From the article:
The man is blaming the automaker even though the manual door opener was under his left hand the whole time.
A man in Arizona says that he was recently trapped in his Tesla after getting in, closing the door, and then realizing that his battery was dead. What he didnāt know is that the manual release for the door was under his left hand the whole time. Now, heās blaming the automaker and raising awareness.
Rick Meggison, 73, says that Tesla needs to address what he calls a āsafety concernā involving how to exit the car when the battery dies. The main door latch actuator on all Tesla models is electronic so if the 12-volt battery dies it wonāt work. To ensure safe exit of the vehicle Tesla includes a manual release. Meggison didnāt know about that and ended up trapped in his car for 20 minutes on a hot day.
āI couldnāt open the doors. I couldnāt lower the windows. The computer was dead, so I couldnāt open the glove box. I couldnāt open anything,ā he told ABC7. Of course, he couldāve opened the door in about two seconds had he known that the manual release was just ahead of his window switches. His situation has many wondering whoās to blame in situations like this.
So imagine for a moment that this is a child and not a senior. You gonna scream at little Timmy for not RTFM?
Car doors have been pretty standard and self explanatory for 100 years, until now. There was no good reason to make such a huge design change for the sake of looking cool, especially when the override is hidden behind a piece of trim.
Exactly. People on here claiming read the manual to find out how to open a door must be missing /s because they sound insane.
Standards exist for a reason and your product should be intuitive or BETTER, a shitty button with a picture is not better than a handle like literally everywhere else.
If there even is a paper manual, itās probably in the electronically opened glovebox, which obviously wonāt open anymoreā¦
Donāt get me wrong, I donāt like the change, I dislike Teslaās and see no reason for Tesla to change what is standard.
But I still believe a grown adult buying a giant metal death machine should read the manual before driving off in one, especially when if you do just calmly look around for more than 5 seconds you can find the door open latch.
Normally, Iād agree with you, but in a matter of life or death, like baking in a hot car, the means of exit should be obvious for anyone, including children and the elderly. Just like in public buildings with proper exit signage, there should be no questioning how to get the fuck out in an emergency.