This isn’t a Tesla or EV problem though. How many back doors have child safety locks?
A: the driver knows they’re locked from the inside
B: they’re always locked form the inside, they didn’t just stop working because the car lost power
C: lithium fire/smoke makes thinking more difficult than an ICE engine fire
EV complicates it
Tesla made it really bad by electric-only locks.
Tesla rear doors don’t open on button press from the inside with no power, but I bet they do from the outside. Just like the child locks. I’ve never tried it unpowered to confirm though.
In my Audis at least, the child safety is disabled together with the locks opening within a few milliseconds of the airbag control unit sending a crash signal across the CAN. That message is sent immediately when the decision to open at least one airbag has been made and therefore will reach all components while the crash hasn’t even had time to finish, so all wires and stuff is most likely still in place
Apart from that, the doors have an emergency mechanical release that is “just pull a bit harder and further on the handle”. Which is what you’d do anyway.
