate of speed relative to the distance you have to the object directly in front of you.

Tesla bases this off the ‘medium' setting in FCW. I'd recommend going to Autopilot > Forward Collision Warning and setting your personal alert level to ‘Early'. This way you'll be made aware of the potential collision before Tesla dings you for it.

There's not much to this one, except to keep your distance and slow down before you get too close to the vehicle or object in front of you.

Hard Braking

This is a tough one and the one I've struggled with the most. You'll want to very gradually slow down when coming to a stop. Quite a bit more than you'd likely think you need to. One harsh stop and you'll be dinged.

Tesla identifies hard braking as a backward acceleration greater than a g-force of 0.3. I personally love to take full advantage of the car's regenerative braking. So if I have a shorter distance to stop, I'll let my foot off the accelerator a little quicker to receive a higher level of regen, but doing so exceeds the 0.3g Tesla specifies and will set you back. Brake early and gradually to avoid any negative scores due to hard braking.

Aggressive Turning

Similar to harsh braking, Tesla is looking at the g-forces here when determining aggressive turning. If the lateral g-force exceeds 0.4g, then your score may be affected.

You'll want to make sure you're not going faster around turns. The tighter the turn, the slower you'll want to go.

Unsafe Following

This is the distance between you and the vehicle in front of you. It's similar to Forward Collision Warnings in that you'll want to make sure you leave enough room to stop between you and the vehicle in front of you, but Unsafe Following is only calculated when you're traveling above 50 MPH. An easy way to avoid penalties here is to use Autopilot with a follow distance greater than 3.

Forced Autopilot Disengagement

This is the act of using Autopilot and having it become disengaged because you didn't heed the warnings of applying pressure to the steering wheel. Not applying enough resistance on the steering wheel will not affect you here, neither will the car beeping. It is only considered a forced disengagement if the vehicle asks you to apply resistance three times and then disables Autopilot for the remainder of the trip.

Keep in mind that Autopilot will also be disabled if you exceed 90 MPH for vehicles with radar or 80 MPH for vision-only vehicles, while on Autopilot.

Tips

Although, I don't personally encourage this tip, as we want everyone to be fair, there is currently a way of having your drive not count toward your Safety Score. If you do a soft reset before you park your car, the drive will not be registered and will not count toward your overall Safety Score. This will likely be fixed in a future update.

Each driving category is weighted differently. So having Autopilot disabled isn't the same as having an instance of harsh braking.

Here is how much each category negatively affects your score, from the worst offender to the least.

• Forced Autopilot Disengagement
• Hard Braking
• Aggressive Turning
• Unsafe Following
• Forward Collision Warnings

Autopilot

While you're driving on Autopilot your score is not negatively affected, even if the car follows too closely or gets a FCW. Tesla simply ignores any bad driving if Autopilot is engaged. You may want to consider using Autopilot in more situations when you feel it's safe.

If you're using Autopilot on city streets, remember to disengage it with plenty of time before your turn so that you can slow down gradually before taking the turn.

Acceleration

Although acceleration or speeding do not negatively affect your score, it could result in sudden braking or Forward Collision Warnings, which would impact your Safety Score.

Other Metrics

Tesla collects a lot of information on how we use our cars. They use this information to improve features, roll out new ones and make their cars safer.

Although Tesla is showing us these five metrics that they're using to assess your Safety Score, Tesla could potentially use more information than just your Safety Score when choosing the next batch of beta testers. They're probably not looking for individuals who are driving 200 miles a day, or those that are rarely driving. You'll probably want to be in a sweet spot where you drive most days, but aren't taking long trips.

Tesla may also use information that is out of your control such as your geographical region or how long you've had your car.

Use Other Cars

If you're already driving your Tesla most days, don't take the chance of ruining a good score. If you're in a rush or already drove your Tesla today, consider taking a spouse's car when possible.

Save your Tesla for driving on familiar roads, roads where you know when a sharp turn may be coming up or where stop signs are. Use your Tesla when you have the extra time to take it slow and really focus on the road.

Lastly, be safe. We all want a high Safety Score, but at the end of the day we all need to come home in one piece.

If you're looking to figure out how many miles you'll need to drive to reach a specific score, such as 99, I strongly recommend using our Safety Score Calculator that will give you exactly that answer. After adding your data, you can choose a target score and know exactly how much more you'll need to drive to achieve your goal.

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A Look at the Tesla Cybertruck’s Crumple Zones [VIDEO]

Not a Tesla App

Tesla’s Cybertruck has officially earned a 5-Star Safety Rating from the NHTSA—an impressive achievement given the vehicle’s design. The achievement demonstrates Tesla’s engineering prowess. As one engineer points out, it wasn’t an easy feat.

Interestingly, the NHTSA only recently disclosed the results, despite the crash tests being completed a while ago. According to Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, the team had been aware of the 5-star rating for quite some time. While the reason for the delay remains unclear, now that the results are public, Tesla’s engineers can finally share how they achieved the rating.

Crumple Zones

Wes Morril, the Cybertruck’s Lead Engineer, wrote about the crash test video on X recently, addressing the claims that the Cybertruck doesn’t have a crumple zone. He also posted a side-by-side video (below) of the engineering analysis and the crash test itself.

Engineered Crash Safety

There’s a lot of engineering precision at play when a Cybertruck is involved in a crash. Unlike traditional crash structures that rely on crash cans and collapse points, the Cybertruck’s front gigacasting is designed to absorb and redirect impact forces in a highly controlled manner.

It all starts with the bumper beam, which crushes within the first few milliseconds of a high-speed impact. At the same time, the vehicle’s sensors rapidly analyze the crash dynamics and determine the optimal deployment of safety restraints, including airbags and seat belt pre-tensioners. These split-second actions are crucial in keeping occupants safe.

As the crash progresses, the vehicle’s structure deforms in a carefully engineered sequence. The drive unit cradle bends, directing the solid drive unit downward and out of the way, allowing the gigacasting to begin absorbing impact forces.

The casting crushes cell by cell, methodically dissipating energy in a controlled manner. This gradual deceleration reduces the g-forces transferred to occupants, making the crash much less severe. As the gigacast begins crushing, the safety restraints are deployed.

As Wes points out in his post - you can see how accurate the virtual analysis and modeling were. The video shows the simulated crash side by side with the real-life crash test and they’re almost identical. All that virtual testing helps provide feedback into the loop to design a better and safer system - one that is uniquely different than any other vehicle on the road.

All the armchair experts claimed the Cybertruck has no crumple zone and I get it, the proportions seem impossible. It was a tough one and there is a lot of engineering that went into it. Let me break it down for you:

Here you can see the large single piece casting in action in a… https://t.co/Jk4X5erTcm pic.twitter.com/24Nmb1bmU5

— Wes (@wmorrill3) February 20, 2025

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Tesla Eliminates Front Casting on New Model Y; Improves Rear Casting

Not a Tesla App

Tesla has pioneered the use of single-piece castings for the front and rear sections of their vehicles, thanks to its innovative Gigapress process. Many automakers are now following suit, as this approach allows the crash structure to be integrated directly into the casting.

This makes the castings not only safer but also easier to manufacture in a single step, reducing costs and improving repairability. For example, replacing the entire rear frame of a Cybertruck is estimated to cost under $10,000 USD, with most of the expense coming from labor, according to estimates shared on X after high-speed rear collisions.

These insights come from Sandy Munro’s interview (posted below) with Lars Moravy, Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, highlighting how these advancements contribute to the improvements in Tesla’s latest vehicles, including the New Model Y.

However, with the new Model Y, Tesla has decided to go a different route and eliminated the front gigacast.

No Front Casting

Tesla’s factories aren’t equipped to produce both front and rear castings for the Model Y. Only Giga Texas and Giga Berlin used structural battery packs, but these were quickly phased out due to the underwhelming performance of the first-generation 4680 battery.

Tesla has gone back to building a common body across the globe, increasing part interchangeability and reducing supply chain complexity across the four factories that produce the Model Y. They’ve instead improved and reduced the number of unique parts up front to help simplify assembly and repair.

There is still potential for Tesla to switch back to using a front and rear casting - especially with their innovative unboxed assembly method. However, that will also require Tesla to begin using a structural battery pack again, which could potentially happen in the future with new battery technology.

Rear Casting Improvements

The rear casting has been completely redesigned, shedding 7 kg (15.4 lbs) and cutting machining time in half. Originally weighing around 67 kg (147 lbs), the new casting is now approximately 60 kg (132 lbs).

This 15% weight reduction improves both vehicle dynamics and range while also increasing the rear structure’s stiffness, reducing body flex during maneuvers.

Tesla leveraged its in-house fluid dynamics software to optimize the design, resulting in castings that resemble organic structures in some areas and flowing river patterns in others. Additionally, manufacturing efficiency has dramatically improved—the casting process, which originally took 180 seconds per part, has been reduced to just 75 seconds, a nearly 60% time reduction per unit.

Advancements in die-casting machines and cooling systems have allowed @Tesla to dramatically reduce cycle times and improve dimensional stability. pic.twitter.com/WB5ji67rvV

— Munro Live (@live_munro) March 11, 2025

New Casting Methods

Tesla’s new casting method incorporates conformal cooling, which cools the die directly within the gigapress. Tesla has been refining the die-casting machines and collaborating with manufacturers to improve the gigapress process.

In 2023, Tesla patented a thermal control unit for the casting process. This system uses real-time temperature analysis and precise mixing of metal streams to optimize casting quality. SETI Park, which covers Tesla’s manufacturing patents on X, offers a great series for those interested in learning more.

The new system allows Tesla to control the flow of cooling liquid, precisely directing water to different parts of the die, cooling them at varying rates. This enables faster material flow and quicker cooling, improving both dimensional stability and the speed of removing the part from the press for the next stage.

With these new process improvements, Tesla now rolls out a new Model Y at Giga Berlin, Giga Texas, and Fremont every 43 seconds—an astounding achievement in auto manufacturing. Meanwhile, Giga Shanghai operates two Model Y lines, delivering a completed vehicle every 35 seconds.

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