Everyone keeps commenting mad about “mechanical doors”. Y’all. All Tesla’s have mechanical release doors. There is caveat on the rear doors:
Model S: Front and rear doors have manual release
Model 3: Front doors; rear doors only on the Model 3 Highland update
Model X: Front doors and rear Falcon Wing doors
Model Y: Front doors; some rear doors
There are a lot of safety situations where you need a mechanical release, where you won’t be able to find the mechanical release if it’s a separate control. Obviously the door itself is mechanical. What people are unhappy about is that it doesn’t easily open in some types of emergencies. Case in point.
I actually like Musk, and when the Tesla came out, I def wanted one. But man, stories like this make me sooo happy I was way to poor ever to afford one!
It’s not unique problem to Teslas. People burn to death in their cars every single day. Most of these cases simply aren’t newsworthy enough to write articles about where as Tesla on the other hand is under constant scrutiny which skews the image of how safe or reliable they actually are.
Assuming we’re talking about a car crash in which the vehicle doesn’t catch on fire, Teslas are among the safest vehicles you can buy according to both IIHS and Euro NCAP
When I first learned that Teslas (and almost all other EV’s) have electronic only doors, I knew this kind of situation would happen.
I hope this gets laws enacted that force manufacturers to install mechanical latches on all of their vehicles. I know Teslas have manual overrides on their front doors, but the rear doors still have this issue.
The model 3 and Y both back mechanical backups. I suspect the S does too. The back doors on the X definitely don’t, but that’s not the only questionable design decision on the X.
but that’s not the only questionable design decision on the X.
They didn’t want sliding doors because that makes it a minivan. And minivans are “uncool”
So give it regular-ass doors like every other SUV. Now Tesla’s only full-size SUV (as well as their only “truck”) are not compatible with a roof rack. If I get an SUV or a truck it’s because I want to move a bunch of stuff around, and I 100% will get a roof rack because of that.
It’s like if Titanic not only didn’t have enough lifeboats, but instead had no lifeboats, and also everyone was locked in their cabins.
In this case, they have lifeboats (apparently), they were just all hidden down in the ship somewhere (apparently).
False: “All but two lifeboats were situated on the Boat Deck, the highest deck of Titanic.”
“Titanic only had enough lifeboats to accommodate approximately a third of the ship’s total capacity.”
“Compounding the disaster, Titanic’s crew was poorly trained on using the davits (lifeboat launching equipment). As a result, lifeboat launches were slow, improperly executed, and poorly supervised. These factors contributed to several lifeboats leaving with only half their capacity.”
But seems they launched 18 out of 20 available.
The Titantic was designed to stay afloat long enough to allow everyone to disembark in cohorts on life boats to rescue boats and send the lifeboats back for the rest- it was never intended to fit everyone on lifeboats all at once.
It was that a mix of how telephone operators made more money off personal telegrams than ice warnings, and didnt relay the messages, and how nearby possible rescue ships had gone to bed and turned off their radios meant this process didn’t get executed, and how because the iceberg hit the ship, essentially creating a large gash the entire length of the ship, causing the flotation bulwarks to be breached, which is a very rare occurrence, caused so much death.
In Tesla’s case, that much aforethought hasn’t been taken.
They have mechanical overrides but look whee some of them are. Have to remove a door panel.
The model Y has mechanical emergency door openers in the front. Not in the rear. It complains about possibly breaking window trim when you use them.
They are not super obvious though and you’d have to know in an emergency.
Yeah the releases in the 3 and Y aren’t too bad. Most people use them by mistake once or twice (and get the warning about window trim).
The X however is unforgivable. You have to pop off the speaker grills to get to them and then the door also weighs a lot and has to be manually lifted upwards.
No, on the X there is a lever just below the open door button on the front doors. I have seen multiple people use it instead of the button because the button in the front door is less obvious to them then the lever.
Same with the Model 3.
I have to disagree with them not being obvious however. Nearly every new person in my Model 3 goes to grab the emergency release immediately. I even added vinyl door open stickers next to the button to make it more obvious and it still happens almost every time.
I hope this gets laws enacted that force manufacturers to install mechanical latches on all of their vehicles.
Considering Musk’s love affair with the incoming administration, I wouldn’t bet on it for the next 4 years (hopefully)
In fact I’d be happy to just have the NHTSA avoid being dismantled in the next 4 years
Just how California had laws that effectively forced automakers to make nationwide changes, Europe can still mandate this and it may end up here regardless.
I don’t think it will have as much of an effect on the auto industry I’m afraid, the auto industry is already well used to having multiple regional models to comply with weird country quirks of their own vehicle safety boards.
Any EU mandate will just get through onto the already existing model destined for EU countries. Unless the RU writes it in such a way to force companies to abide by it in all countries even non-EU, but that would be a legal gray area for sure.
It works for Cali because no company is going to have multiple regional region cars (i.e. states), that would be a step to far for them lol
When I first learned that Teslas (and almost all other EV’s) have electronic only doors
I really just want a regular car with an EV power train. Don’t to change a bunch of shit on the car, unless it is germane to its function as an EV. Things like doors, instrument clusters, turn signals, infotainment, HVAC controls, shifting (e.g. park, reverse, drive) should be the same as any other vehicle.
You want an e-Golf, which was a beautifully stupid, half-hearted implementation of an EV by Volkswagen, who because they really didn’t want to do it, spent almost nothing on redesign, and in the process creating a ridiculously fun vehicle to drive with sporty handling and high torque at low speed, but nothing else changed from the classic Golf design. Door handles, freaking dials on the dashboard, manual climate and audio controls. Sadly, it isn’t being made anymore. We’ve outgrown ours and it’s time for me to let someone else enjoy the experience (especially with the Biden used EV sales incentives going away soon) but my daughter loves it so much that I’m dreading the tantrum that I know will come when I sell it.
Most manufacturers use the door handle to override the electronic system. Like pulling twice or harder than usual.
That’s fine then. We’re relearning why all cars with manual transmissions have the same foot pedal and shift pattern arrangement. It’s so in a panic situation, people aren’t having to orientate themselves mentally and can just go off of muscle memory to save themselves. I should be shocked that Tesla didn’t hire any auto industry veterans that know that, but I’m not. This reeks of software dev shit where every new MBA coming in just has to shake things up and reinvent everything so they can leave their mark.
Anyone who has ever been in a Tesla knows they’re a software company, not a car company. The cars are made like crap.
I still wouldn’t go back to ICE though.
Shouldn’t an electric be programmed to open if it finds itself undergoing powerloss? Isn’t that like a very basic failsafe? One so basic it’s the plot to an indie horror game that wasn’t intended for children but found an audience there anyway?
this is why electric locks should NOT be relied on for safety: electric locks MUST default open when something goes wrong, which means that picking them is as easy as making them malfunction or cutting the power.
Clearly Tesla opted for the fail-deadly route instead of the fail-safe route. Fuckin ridiculous.
In all honesty, I don’t see a good solution to electronic doors. If the power dies while it’s just sitting in your driveway, now it’s open, if the doors open on electricity loss. Definitely better than what they have now, but I’d prefer something completely different. Like what if we had a series of levers and cables that opened the door? I know, it’s like, next level crazy, but maybe…
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.
Imagine being in a burning car and needing the manual to open the doors. And then you can’t find it so you start googling “Tesla model S manual”, find a PDF, then start scrolling through it trying to find out how do you open the doors.
Here’s an idea, how about just make it so the handles mechanically open the damn doors? This is why i’ll never own an electric car, they’re full of bullshit like this where things are done electronically for absolutely no reason. I hate this fucking design phylosophy where everything has to be more complicated, less reliable and less functional.
Ok, what about passengers?
What about kids? Should they start go right from ABC’s to the Tesla Model Y 2020-2021 Owners Manual?
What if it’s a rental, do you sit down and read the owners manual in the parking lot of the rental place before you go anywhere?
Door handles have basically been an industry standard as they are (mechanical) because of form and function. They just work, there is zero reason that door handles need to be electric and have a manual emergency release. The only reason I could grasp from the smallest straws was aesthetics: they look cooler/go better with the car.
Lamborghinis and Ferrari’s have mechanical door handles, if it’s good enough for them, it should be good enough for Musk.
Being electric isn’t the problem. These are design choices that assume that things will always be perfect.
Horse shit. Safety features should not require reading the manual to operate. They should be big, obvious, and easy to operate. What if you’re a passenger and the accident causes the driver to lose consciousness?
Bigger horseshit in the manual: https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modely/en_us/GUID-AAD769C7-88A3-4695-987E-0E00025F64E0.html
Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors.
I want to see you recite a haiku while the car is burning. Can’t think of one? Maybe relying on knowledge instead of intuition isn’t such a great idea.
People have died in front of emergency escape doors that are slide to open instead of push because of air pressure, so expecting people to find a little loop under a plastic cover in the door compartment during an emergency is asinine. Which is the case for Tesla Y, btw.
Can I set your car on fire, and only let you out once you’ve shown me the fuse box?
