A Tesla driver and two kids were burned alive after crashing into a tree because rescuers were unable to open the electronic doors, according to police.
Teslas have electronic doors that are opened by pressing a button rather than pulling on the handles, which are retractable.
However, in a crash, the car’s power can fail, rendering the doors useless.
I have one I know exactly how they work. To be clear I think Musk is a fool and I would never buy a tesla again because of his Nazi ties. But the statement in that article about handles is wrong/simplified/misleading. On the outside, the handles lay flat; but almost all car’s outer handles will not be usable when a door is locked. On the inside, the doors have electric buttons to open that could be disabled in a crash. But there are easy to use manual handles too. They are obvious and people use them by default until you tell them to use the electronic button (which prolongs the life of the window gasket by lowering the frameless window a bit before opening). In the back, there are manual overrides but they’re hidden; however this is no less safe than having the child lock on for back door which is a normal feature for cars.
You know what else could prolong the life of the window gasket? A window frame. Yeah shocking and revolutionary idea.
To be clear it’s just against Tesla it’s against every brand that have frameless windows.
Every time anything goes slightly amiss with a Tesla, the media play it up because people like you who hate Tesla want to read about Tesla failure, so it drives engagement. Many many other cars have accidents where people get stuck in the car. There are other cars that have frameless windows and electronic handles, but you never hear about them not because they’re any safer, but because no one cares about them.
The handles on the model 3 and Y are absolutely different than those of other vehicles. On the inside there are mechanical handles in the front only, and it’s fairly easy to be unaware of their existence, they blend in too well. If the power fails in the low voltage system then the only way to get the rear doors open from the inside is to lift up the liner in the door pocket and pull on a small steel cable that unlatches the door.
I have one, I know exactly how it works. Yes the back door system is stupid, but no worse for safety than any car with the kid locks on the doors.
The emergency internal handles in the front are exactly where you think they’d be. If I don’t tell people how to open the door with the button, they pull the emergency handle. Of course if someone is used to pushing the button and it doesn’t work, they might panic, and forget but if they’re unconscious it hardly matters.
You realize you are just trying to convince yourself you have a safe car, right? I know you need a big ego to want a tesla in the first place, but its okay to say you learned new information and want to change your mind.
Well yes. And I know trying to explain these facts in a room of Tesla haters isn’t going to get anywhere. I certainly wouldn’t buy another Tesla because of Elon, but I really think the car itself is quite well made.
I feel pretty safe in it. Ego has nothing to do with it. When I bought it a number of years ago, it seemed like a good way to be better for the environment, help propel innovation and have something fun and different. I certainly will never buy a Tesla again because of Elon, but I think the car’s pretty good. I feel much safer in it than in our Mazda 2 that would be squished like an empty pop can in a collision between two SUV’s.
Oh look, the thing we said would happen has happened. Again.
It happens in other cars too. And batteries burn. The outer door handles are no different than any car’s locked doors.
From the article:
I have one I know exactly how they work. To be clear I think Musk is a fool and I would never buy a tesla again because of his Nazi ties. But the statement in that article about handles is wrong/simplified/misleading. On the outside, the handles lay flat; but almost all car’s outer handles will not be usable when a door is locked. On the inside, the doors have electric buttons to open that could be disabled in a crash. But there are easy to use manual handles too. They are obvious and people use them by default until you tell them to use the electronic button (which prolongs the life of the window gasket by lowering the frameless window a bit before opening). In the back, there are manual overrides but they’re hidden; however this is no less safe than having the child lock on for back door which is a normal feature for cars.
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Yes Teslas have that too. They have a redundant power to the doors to minimize failure. But we’re talking about the case where that fails, no?
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The commenter said there was a benefit…
prolongs the life of the window gasket by lowering the frameless window a bit before opening
Whether that is worthwhile is another issue.
You know what else could prolong the life of the window gasket? A window frame. Yeah shocking and revolutionary idea. To be clear it’s just against Tesla it’s against every brand that have frameless windows.
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Every time anything goes slightly amiss with a Tesla, the media play it up because people like you who hate Tesla want to read about Tesla failure, so it drives engagement. Many many other cars have accidents where people get stuck in the car. There are other cars that have frameless windows and electronic handles, but you never hear about them not because they’re any safer, but because no one cares about them.
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The handles on the model 3 and Y are absolutely different than those of other vehicles. On the inside there are mechanical handles in the front only, and it’s fairly easy to be unaware of their existence, they blend in too well. If the power fails in the low voltage system then the only way to get the rear doors open from the inside is to lift up the liner in the door pocket and pull on a small steel cable that unlatches the door.
Child locks have been mandatory since 1971. You can’t open the back doors inside with child locks on either. This story is a big nothingburger.
I have two kids and have never needed child locks. How distracted while driving your kids are you?
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I have one, I know exactly how it works. Yes the back door system is stupid, but no worse for safety than any car with the kid locks on the doors.
The emergency internal handles in the front are exactly where you think they’d be. If I don’t tell people how to open the door with the button, they pull the emergency handle. Of course if someone is used to pushing the button and it doesn’t work, they might panic, and forget but if they’re unconscious it hardly matters.
You realize you are just trying to convince yourself you have a safe car, right? I know you need a big ego to want a tesla in the first place, but its okay to say you learned new information and want to change your mind.
But then they wouldn’t be… CannonFodder.
Well yes. And I know trying to explain these facts in a room of Tesla haters isn’t going to get anywhere. I certainly wouldn’t buy another Tesla because of Elon, but I really think the car itself is quite well made.
I feel pretty safe in it. Ego has nothing to do with it. When I bought it a number of years ago, it seemed like a good way to be better for the environment, help propel innovation and have something fun and different. I certainly will never buy a Tesla again because of Elon, but I think the car’s pretty good. I feel much safer in it than in our Mazda 2 that would be squished like an empty pop can in a collision between two SUV’s.