2023 Model 3 no longer has manual door release in rear [never had them], other changes

[xetairex]

Thanks. That makes sense. It's too complicated in an emergency. People might have stuffed lots of things in that pocket too. So it's not a suitable procedure that can be certified for emergencies.

I agree. Tesla can, and should include the manual rear door release. Cost cutting?

 

[stopcrazypp]

Racecar style! (Well except on a racecar you'd just toss out the panel. )

I guess that cable is for getting the door open while working on an unpowered car in a shop? It sounds useless in an emergency (unless I actually drill holes and put a racecar door pull loop on my road car).

It was actually there for the factory workers to use when assembling the car. It is not for use in emergencies unless you drill holes and attach something to pull it.

Someone did just that here:

 

[stopcrazypp]

Officially, in the owner's manual, it says clearly that

"Note
Only the front doors are equipped with a manual door release."

However, there have been numerous YouTubers show us how to do it:

1) Take off the inner liner of rear door side pocket.

2) Take off the bottom cap under it

3) Pull the cable to manually release a rear door.

It's a mystery that Tesla does not tell us about this.

Note that is a Model Y, there are some versions that had a release in the rear door pocket.
Model Y Owner's Manual | Tesla

The Model 3 never had this.

 

[bbell]

I believe the reaso

I agree. Tesla can, and should include the manual rear door release. Cost cutting?

I believe the reason a manual override doesn't exist on the back doors is child safety. Same reason the back windows can only be lowered partially.

 

[RayK]

I believe the reason a manual override doesn't exist on the back doors is child safety. Same reason the back windows can only be lowered partially.

I believe that the reason why the rear windows don't lower all of the way down (i.e., completely disappear into the door), is that the angle of the rear edge of the door prevents the window from going further than it does.

 

[tm1v2]

I believe the reason a manual override doesn't exist on the back doors is child safety. Same reason the back windows can only be lowered partially.

@bbell Interesting, I hadn't thought it from that perspective - a manual release would invalidate the electronic child safety lock. I think you're hit the nail on the head actually!

Tesla would need to implement a traditional mechanical child safety lock for the manual release, and having that combined with separate electronic version, would not be user friendly. Of course, this turns into an argument for just having regular physical door handles in the first place.

As for back windows only lowering partially, as @RayK said, I'm pretty sure that is only because of the shape of the rear door. After all you can disable passenger window controls. On most sedans there isn't space to fully retract the rear side windows.

 

[PianoAl]

As to close windows on lock? Are you sure about that? It is software not hardware.

I can confirm it's not there. Related to the pinched fingers recall, apparently. It wasted some of my time trying to figure out why it wasn't working.

 

[stopcrazypp]

@bbell Interesting, I hadn't thought it from that perspective - a manual release would invalidate the electronic child safety lock. I think you're hit the nail on the head actually!

Tesla would need to implement a traditional mechanical child safety lock for the manual release, and having that combined with separate electronic version, would not be user friendly. Of course, this turns into an argument for just having regular physical door handles in the first place.

All of the rear manual releases in Teslas (where equipped) are hidden for the same reason, to avoid children pulling them while car is moving.

As for back windows only lowering partially, as @RayK said, I'm pretty sure that is only because of the shape of the rear door. After all you can disable passenger window controls. On most sedans there isn't space to fully retract the rear side windows.

Yes, it is because there is no space. This is quite apparent if you look at the side profile, there simply isn't space for it to fully retract. You can design around it by putting a fixed section of glass or by redesigning the shape of the door, but most of the time the window is just left not retracting fully, as it's not that important a feature.

 

[xetairex]

I believe the reaso


I believe the reason a manual override doesn't exist on the back doors is child safety. Same reason the back windows can only be lowered partially.

Oh, ok. So children accidentally opening the door v/s peoples ability to get out in a bad crash.

However the Model Y has them. Also, they could make the door releases slightly difficult to open by putting them in recessed areas, or back of the door pockets, for example.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Oh, ok. So children accidentally opening the door v/s peoples ability to get out in a bad crash.

However the Model Y has them. Also, they could make the door releases slightly difficult to open by putting them in recessed areas, or back of the door pockets, for example.

They could have made a door pull that activates the electric release on the first pull while "unlocking" the mechanical release that gets activated on the second pull (like other cars that have "pull once to unlock, pull again to open"). The rear door child lock could have an electric switch that deactivates the electric release and relocks (or prevents unlocking) the mechanical release in order to prevent a child from opening the door from the inside.

 

[xetairex]

They could have made a door pull that activates the electric release on the first pull while "unlocking" the mechanical release that gets activated on the second pull (like other cars that have "pull once to unlock, pull again to open"). The rear door child lock could have an electric switch that deactivates the electric release and relocks (or prevents unlocking) the mechanical release in order to prevent a child from opening the door from the inside.

Yes, that also seems like a good suggestion. Nothing is fool proof, though.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Oh, ok. So children accidentally opening the door v/s peoples ability to get out in a bad crash.

However the Model Y has them. Also, they could make the door releases slightly difficult to open by putting them in recessed areas, or back of the door pockets, for example.

In Teslas with rear releases they are all hidden and put in places that it would be impossible or very difficult to open from a car seat. In the Model Y, you have to pull up the door pocket and an access panel. Simply recessing them probably won't really address the issue given if it is easily reachable by the kid, once they learn how to do it, they may try to pull it again the next time.

 

[stopcrazypp]

They could have made a door pull that activates the electric release on the first pull while "unlocking" the mechanical release that gets activated on the second pull (like other cars that have "pull once to unlock, pull again to open").

Model S had a two stage pull (first part of action actuates electric release, pulling further actuates mechanical), but Tesla switched over to the separate button + mechanical release design in the latest version.

The rear door child lock could have an electric switch that deactivates the electric release and relocks (or prevents unlocking) the mechanical release in order to prevent a child from opening the door from the inside.

The mechanism to block the mechanical release will be another complexity I doubt Tesla wants to add given they are always aiming for simplicity. The tradeoff of a hidden one is that it may be harder to find or use, but it will always be there regardless of child lock activation status.

 

[xetairex]

Model S had a two stage pull (first part of action actuates electric release, pulling further actuates mechanical), but Tesla switched over to the separate button + mechanical release design in the latest version.

The mechanism to block the mechanical release will be another complexity I doubt Tesla wants to add given they are always aiming for simplicity. The tradeoff of a hidden one is that it may be harder to find or use, but it will always be there regardless of child lock activation status.

Simplicity? to trade off safety for “simplicity”?

 

[stopcrazypp]

Simplicity? to trade off safety for “simplicity”?

You can see this throughout the car. The most common complaint by traditional car users is the removal of most buttons. A lot of people argue having knobs or physical buttons is "safer", but Tesla still decided to go the direction of removing them and using the touch screen instead for most functions.

 

[xetairex]

You can see this throughout the car. The most common complaint by traditional car users is the removal of most buttons. A lot of people argue having knobs or physical buttons is "safer", but Tesla still decided to go the direction of removing them and using the touch screen instead for most functions.

Yeah, so the point is it’s simplicity used as duplicitous cover for increasing the margins.