I've had a Tesla for several years and am generally pretty happy with it.
I don't think the fancy electronic door handles are an improvement, and am unhappy to see that other brands are following suit.
If there are electronic processes that you want to trigger as the door opens, I think the better solution would be a two-stage handle that initially sends an electrical signal and then engages the mechanical latch if you continue pulling.
From just a convenience perspective having to explain both the interior and exterior doorhandles to anyone riding in your car is a pain, but in the case of an accident, being submerged in water, driver incapacitation, or any other reason you need to exit the car, there should be zero ambiguity of how to do so even if the car has lost power.
Obvious, intuitive, failsafe handles on the inside and outside of car doors should be industry standard.
Apparently there is a manual release lever, which this driver did not know about. But really, I think it's a bad design to have to think about a second way to open the door. When people panic, they fall back to training, and that training is just opening the door using the handle they always use.
xeromal · 4m ago
I was in a total crash of my model 3 in a hit a run. I was pitted from a crazy driver that was driving the wrong way and I ran into a retaining wall. I panicked trying to open the doors as there was smoke everywhere and I think the car was burning but the fog of an accident is pretty intense so I ended up breaking the window out with one of those little tipped seatbelt cutters and crawled out. That stupid override is completely useless when you're in fight or flight.
The Model S did it better where the override is just pulling the door handle all the way out.
randycupertino · 1m ago
There also was Mitch Mcconnell's sister in law, shipping billionaire Angela Chao, who drunkenly drove into a pond on her property and couldn't get out of her Tesla. Interestingly, her own sister was the Head of the Department of Transportation when the model she died in was approved.
> “The night was chilly and very dark, with no moon, so rather than walk, Chao got in her Tesla Model X SUV for the four-minute trip back to the house.
> The account of what happened to Angela Chao that weekend is based on interviews with people close to Chao and her family, county officials who were briefed on what happened or were there, as well as reviews of law-enforcement documents.
> Within minutes of saying her goodbyes, she called one of her friends in a panic. While making a three-point turn, she had put the car in reverse instead of drive, she said. It is a mistake she had made before with the Tesla gearshift. The car had zipped backward, tipping over an embankment and into a pond. It was sinking fast. Could they help her?
> Over the next several hours, her friends, then the ranch manager and his wife, and then paramedics, and firefighters and sheriff’s deputies rushed around and tried to break the windows, find an escape hatch or any way to get Chao out of the car. Somehow an executive who made her living on the sea was drowning in a stock pond within sight of her home.”
adrr · 3m ago
There's no manual release on my model 3 for the rear passenger doors. Only front doors have it.
No comments yet
terminalshort · 2m ago
I'm usually skeptical of negative headlines about Tesla as there have been so many false positives, but this one is absolutely nuts. That design seems appropriate for a piece of industrial equipment that requires training to operate, not a passenger vehicle that people just jump into without any familiarity. I'm pretty sure I would die before figuring out how to open that back door in an emergency.
honeycrispy · 13m ago
It's weird to me how many things I find flagrantly dangerous, "experts" find acceptable and vice-versa. Whether it be design, or policy.
robotnikman · 7m ago
I've learned to take anything said by the experts with a grain of salt nowadays, mainly after seeing the large conflicts of interest in the food and drug industry. It's best to do your own research as well if you can.
That being said, there are certain institutions and experts that I've found are more trustworthy than others (The Electronic Frontier Foundation for example) so I do usually trust them over the opinions of others. Basically there is a lot of nuance, never blindly trust anything.
Regarding the topic of the Tesla door handles, I've always felt uneasy regarding the safety of them.
happytoexplain · 10m ago
You would expect to be aligned with experts? Wouldn't that make you an expert, by definition?
There's really no way to get into the vehicle from the outside if the battery is dead? I find that hard to believe...
...okay, looks like there is a way but it's really convoluted and you need to basically jump-start the low voltage system (using either an ICE car or a battery pack). https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-3567D5F... That's really, really dumb.
ericpauley · 12m ago
It's particularly telling that Tesla's design flaws are so inexcusable that people have a hard time even believing they are real.
Remember to have all your passengers read your car manual before riding with you, so they know how to manually open the door when you wreck and catch fire.
Insanity.
cbeach · 5m ago
Tesla fanboy and Model S owner here. I agree, those door handles are unsafe.
> To open a rear door in the unlikely situation when Model S has no power, fold back the edge of the carpet below the rear seats to expose the mechanical release cable. Pull the mechanical release cable toward the center of the vehicle.
I have mentioned this to my family but I don't think there's any way my kids could operate these manual releases on their own, and certainly not in the heat of the moment.
It gives me chills to imagine the consequences of this for my family in an accident.
bondarchuk · 1m ago
>It gives me chills to imagine the consequences of this for my family in an accident.
So.. get another car. Safety first.
toss1 · 9m ago
Retractable flush door handles without an obvious, usable, and effective manual override option are one of the most stupid and user hostile "innovations" ever.
Designers effectively said: "Lets save 0.03 on our Coefficient of Drag, add unnecessary weight of extra motors and control complexity, and make sure whenever the 12V supply is cut or a bit of ice is in the mechanism, everyone inside is trapped —— it'll look cool".
China is already looking at banning them [0] because of the difficulty they present to emergency crews trying to rescue passengers.
And while I used to admire Musk and defend him here, this now seems like just another "innovation" by a sociopath who cares only about how cool it might make him look, and nevermind the people burned to death trapped inside his cars. At least the Ford Pinto exploding gas tank debacle was for profit [1], this is just one man's ego.
It wasn't even about those things. It was about having cool electronic door handles like a spaceship. If it was about those things that would imply a level of intentionality in the design that goes beyond whatever happened here.
I don't think the fancy electronic door handles are an improvement, and am unhappy to see that other brands are following suit.
If there are electronic processes that you want to trigger as the door opens, I think the better solution would be a two-stage handle that initially sends an electrical signal and then engages the mechanical latch if you continue pulling.
From just a convenience perspective having to explain both the interior and exterior doorhandles to anyone riding in your car is a pain, but in the case of an accident, being submerged in water, driver incapacitation, or any other reason you need to exit the car, there should be zero ambiguity of how to do so even if the car has lost power.
Obvious, intuitive, failsafe handles on the inside and outside of car doors should be industry standard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQxm6n7SdvE
Apparently there is a manual release lever, which this driver did not know about. But really, I think it's a bad design to have to think about a second way to open the door. When people panic, they fall back to training, and that training is just opening the door using the handle they always use.
The Model S did it better where the override is just pulling the door handle all the way out.
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/angela-chao-death-texas-tesl...
> “The night was chilly and very dark, with no moon, so rather than walk, Chao got in her Tesla Model X SUV for the four-minute trip back to the house.
> The account of what happened to Angela Chao that weekend is based on interviews with people close to Chao and her family, county officials who were briefed on what happened or were there, as well as reviews of law-enforcement documents.
> Within minutes of saying her goodbyes, she called one of her friends in a panic. While making a three-point turn, she had put the car in reverse instead of drive, she said. It is a mistake she had made before with the Tesla gearshift. The car had zipped backward, tipping over an embankment and into a pond. It was sinking fast. Could they help her?
> Over the next several hours, her friends, then the ranch manager and his wife, and then paramedics, and firefighters and sheriff’s deputies rushed around and tried to break the windows, find an escape hatch or any way to get Chao out of the car. Somehow an executive who made her living on the sea was drowning in a stock pond within sight of her home.”
No comments yet
That being said, there are certain institutions and experts that I've found are more trustworthy than others (The Electronic Frontier Foundation for example) so I do usually trust them over the opinions of others. Basically there is a lot of nuance, never blindly trust anything.
Regarding the topic of the Tesla door handles, I've always felt uneasy regarding the safety of them.
...okay, looks like there is a way but it's really convoluted and you need to basically jump-start the low voltage system (using either an ICE car or a battery pack). https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-3567D5F... That's really, really dumb.
Here's another example: https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC...
Yes, opening the rear door in some models requires popping an unlabeled access panel in the cargo pocket.
The craziest part to me is that this isn't the evil profit maximizing à la Unsafe at Any Speed. It's simply pure designer insanity.
See the older manual here:
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2017_2023_model3/en_us/GU...
> Only the front doors are equipped with a manual door release.
How was THAT legal? How was that ADA compliant?
Insanity.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2012_2020_models/en_ie/GU...
> To open a rear door in the unlikely situation when Model S has no power, fold back the edge of the carpet below the rear seats to expose the mechanical release cable. Pull the mechanical release cable toward the center of the vehicle.
I have mentioned this to my family but I don't think there's any way my kids could operate these manual releases on their own, and certainly not in the heat of the moment.
It gives me chills to imagine the consequences of this for my family in an accident.
So.. get another car. Safety first.
Designers effectively said: "Lets save 0.03 on our Coefficient of Drag, add unnecessary weight of extra motors and control complexity, and make sure whenever the 12V supply is cut or a bit of ice is in the mechanism, everyone inside is trapped —— it'll look cool".
China is already looking at banning them [0] because of the difficulty they present to emergency crews trying to rescue passengers.
And while I used to admire Musk and defend him here, this now seems like just another "innovation" by a sociopath who cares only about how cool it might make him look, and nevermind the people burned to death trapped inside his cars. At least the Ford Pinto exploding gas tank debacle was for profit [1], this is just one man's ego.
[0] https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a66052483/china-possible-b...
[1] https://www.autosafety.org/ford-pinto-fuel-tank/