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cross-posted from: https://ponder.cat/post/660354
The only survivor of the October 24 fire was a woman in her 20s who was able to get to safety after a quick thinking passer-by smashed a window of the burning Model Y car to free her
Not having mechanical door releases for emergencies like this just seems so friggin dumb, but what do I know.
They do. Each front door a manual lever and each rear door has a manual release pull tab.
A dumber idea would be driving around a car without knowing how it works. The article doesn’t even mention them until the last paragraph, and poorly.
The emergency releases are covered in the manual as well as official tutorial videos and countless YouTube how-tos. The front door lever is exactly where you think it is. You have to literally do zero research about the car you’re buying to not know about them.
EDIT: not sure why this touched a nerve. Every recent car model has their own way of invoking an emergency manual door release, EV or ICE. This is a new car problem, not just a Tesla problem. Simply pointing out the fact that it’s there.
I should not need to read a manual or watch a video to know how to open a freaking door on a car, especially one that I don’t even own.
I agree, but considering every manufacturer decides to redesign emergency open mechanisms for their own products I feel like the bigger issue here is a lack of standardization. This is not uniquely a Tesla problem.
Some cars require you to pull the handle twice.
Some require you to do it with force.
Others have a secondary mechanism.
They’re all different.
Not going to defend the design or their way of doing things. All I pointed out in my previous comment to that effect was that the safety mechanism does exist, and ultimately it is on the driver to understand the safety features present in their vehicle.
Omg that’s so dumb. I don’t have one so wasn’t aware there were some models without. How tf is that legal
Let’s not blame victims for poor design.
I did not mean to suggest the victims in the article did not know what they were doing, just that you should probably get familiar with your vehicle’s safety features before driving it regularly. Of course that’s contingent on them being there and functional.
It’s possible they tried and it didn’t work apologies if it seems like I was trying to suggest that it’s their fault, I was speaking more to car owners in general than the subjects of the article.
And where are these releases? Are they accessible from the exterior easily like a door handle?
Front ones seem easy enough
Mmmmk, so now the driver is knocked out with the window up, what does a passerby do?
Passenger side has it as well.
Edit: oh it sounds like you’re wondering what someone outside the car does. They probably do the same thing they’d do for any car with hidden/shaved door handles (not exclusive to Tesla). Bust it open. It’s easy enough that vagrants do it all the time to steal junk.
No that’s absolutely something valid to bring up the exterior door handles are dumb.
If you actually want to know where they are, there’s one above the window controls on the front side doors, where your hand naturally rests. You just pull it up like a regular door handle.
Backseats pull a tab in the storage area of their doors. It’s behind a little patch of fabric.
That’s the first thing I’m going to think of while panicking when trapped in the back seat of a burning car that’s not mine: “pull a tab in the storage area of the door! It’s hidden behind a little patch of fabric, of course!”
Yeah not going to defend the design just wanted to be clear it’s there and works. It’s not hard to see or feel around for but yes you need to know where it is and how to use it before it’s beneficial. Though to be fair that’s true of any feature or car.
I once had a VW that had a special way of opening the regular door latch in order to engage the emergency latch, if you didn’t know how to do it, it wouldn’t work and wouldn’t be helpful. Some make you pull the handle twice.
Maybe a larger problem is this stuff isn’t very standardized to look/work the same across all models so everyone reinvents critically important safety features.
Ok well that’s good if true. Why didn’t they use it? Are they not widely known about by drivers or not in an obvious location for ease of access in an emergency? That’s my only assumption as to why this happened.
Edit: read the article:
They are also hidden by the floor, no exterior releases either…
I’m guessing they either didn’t know, or in their panic didn’t think about it which is totally understandable. I just don’t think that’s as much on Tesla as the article seems to portray.
As I said in my last comment, the emergency releases are absolutely covered in Tesla’s official guides and user manuals, many YouTubers have covered this, and the front door lever is in a very easy location to find (above the window buttons, where your hand naturally rests on the door). Funny the article only mentions the rear door releases.
At some point it becomes less the manufacturer’s fault and more on the owner for not understanding the safety features in the vehicle they’re driving around.
Tesla does some stupid shit, but they still have to comply with safety regulations. I’d rather see them get bad publicity for the actual stupid shit they do, like rely 100% on regular old cameras for self-driving instead of Lidar/radar sensors or put the turn signal buttons on the steering wheel. That’s straight up unsafe and dumb.
Are the passengers also expected to read the manuals and watch the videos before getting a ride?
I’m not defending the design or placement, just pointing out it’s there and that the driver should know what’s in their car.
And IMO, it’s on them to inform passengers.
As I’ve said with others here multiple times, I think the larger issue you’re touching on is valid, but also not exclusively a Tesla issue. Every manufacturer has a different way of invoking an emergency manual door release in recent cars, EV and ICE. Maybe that should be standardized across the board?
I agree with you that it’s not just tesla. I do also think we already have a standardised method of opening doors, and they should stick with it
Not arguing that. Electronic door releases are nice but complicate things in an emergency.