In case you thought cars would become safer as technology developed… rest assured, Tesla is finding newer and ever-dumber ways to make their cars dangerous to occupants (and others).
TL;DR: If you’re in a Tesla and it loses power (like in a fire), the only way to open the doors is often an unlabeled wire behind either two panels or a speaker grill. Tesla owners are DIYing janky rip cords to make that wire easier to pull to escape.
Why isn’t there a mandatory recall being issued? These shouldn’t have been sold with such an oversight.
It wasn’t an oversight, it is a feature because manual door pulls are old fashioned and not as cool.
Electronic windows were an improvement over hand cranked, but the doors could still be opened. Though I do wonder if they have ever been the cause of a loss of life.
I agree that this design should have never passed any safety board. That the ability to open the door can be disabled or made much more difficult.
To your wondering, read the article, and treat yourself to knowing!
TL;DR: Yes, at least 12 people have been trapped in burning Teslas where they were alive after a wreck but unable to escape.
I think they were referring to electric windows, but it is ambiguous in context.
Aw lord, you’re right. I didn’t read that original comment close enough, thought they were talking about the door releases. Thanks for the heads up.
That’s terrifying. It is a low number, but that it is non zero and the presence of a manual control would change the outcome is not good.
Of course you could find an old car with manual windows, but that would lack quite a few other safety features that have saved many more lives.
Starting to get on the fuck cars bandwagon, just wish I lived somewhere where that was an option.
Electronic windows were an improvement over hand cranked, but the doors could still be opened. Though I do wonder if they have ever been the cause of a loss of life.
Absolutely, I think there were more than a few cars that ended up in the water where the occupant couldn’t roll down the window and the water pressure kept the door closed. That’s why in the 90s there was a huge market for window hammers and they had regular “how to get out of your car” PSAs. I think it was absolutely over blown and maybe only a few cases where someone died, but it was real.
Musk greased the right palms.
And then he gave them a horse afterwards.
DOGE went after the people who could recall Elon’s death machines first.
It’s all about the money. Conversely, when they say we need to do this for your safety, it’s all about the money.
TSLA 📉
Bad news sends $TSLA to the moon, so next stop is Mare Desiderii
Hiding the emergency release behind a panel should be illegal. These things are death traps.
That’s why they call it a “manual” release, not “emergency”. To try and sneak under the radar for doing something so dangerous.
But the worst part is that at peak Tesla popularity, people were blaming the victims for not knowing that it was a small cable, hidden inside the door, under the liner in the door pocket.
peoplesmall group of idiots were blaming the victims for not knowing…
I wouldn’t even feel safe if I had a close electrician friend strip the batteries for use as a house battery.
I’d mount them outside or in our detached shed.
They have a huge safety-orange pull tab that disconnects the two banks of the battery. But even then you shouldn’t operate on them unless you are trained. 350 VDC is no joke.
Last year 5 people in my town burned alive in a Tesla while talking with 911 operator after a crash. No media reports other than local news.
They crashed near my town!
Our local news also covered it (linked in the article). The local Reddit board definitely noticed how quiet the media was about it.
Because you’re right, the 911 dispatch records are public, the dispatcher mentioned that the people inside the vehicle were yelling for assistance. They were alive and awake. They just couldn’t figure out how to escape.
God, what a stupid door handle design!
When the article (the original one) said “at least 12 people” had died trapped in Teslas, my first thought was, “At least 12 people are reported to have died, because that number sounds way too low.”
With how much media fuckery by billionaires is going on these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if many more casualties are going un- and under-reported. When rich people control media, they control people’s perception of reality. There’s so much blood on Elon Musk’s hands, it’s sickening.
Why your name purple
Voyager dev
Oh that’s so cool I’m using Voyager rn! Ty for the info
Or…and hear me out…
Mahbe just don’t buy Teslas?
Other fancy cars have similar issues. This is really something that should be dealt with through regulation.
What fancy cars don’t have frickin door handles? Does Tesla still count as fancy besides their price point?
I had a loaner Charger EV it also has electric door handles and the manual release is just as hidden. Dodge copied the worse bits of the Tesla.
Mustang Mach E has no exterior door handles. Well, technically it does, but it is literally just a solid handle. No mechanical components at all.
Depends… how well do you like your back-seat passengers?
I take Uber, so I’d appreciate any of my driver’s doing this. Please like me!
A guy at work is thinking of buying a Model Y. We’ve asked why he’d buy one and he doesn’t want to come out and say it’s to support Musk. Since he’s not even considering other EVs, it’s definitely to support Musk.
If he does get one, he’ll just make excuses as to why it’s a POS.
Lol, buying an electric car to own the libs.
I’ll allow it
The richest man in the world needs my help!
I think a classic is appropriate at this point.
ROFL
voids the warranty in 3-2-1
Here’s the truly maddening part. This isn’t some unsolvable engineering problem. Tons of other manufacturers seemed to have figured this out, and many opt for the same simple solution. In models with electric door handles… Porsche, Audi, Lexus, even the Ford Mustang Mach-E… the solution is elegantly simple: To mechanically open the non-Tesla electronic doors: Just pull the door handle harder.
I wonder if this has to do with patents somehow. I don’t get why people would even care about having a car door that requires slightly less force to unlatch to begin with though, if they can’t do it safely the obviously better design would be to just have it be a regular car door…
The crazy thing, I think that the other guys are imitating Tesla.
Tesla was an early adopter of electronic latches. They open slightly smoother than a mechanical latch. That smoothness is haptic feedback that became associated with “fancy car” in the buyer’s head. The Ford Mach-E and the Audi e-Tron… I think they’re just imitating Tesla, only they don’t do it in the stupid and dangerous way, because they’re not amateurs. They’re imitating Tesla while removing the obvious safety flaw in the design.
Of course, you are 100% right. It should just be a regular car door handle, if there is ANY risk of the door not functioning with the silly tiny-added-value electronic feature.
I don’t get why people would even care about having a car door that requires slightly less force to unlatch to begin with…
Because it’s not “slightly” less. It’s completely automatic. On a Toyota Sienna, for instance, a tiny flick of the sliding door handle causes the door to open all the way electronically. A 90 year old with arthritis could do it. Meanwhile, that same handle also manually opens the door but requires a fuck ton more force.
I bought my acquaintance with a Tesler the cheapest glass breaking hammer thingy (1 monies including shipping :)).
Most Tesla front windows are laminated glass like a windshield, not tempered. It helps block out road noise and wind whooshing which is important in an EV since you don’t have an engine rumbling to cover up those noises.
The glass breaking hammer may not be as useful as you think.
Oh, I know almost nothing about Teslas (lack of interest on my part), but you are right.
(Not sure how many Teslas use it tho.)It seems you can buy little glass saws if your side windows are laminated.
Rescuers use power saws or these little clippers:
Make them tape it somewhere accessible in the car. If it’s loose in the car, the they will never find it in time after an accident.
I’ll just use it & pre-break all their windows, it’s the safest option tbh.
You should install a separate battery system (and have it on an easy to access place for simple battery replacement - on the ceiling, for example). Also slap a battery status display on the dashboard, better keep it separate and not depend on the babby tablet. Now, what will this battery power? The emergency system, of course. I’ve got two words for you: Explosive bolts. That’s right, you pull one of the new tiger-stripe-marked levers above each door, and all of the doors eject violently to the side, allowing you to escape a doomed vehicle in any conceivable circumstance. This is what we in the know call “cyberpunk as fuck”.
Better solution is to have an explosive pin on each window. Flip the cover, and press the button and all the pins detonate, shattering each window.
You could make even tie it in to the door circuit. As long as the car has power to the door latch, pressing the button does nothing.
Why the fuck not using mechanical ports?
Too mainstream
This article might be misleading. Every Tesla I’ve ever been in has a purely mechanical door handle/latch to open each of the 4 doors. It’s legitimately hidden in plain sight, so if nobody tells you that it’s there you might not find it but it’s very easy to access if you know it’s there. They absolutely should make it more obvious that it’s there. Maybe there are some models that don’t have it? Not sure. I’ve been in the S, 3, and Y.
Edit: not misleading, see following replies.
Oh no, you’re right, Teslas have a mechanical fallback system. We also detailed where those latches are located in the article. With videos of some of them, like how-to-use them sort of footage, too.
The DIY rip cord doesn’t add the emergency door release, it just makes the existing door release easier to find in a rush.
Ah ok. I confess I read a few paragraphs and looked at the pictures but didn’t watch the video. Thanks for the info, I’ll have to look closer in the back seat next time I get the chance. If they don’t have the same well-hidden mechanical release that the front seats have then that’s absurdly dangerous.
Yeah, nah - it is well into the absurdly dangerous territory :j
The front seat levers aren’t so bad (just unlabeled), the back seat levers are totally bananas
My 3 from 2017 had easy to access releases on all four doors, but I believe recent models aren’t the same. That car got sold to CarBuyerUSA for $5k net, woo.
My Plaid (before I ditched it because fuck Elon) had easy to access emergency releases on the front doors, so easy passengers pulled them accidentally when getting out. But the back didn’t have the same, you had to access it through some bit under the seat or some crap, to be honest I don’t recall finding it.
Yeah, that’s the trick.
I found 12 people who died trapped in Teslas lately, in a casual Google search… of those, 8 were in the back seats, with those completely nutty emergency release locations. Under the carpet, right beneath the seat lip, dumb stuff like that.
That kills people, as it turns out.
