1 Tesla Motors Inc. already claims to have the electric car that can go the longest between charges, and now it is claiming another automotive superlative - the safest car on the road.
2 The Palo Alto, Calif., electric car company said that during recent testing by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 'the Model S set a new record for the lowest likelihood of injury to occupants'.
3 Officials at the federal agency didn't return calls seeking confirmation of Tesla's claim.
4 But the sporty Model S did win a five-star safety rating from the NHTSA, a ranking reserved for the vehicles that do best in the agency's crash-test program.
5 'NHTSA does not publish a star rating above 5; however, safety levels better than 5 stars are captured in the overall Vehicle Safety Score provided to manufacturers, where the Model S achieved a new combined record of 5.4 stars,' Tesla said.
6 The company said that not having a big gasoline engine in the front of the car creates a safer design.
7 This creates 'a much longer crumple zone to absorb a high-speed impact'.
8 Tesla said in a statement. 'This is fundamentally a force over distance problem - the longer the crumple zone, the more time there is to slow down occupants at g loads that do not cause injuries'.
9 The architecture of an electric car also helped in the rollover test, the company said.
10 Tesla tucks its large, heavy battery pack below the floor of the car, a factor that adds stability and also improves handling, it said.
11 During testing, 'the Model S refused to turn over via the normal methods, and special means were needed to induce the car to roll,' Tesla said.
12 The Model S is getting good reviews from a variety of sources.
13 In May, Consumer Reports said it was one of the best cars the influential magazine has ever tested.
14 Co-founded by tech entrepreneur Elon Musk, Tesla is attempting to become the first successful U.S. automotive startup in nearly a century.
15 It started selling the Model S about a year ago.
16 Its price starts at $63,570 and climbs to well above $100,000 if a customer springs for a larger battery that extends the vehicle's range to over 200 miles on one charge, more than double other electric cars.
17 The automaker earned its first profit, an $11.2 million gain, in the first quarter of this year.
18 Excluding one-time expenses, the maker of high-end electric cars squeezed out an operating profit of $26 million in the second quarter, a financial result that beat Wall Street's expectations.
19 Tesla's finances are being helped by special California and other environmental credits it collects every time it sells a Model S. It has sold about $150 million of such credits to other automakers so far this year.
20 Tesla expects to sell about 20,000 of its Model S cars this year.
21 Tesla builds the Model S at a factory in Fremont, Calif., where it plans to also make the Model X - an electric SUV built on the same platform as the Model S and sharing much of its technology - starting next year.

Officials at the federal agency didn ' t return calls seeking confirmation of Tesla ' s claim .
didn ' t return
why not return?