There is a manual override in Tesla cars but the feature is not widely publicized, experts say.
Tesla isn’t the only culprit here. Any manufacturer that makes cars with electric doors should be required to also have a prominent and easily reachable manual override, instead of hiding a tiny lever underneath the armrest or on the floor, or behind the person’s seat on the pillar somewhere, or any fucking place that isn’t where you would expect a door handle to be.
Should just be a law to have a regular fucking door handle, we don’t need electric doors.
What? Regulating Elon’s enterpreneuments? In this fine coming year of Trump 2025?
Considering he will be leading a government department he just called “DOGE”, along with the rest of Trump, I’d say the USA is royally fucked, Tesla will be the least of their troubles.
You reap what you sow.
We’re totally fucked.
This is morbid but one of my favorite “butterfly” effect news stories in the last year was around the death of Angela Chao after she backed her car into a pond while intoxicated.
Okay, so - here’s the setup:
The Chao family is a very wealthy family. In the 1960’s the family patriarch got into the shipping business and has done very well, garnering money and power. Wealth and power beget wealth and power. Mitch McConnell is even married to one of the daughters - Elaine Chao.
Well, Bush appointed E. Chao to Labor Secretary during his presidency. Mind you, she’s not just Mitch’s wife - she has been in government since the late 80’s. One of the talking points in republican circles during the Bush years was that there was a massive decrease in worker safety complaints. They attributed this to businesses behaving themselves and say that this is evidence that self-regulation can work. What was learned later is that OSHA simply didn’t enforce many regulations or follow up on many complaints, instead choosing to focus on trying to find fraud within unions.
Cut to Trump. He appoints Elaine - still Mitch McConnell’s wife, and daughter of a transportation magnate - to be the Department of Transportation’s Secretary. The ethics concerns notwithstanding, the department hand waved many things through, such as the tesla doors mentioned in the article above, as well as the Tesla Model X’s confusing forward/reverse system, which is cited as being a reason for the death of Angela Chao, her sister.Man, this will be fun to quote at work parties!
Yes please, I vote for this one
IIRC it’s because if the frameless window setup Teslas use - it needs to wind the windows down slightly before you open the door, so it uses an electronic control to tell the car to do that.
Ok, just like other brands do with regular fucking handles? All convertibles have that, the handle is still mechanical with an electronic switch to lower the window, but if the switch doesn’t work it doesn’t prevent you from opening the door!
So a shit design, yeah, that’s what we’re talking about.
Or, you could just have the door handle be the manual override.
It is a laughably easy thing to have the release for the door from the inside be the same kind of mechanical door release we’ve always done, for obvious safety reasons, and then have a little solenoid which can also trigger the release of the mechanical door release if the computer wants it to open.
The only reason to do it otherwise, and then need a separate manual release handle, is if you are okay with people dying in exactly this fashion so that you can make your shiny thing in the exact shiny way you want to make it.
Teslas need to crack the windows before you open the door, that’s why they complicate the door release. If you don’t give the computer a moment to move the window before the door opens you can damage things.
You keep pointing out the design flaw, but I think we are aware that its a flawed design.
Tesla isn’t the only manufacturer of doors with frameless windows. They are the only ones I know of who have electric-only door latches.
The computer can have the window cracked before the handle is fully pulled. And if it fails to do so, the door opens anyway.
A better solution is a fucking window frame.
My car has frameless windows. But they don’t need the window to be in any particular place. Literally 100% up or down, and the door works fine. I don’t understand why they designed cars that have this problem.
But yeah, framed windows work great too.
Thank you for giving the explanation, but I think you’re getting flamed for it because it sounds like you’re saying that decision makes sense.
They introduced the design constraint. They can remove it, or work around it mechanically. They chose not to, and instead made a death-trap on purpose. I’m sure they had their reasons at the time, but they are by definition bad reasons if they led to this outcome.
They chose not to, and instead made a death-trap on purpose
I don’t think it’s a death-trap “on purpose,” but it’s def a death-trap by negligence. Which is still bad. Very very bad.
He’s getting flamed because convertibles have been doing frameless door windows forever with manual overrides. It’s not something super special Tesla has done. Musk just doesn’t want to spend the extra money doing it right.
So just like any convertible?
“They had to work around a shitty design flaw with another flaw.”
Why is that obvious design flaw relevant?
Didn’t bmw have this in the 90s…?
Yep, people who don’t know cars arguing about car stuff, I hate it.
Those cars still had door handles.
People are saying “Tesla needs the window to lower before the door opens” as an excuse why they use an electric switch, I’m saying they don’t know shit about cars because that’s been a thing for decades before Tesla was even an idea and these cars used regular door handles.
It is so intuitive, just disassemble the door when the car is on fire.
On at least the model 3 and Y it’s fairly intuitive for the front seats. For the rear? Not so much.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modely/en_us/GUID-AAD769C7-88A3-4695-987E-0E00025F64E0.html
Note Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors.
:/
That’s abysmal. Let’s make it’s extra hard where children are far more likely to be.
And have the presence of mind to do this after a collision and the vehicle is on fire.
There’s a reason that building egress (at least for commercial) is the way it is, with things like push bars and opening outwards. It’s because people do not think clearly in emergency situations.
… the back doors that have child locks already on them so THEY CANT be opened by said children…?
That’s what argument you want to use? Seriously? Lmfao the shit people come up with sometimes.
The ones that have to be enabled and I haven’t stated thoughts on either way?
Yes so what difference does a hard to make emergency access do when in any normal car they can be locked in…?
It’s hard to access so kids CANT open the door while it’s moving and fall out. Thats why vehicles have the child lock feature available… it’s quite sad that you need this explained.
I think their point is that child locks are not on by default?
And? A child can be locked in the back of any vehicle with no way out, atleast teslas have a way to still get out… leave it on, and no law an adult is locked back there, with no override to get out. And that’s your Honda, not even a fancy electric car….
The point is, they’re crying about children being locked in the back, yet any current vehicle you’ve been able to chose to do that for bloody decades already, yet a car with a feature to overcome that is being decried. You were locked in the back of your parents car, it’s unsafe for children to be able to open doors while driving, so it’s prevented for their safety.
The hypocrisy that people show just to be mad at something with one actually comprehending why…
An emergency release should bypass the child locks. Looks like you’re the one lacking imagination.
And the reason why it’s hard to access is so a kid can’t accidentally open it and fall out….
You can have adults sitting at the back with child lock on, you want any emergency system to bypass other systems that might block them.
Please, never work in safety.
You should NEVER have an adult in the back with the child lock on… since they couldn’t escape in an emergency….
Normal vehicles don’t have a bypass, so an adult would be locked in any vehicle if it was on….
Tesla’s atleast have a feature to overcome this….
It’s quite sad that you needed this explained…. Do you even own a drivers license? If you do, please turn it in for the safety of everyone on the road, not just the adults you lock in the back seat…
The emergency release does bypass the child lock. That’s why it’s in a hidden spot in the back doors, because otherwise the child lock would be pointless.
Who the fuck thought this up
- Remove the mat from the bottom of the rear door pocket.
- Press the red tab to remove the access door.
- Pull the mechanical release cable forward.
It should be as intuitive as getting out of any car, a regular handle.
When I first learned that Teslas (and almost all other EV’s) have electronic only doors, I knew this kind of situation would happen.
I hope this gets laws enacted that force manufacturers to install mechanical latches on all of their vehicles. I know Teslas have manual overrides on their front doors, but the rear doors still have this issue.Most manufacturers use the door handle to override the electronic system. Like pulling twice or harder than usual.
That’s fine then. We’re relearning why all cars with manual transmissions have the same foot pedal and shift pattern arrangement. It’s so in a panic situation, people aren’t having to orientate themselves mentally and can just go off of muscle memory to save themselves. I should be shock that Tesla didn’t hire any auto industry veterans that know that, but I’m not. This reeks of software dev shit where every new MBA coming in just has to shake things up and reinvent everything so they can leave their mark.
And it reeks because they “leave their mark” just like an unneutered cat.
Anyone who has ever been in a Tesla knows they’re a software company, not a car company. The cars are made like crap.
I still wouldn’t go back to ICE though.
Nothing about having an EV drive train requires electric doors. Others have already said that other EVs have manual doors or manual override for panic situations.
Didn’t say I wouldn’t go back to manual latches, just not going back to ICE (or selling my almost paid cars) because elon is a twit or they are unreasonably dangerous in the event of a freak accident.
This is a stupid problem to have, but expected value says most people will never have it.
Nobody asked you to sell your car. Stop taking this discussion personally.
Also, Expected Value is irrelevant for safety features.
Dude shut up lol. Everybody is jerking off on Tesla for an admittedly gnarly problem that will affect practically no one. Yes it’s stupid, but so is your furious masturbation to Tesla issues at the expense of actually reading the comments.
And yes, expected values against risk are literally all that matter. If that was not the case, no car would ever move from the assembly line for fear of rolling over a toddler or crashing into a cyclist. Pucker up your flapping butthole you’re talking out of and collect yourself. People will still stroke your weiner for saying “Tesla bad” even if you resort to reading and discussion; it will be ok. Stop putting words in other commenters mouths.
The model Y has mechanical emergency door openers in the front. Not in the rear. It complains about possibly breaking window trim when you use them.
They are not super obvious though and you’d have to know in an emergency.
Same with the Model 3.
I have to disagree with them not being obvious however. Nearly every new person in my Model 3 goes to grab the emergency release immediately. I even added vinyl door open stickers next to the button to make it more obvious and it still happens almost every time.
Yes I wasn’t clear. They aren’t obvious for rear seat passengers. They are in a reasonable and semi obvious place for front seat passengers. The very first time I was in a model y I pulled the emergency door pull thinking that was the handle.
Yeah the releases in the 3 and Y aren’t too bad. Most people use them by mistake once or twice (and get the warning about window trim).
The X however is unforgivable. You have to pop off the speaker grills to get to them and then the door also weighs a lot and has to be manually lifted upwards.
As if we didn’t have enough reasons to hate musk
You have to pop off the speaker grills
Oh yes, the obvious thing to do when trying to escape a fire.
No, on the X there is a lever just below the open door button on the front doors. I have seen multiple people use it instead of the button because the button in the front door is less obvious to them then the lever.
I’m talking about the back doors. But yes. I incorrectly compared the front doors in the 3/Y with the back doors of the X.
When I first learned that Teslas (and almost all other EV’s) have electronic only doors
I really just want a regular car with an EV power train. Don’t to change a bunch of shit on the car, unless it is germane to its function as an EV. Things like doors, instrument clusters, turn signals, infotainment, HVAC controls, shifting (e.g. park, reverse, drive) should be the same as any other vehicle.
You want an e-Golf, which was a beautifully stupid, half-hearted implementation of an EV by Volkswagen, who because they really didn’t want to do it, spent almost nothing on redesign, and in the process creating a ridiculously fun vehicle to drive with sporty handling and high torque at low speed, but nothing else changed from the classic Golf design. Door handles, freaking dials on the dashboard, manual climate and audio controls. Sadly, it isn’t being made anymore. We’ve outgrown ours and it’s time for me to let someone else enjoy the experience (especially with the Biden used EV sales incentives going away soon) but my daughter loves it so much that I’m dreading the tantrum that I know will come when I sell it.
The model 3 and Y both back mechanical backups. I suspect the S does too. The back doors on the X definitely don’t, but that’s not the only questionable design decision on the X.
but that’s not the only questionable design decision on the X.
They didn’t want sliding doors because that makes it a minivan. And minivans are “uncool”
So give it regular-ass doors like every other SUV. Now Tesla’s only full-size SUV (as well as their only “truck”) are not compatible with a roof rack. If I get an SUV or a truck it’s because I want to move a bunch of stuff around, and I 100% will get a roof rack because of that.
I hope this gets laws enacted that force manufacturers to install mechanical latches on all of their vehicles.
Considering Musk’s love affair with the incoming administration, I wouldn’t bet on it for the next 4 years (hopefully)
In fact I’d be happy to just have the NHTSA avoid being dismantled in the next 4 years
Just how California had laws that effectively forced automakers to make nationwide changes, Europe can still mandate this and it may end up here regardless.
I don’t think it will have as much of an effect on the auto industry I’m afraid, the auto industry is already well used to having multiple regional models to comply with weird country quirks of their own vehicle safety boards.
Any EU mandate will just get through onto the already existing model destined for EU countries. Unless the RU writes it in such a way to force companies to abide by it in all countries even non-EU, but that would be a legal gray area for sure.
It works for Cali because no company is going to have multiple regional region cars (i.e. states), that would be a step to far for them lol
The cybertruck is already illegal here in the EU since it doesn’t comply with pedestrian safety laws.
In general, this isn’t exactly a safety conscious administration in those terms.
Prepare to see a lot more products with serious safety issues coast by disinterested regulators and become popular with your friends and family. Peppering your life with a little extra spice.
Mid-terms are in 2 years!
NHTSA is part of the executive, so he would still have control over it, but we can at least hopefully place restrictions on his power (or impeach) in 2, assuming the election still happens and the results are accepted.
It’s like if Titanic not only didn’t have enough lifeboats, but instead had no lifeboats, and also everyone was locked in their cabins.
In this case, they have lifeboats (apparently), they were just all hidden down in the ship somewhere (apparently).
False: “Titanic only had enough lifeboats to accommodate approximately a third of the ship’s total capacity.”
“Compounding the disaster, Titanic’s crew was poorly trained on using the davits (lifeboat launching equipment). As a result, lifeboat launches were slow, improperly executed, and poorly supervised. These factors contributed to several lifeboats leaving with only half their capacity.”
But seems they launched 18 out of 20 available.
I believe @warm@kbin.earth is referring to how Teslas have electronic door releases instead of mechanical handles and they don’t work in a fire. There is a mechanical emergency override (I think only on the front doors) but it’s not obvious and there have been multiple deaths from people who could not figure out how to escape from burning vehicles.
To me it’s the most egregious example of Tesla not knowing the basics of how to build a car or eschewing user experience conventions that have been developed over more than a century of car building for good reasons in favor of trying to be modern or futuristic.
Thx, okay I didn’t get it but makes sense. Yeah it’s really stupid to “reinvent” everything and offhandedly brush away the things that have been written in blood during previous decades… I mean it’s kind of obvious that a safety mechanism needs to be fast and easy to operate. Making someone disassemble a door while on fire and blind from the thick smoke might not be the best idea. And you’d need to perform some safety dance each time before boarding a Tesla or people/passengers won’t know the strange procedures.
The Titantic was designed to stay afloat long enough to allow everyone to disembark in cohorts on life boats to rescue boats and send the lifeboats back for the rest- it was never intended to fit everyone on lifeboats all at once.
It was that a mix of how telephone operators made more money off personal telegrams than ice warnings, and didnt relay the messages, and how nearby possible rescue ships had gone to bed and turned off their radios meant this process didn’t get executed, and how because the iceberg hit the ship, essentially creating a large gash the entire length of the ship, causing the flotation bulwarks to be breached, which is a very rare occurrence, caused so much death.
In Tesla’s case, that much aforethought hasn’t been taken.
Every fucking one of them needs to be recalled.
With lord Elon presiding over god king trumps “economy”, I wouldn’t count on that. Adding that safe guard measure would cost him too much.
Teslas (and almost all other EV’s) have electronic only doors
- but Teslas don’t.
- we never pluralize with an apostrophe.
Rear doors have manual overrides too.
Not simping for Elon, fuck him.
*Not available on all models
Reading this thread that does appear to be the case, that’s insane. Fuck Elon again.
Shouldn’t an electric be programmed to open if it finds itself undergoing powerloss? Isn’t that like a very basic failsafe? One so basic it’s the plot to an indie horror game that wasn’t intended for children but found an audience there anyway?
this is why electric locks should NOT be relied on for safety: electric locks MUST default open when something goes wrong, which means that picking them is as easy as making them malfunction or cutting the power.
What game is that?
FNAF
Should’ve known
Clearly Tesla opted for the fail-deadly route instead of the fail-safe route. Fuckin ridiculous.
In all honesty, I don’t see a good solution to electronic doors. If the power dies while it’s just sitting in your driveway, now it’s open, if the doors open on electricity loss. Definitely better than what they have now, but I’d prefer something completely different. Like what if we had a series of levers and cables that opened the door? I know, it’s like, next level crazy, but maybe…
They have mechanical overrides but look whee some of them are. Have to remove a door panel.
Some of the cheaper ones skip the overrides in the back to deliver more value to shareholders.
In my neck of the woods a couple weeks ago five people burned to death in a Tesla. Apparently called 911 from inside the car too. No national news on this either.
In my neck of the woods, four people burned to death in a Tesla last month (news article in French).
This is what it says on their website. Hope you’ve got the link handy if you’re in a crash, and also that you’re not in one that doesn’t have this…
Are you kidding meeeee
Look it’s very simple if you get in a crash and are on fire.
Stop. Drop. Roll. Remove the mat from the bottom of the rear door pocket. Press the red tab to remove the access door. Pull the mechanical release cable forward. Remember that not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors. Die.
Rolls right off the tongue. If you’re still in trouble call 0118 999 88199 9119 725 3.
For english press 1. Your call will be answered in the order it was received.
For regicide, press 3
To return to the main menu, press all of the buttons on your keypad simultaneously.
Remember: To speed up, increase your speed. To decrease your speed, slow down.
Door handles are ugly though.
Worth a few lives to get them out of the way.
And don’t you know how many cents a door handle costs? Christ, we’re not made of money.
This is some “Headphone jacks are ugly” logic here.
No, this is so much worse. Enjoyment function vs aesthetic is a reasonable trade off. Emergency egress vs aesthetic is an insane trade off
This is what it looks like when they’re legally forced to do something, but still don’t want to do it, and their customers are idiots who can afford to pay for redundant features.
So you know, goverment inefficiency. /s
I hear the new guy in charge of that is a genius!
It’s so easy! When you get in a crash are panicking and disoriented, who needs a simple quick lever that’s there at all times??? Simply follow these complicated 3 steps to extract yourself from the burning vehicle!
Link?
Or they could try a front door, which is much more straightforward
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Man, I bet those dead kids in the back seat feel so stupid now.
They should’ve just read the owners manual (and hoped their car was equipped with an emergency release) not my fault they’re lazy.
Realistically they should show the owners at the dealership and make sure they open it several times before taking it off the lot then reinforce it in software and make them release it once a month.
Or you know… just make it mechanical
If I remember right, it damages the car to use the manual door override.
Lawl of course it does.
It used to not lower the window and could damage the window.
Shortly after the 3 was released it was changed. When there is power it lowers the window now.
But if there is no power, it can’t lower the window and it may break.
And what about the passengers? Is the owner going to be required to give an airline attendant “emergency exits are located here” safety speech every time someone hops in the car with them? Can we actually trust them to do so?
Also, not all models have mechanical release mechanisms in the rear doors. There are models where it is 100% possible to just be locked in the back seat. And when you only have ~15 seconds to escape before the lithium flames+smoke cook you, you’re not going to be able to crawl to the front.
Well fuck Tesla. This should be illegal.
Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors.
I think I see a problem.
Also: that’s waaaay too many steps for an emergency. Imagine trying to dismantle the door trim when you have a concussion.
make everything electronic because Elon thinks it is super cool
put very inefficiently placed manual overrides because it was a bad idea
Yeah but mechanical car door handles aren’t “Cool.” You don’t want to have a car that isn’t cool, right?
Some GenZ kids were talking about how cool rolling up a window with a handle was and wished it was in cars again. It was refreshing to hear.
When electric windows became a thing I considered it a downgrade because it meant that I couldn’t roll down my window when the engine was off.
More fancy bits is just more bits to break.
As a 25 year old Gen Z I love my manual window rollers on my 1991 Jeep Cherokee.
I was in a 2024 Cherokee and it was insanely frustrating trying to get the window to where I wanted it.
It also looks absolutely nothing like a Jeep Cherokee. They should just say Jeep SUV on them.
I’m still worried about going over a bridge and not finding a smashy object fast enough.
See? This. This is why I don’t trust my safety to electronic systems. The fancy computer controlled locks and latches are great when they work. When they don’t, shit like this happens.
At least most cars still have a physical connection between the door handle and the locking mechanism. Not Tesla, for no good goddamned reason.
This isn’t a Tesla or EV problem though. How many back doors have child safety locks?
It’s a problem when none of the doors work. The only person that survived was because somebody not involved came and broke the window. They said they didn’t even know anybody else was in the car because the smoke was so thick. Not the best time to be searching for a hidden door handle. Admittedly the front doors manual release is way more accessible but they probably didn’t know it existed because it blends into the door panel.
Child safety locks still allow the door to be opened from the outside. Tesla’s doors won’t if there isn’t any power. You have to go dig through the interior panels for the stupid cable to pull. That assumes you are uninjured, conscious, and not panicking to even do that.
The C7 Chevy corvette has a similar issue because the doors are electronic. To put insult to injury the location of the manual release is in the owners manual…which is stored behind the radio screen that power retracts into the dash. So no power and you can’t get to the manual either. Brilliant.
Tesla rear doors don’t open on button press from the inside with no power, but I bet they do from the outside. Just like the child locks. I’ve never tried it unpowered to confirm though.
Having never owned a Tesla I searched their forum and somebody asked the relevant question. Both the interior and exterior handles are electric. So no power, no doors handles. You have to use the manual releases from inside the car.
Huh. TIL.
To add another weird kink to this. If you don’t have power and use the emergency release…it breaks the window. Under normal operation the window needs to roll down to clear but can’t without power.
In my Audis at least, the child safety is disabled together with the locks opening within a few milliseconds of the airbag control unit sending a crash signal across the CAN. That message is sent immediately when the decision to open at least one airbag has been made and therefore will reach all components while the crash hasn’t even had time to finish, so all wires and stuff is most likely still in place
Apart from that, the doors have an emergency mechanical release that is “just pull a bit harder and further on the handle”. Which is what you’d do anyway.
A: the driver knows they’re locked from the inside
B: they’re always locked form the inside, they didn’t just stop working because the car lost power
C: lithium fire/smoke makes thinking more difficult than an ICE engine fire
EV complicates it
Tesla made it really bad by electric-only locks.
That one’s a deal breaker. Never getting in an Tesla again. And yes, that means a lot of taxi cabs 🤷♂️🙄
Turn onto your back with your feet towards the door/ window, grab the steering wheel and the doorward edge of the seat, and kick out the window with both feet. This can also be done from a passenger seat as well.
Has this been tested out in a Tesla? I wouldn’t put it past them to make it literally inescapable
There is an extremely prominent manual release handle on the door in Teslas. The vehicle manual has this information displayed prominently. I don’t know how or why other Tesla owners don’t know about this.
I see conflicting information on this.
That’s basically the bottom of a locked filing cabinet. Just needs the doormat to say “beware of the leopard”
That looks to be the rear doors. The same doors that often have child safety locks and having easily accessible overrides would defeat the purpose of that as well.
On the front doors it’s in the one spot you’d imagine it would be, the opening in the door handle/armrest. It’s so obvious almost every new rider in my Model 3 tries to use that instead of the door open button, even with a custom vinyl that shows the car with an open door.
Imagine saving your child by first having to go into the car and finding the manual door release between the door and a child safety seat.
The rear door release is not meant to be used in an emergency, it would be impossible to child lock the door. The front doors have very prominent handles and the rear passengers can climb over.
it would be impossible to child lock the door
Good. I’d rather have people teach their children not to fling themselves out of a moving car, than have them burn to death because they can’t get out.
Great question! I do not now, nor do I ever expect to have any interest in owning a Tesla. However if you want to give me one, I’d be willing to give it a try.
Friendly reminder that everyone should have one of these seatbelt-cutter-window-hammer things in their glovebox
I have one, but the issue is being able to find it in an emergency and remembering that it’s there. It’s like girls I’ve known with a 9mm, uh, somewhere, uh, just in case. You actually have to practice some.
For example; Every time my wife starts burning something in the kitchen I get out of my chair and go the fire extinguisher. Muscle memory is a thing.
I love this idea, I’m going to start practicing it myself.
Wouldn’t be a good look for that wankpanzer if a $5 tool from Walmart could bust through its windows. Better call it a Cyber-izer and sell it for $200.
And make it in black or gray so it’s impossible to find in an emergency👌
Before you can use it, you need to solve a Captcha.
Other nice options as stocking stuffers can be spread around the car, like in each door, glovebox, keychain. The hammer type you linked is easier to hold, but you may not be able to reach the glovebox.
I have broken windows with all three of these exact products during regular extrication training as a firefighter.
I don’t trust the yellow one for some reason. I feel like the mechanism wouldn’t work or may require more pressure than one would immediately give. The more mechanics involved, the more points of failure introduced.
I vouch for the basic ugly window smasher hammer.
I can say in my training experience the yellow one works great. It doesn’t require a wind up either.
Imo have a hammer in your glove compartment for helping OTHER cars. Have the small variety near each window so each occupant has a better chance of getting out (if the front right is crumpled, the glove compartment may not open)
That’s my move, but having anything is better than nothing
Another problem with some teslas (and other vehicles) is that there are switching to laminate for the side window glass for strength purposes. These devices wont work in a survival situation if your car has laminated windows. LINK
I have heard it’s easy to kick out the windshield, but I’ve never had to test that theory.
I’ve tried to kick the side rear window out in a taxi driver fainting situation, it’s really not trivial, particularly if you’re the only one in the back.
Tempered glass is much stronger than people imagine. It breaks easily with the proper tool but without one there’s a good chance it wont no matter how hard one hits and kicks it.
Gotta love a broken spark plug…
Just bippin’ and boppin’ along.
Also never go out the drivers side. That Windows is more expensive
Ahh yes, the window that is worth more than my life.
The front window is made to be easily kicked out from the inside.
In a normal car anyways.
Aren’t Tslas the ones with glove boxes that have to be opened through the console menu?
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“when a crash disabled its electronic doors.”
Female AI voice: Please stay in your seats with your seat belts on until Elon has been notified of this incident.
Always have an emergency tool in your car to break your windows in case this shit happens to you. Even if you’re in a car not designed by a god damn moron.
Didn’t these used to be part of the seat belt? Has that standard changed?
Well, any seatbelt still has a metal point or two, which can be used to break the window. But the person inside still needs to be conscious and not-panicking enough to realize that fact.
Also to break glass, don’t hit the middle of the glass, strike near a bottom corner where it is less likely to flex against the impact. You may be able to take a seatbelt’s end and use the corner of the metal end of the seatbelt to break it if you have nothing else. Corners for breaking
Tesla uses double pane laminated glass, it doesn’t shatter like normal tempered glass. It can be really difficult to break and get through.
Everyone keeps commenting mad about “mechanical doors”. Y’all. All Tesla’s have mechanical release doors. There is caveat on the rear doors:
Model S: Front and rear doors have manual release
Model 3: Front doors; rear doors only on the Model 3 Highland update
Model X: Front doors and rear Falcon Wing doors
Model Y: Front doors; some rear doors
There was one commenter smart enough to caveat the manual release should be easily accessible. I think that’s a much better argument, because you can’t think straight when you’re panicking. But for the love of God, spend 2 seconds thinking before writing your comment.
There are a lot of safety situations where you need a mechanical release, where you won’t be able to find the mechanical release if it’s a separate control. Obviously the door itself is mechanical. What people are unhappy about is that it doesn’t easily open in some types of emergencies. Case in point.
What fucking idiot builds fail-deadly electric door controls into a very flammable car
There is a manual unlock mechanism, but from what I read it’s rather hidden and not very obvious. Sounds like really bad design to me.
Anything owned by Muskrat
