Tesla’s Model S Plaid has been taken apart and analyzed by Sandy Munro over the past month or so, with the ‘Teardown Titan’ and his team detailing their take on the electric vehicle (EV)’s overall construction.
In the latest installment of their teardown, Munro’s team pulls apart and talks us through the Model S Plaid’s instrument panel and dashboard, along with the HEPA filter Tesla has been outfitting its model year 2021 and later cars with.
The instrument panel is “beautifully executed,” said Sue Smith, a Program Manager at Munro & Associates.
Munro’s team discusses the design and construction of the instrument panel, before moving on to the HVAC system and its ducting. Tesla made excellent material choices for the ducting, with the automotive experts noting that Tesla’s ductwork is not only possible to produce with recycled materials but is also quieter and more service-friendly than other forms of HVAC ducting.
With the overall design of the instrument panel, Tesla took numerous measures to make it more compact, cohesive, and safe. The Model S Plaid’s instrument panel is equipped with three airbags.
The team also went on to talk about Tesla’s Bioweapon Defense Mode. “It’s actually unbelievable how much the air quality will be improved by this system,” said Sue.
As compared to the typical cabin air filter found on most vehicles, the Model S Plaid is equipped with a HEPA filter that has an activated charcoal mesh responsible for the bulk of the particulate filtering, along with a denser than average cabin air filter and a powerful, high-pressure HVAC system to go with it.
In the previous edition of their Model S Plaid teardown, Munro and his team took apart the luxury electric sedan’s suspension, declaring it a “work of art.”
