Hmm. I'm finding some "evidence" to support that a frunk actually helps during an impact.
Elon Musk says so here:
www.inverse.com
Still "our" BMW i4 (especially eDrive40) doesn't actually have a heavy combustion engine in the front. And it has a loooong front.
I highly doubt that i4 won't get 5 stars in every crash test out there.
I need some more technical information on how the frunk helps in a tesla. The article dosent give any specific details and mostly focus on the engine block will not be pushed into the passengers. Typically you design the frame in a way that it crumbles easily resulting in high energy absorbing.
Here you see all the beams which have the crumble zones.
If you then look at which beams absorb the most force you can distribute it like this:
Here you have the estimated energy absorption percentages in the frontal structure.
Even the engine is estimated to absorb 20% of the energy. So in this example the frunk would result in 20% less energy absorption.
Let's compare the ncap for the
BMW 4 series coupe (ICE) and
Tesla model 3:
4 series:
Adult Occupant 97%
Child Occupant 83%
Vulnerable Road Users 93%
Safety Assist 72%
Tesla model 3:
Adult Occupant 96%
Child Occupant 86%
Vulnerable Road Users 74%
Safety Assist 94%
They are both great cars. The ice better protects the Adults and pedestrians where the tesla has the edge for the child's.
So choosing cars with a frunk for safety reasons dosent make sense in my opinion