Do people understand the door handles?

[AKinDC]

The internal button is a much bigger problem for my passengers. They always figure out the exterior door handle with a bit of fiddling, but if I forget to tell them, they always use the emergency release to get out.

 

[Vecii]

The internal button is a much bigger problem for my passengers. They always figure out the exterior door handle with a bit of fiddling, but if I forget to tell them, they always use the emergency release to get out.

Same here. Their first instinct is to pull the emergency release. I have to tell them to push the button instead.

On the exterior, I tell people to "Push the fat. Pull the skinny".

 

[rdunniii]

So, does there need to be a door opener button on the screen or the app for the other 3 doors like the trunk or the frunk?

 

[Chisale]

Opening door from exterior. Young people figure it out it pretty quickly. Old people just stand there flummoxed and wait for you to tell them how to do it. Opening door from interior. Hardly anybody gets that the first time right away.

 

[CyberGus]

If you bang on the interior of the door 3 times, the screen should display an image of the door release button with a big arrow "Press HERE idiot"

 

[camalaio]

It's the only car I know of where you have to explain to people how to get into it AND how to get out of it.

I added decals (like these) to the interior door buttons, and it's helped a bit, but people often still need instructions on how to get out.

Oh I have stickers like that too, got them before we even got the car I think. Never helped anyone!

 

[TX_M3P+]

Same here. Their first instinct is to pull the emergency release. I have to tell them to push the button instead.

On the exterior, I tell people to "Push the fat. Pull the skinny".

That would make a great Tesla bumper sticker!

 

[Skione65]

Let me just say this....I get a lot of people just standing there......staring down at the handle.....just standing and staring....you know puzzled look in their face? Oh yea.....did I say just standing, head drooped and staring?

Ski

 

[CyberGus]

"Push the fat. Pull the skinny"

...said the Bishop to the Nun

 

[Michelle_eriw]

...said the Bishop to the Nun

Ooh, another fan of The Saint.

 

[aspec818]

Unless they’re familiar with a model 3, 0% know how to properly open without instructions. But fwiw, I didn’t know how to open it myself the first time.

 

[cypho]

In my experience, passengers older than 40 never get it. But my 2 year old figured how to open the door both from the inside and from the outside in about 10 seconds.

I think objectively it is easy to use and easy to figure out. But as people get older it seems many lose the ability/willingness to try to figure it out.

Instead of looking around and spending a second questioning(and testing) if each item might open the door like a child would, older people seem to look for what they think a door lever should look like and give up when they can't find it.

 

[CharleyBC]

That’s exactly what I say to new passengers. Works like a charm.

Yep. “Push on the fat part, and pull on the thin part.” I’ve said that so many times in response to the blank stares.

 

[CharleyBC]

The bigger problem is after I successfully teach them how to get in, I sometimes forget to teach them how to get out later, and they find the emergency release all by themselves. Sigh.

 

[CharleyBC]

In my experience, passengers older than 40 never get it. But my 2 year old figured how to open the door both from the inside and from the outside in about 10 seconds.

I think objectively it is easy to use and easy to figure out. But as people get older it seems many lose the ability/willingness to try to figure it out.

Instead of looking around and spending a second questioning(and testing) if each item might open the door like a child would, older people seem to look for what they think a door lever should look like and give up when they can't find it.

I was a Model 3 passenger a few months before becoming an owner. I was told how to operate the door handle, and did so just fine, including on repeated entries on multiple drives. I remembered 3 months later when we got our own. I was 61 at the time. I’m over 40 and I “get it”.

 

[jjrandorin]

In my experience, passengers older than 40 never get it. But my 2 year old figured how to open the door both from the inside and from the outside in about 10 seconds.

I think objectively it is easy to use and easy to figure out. But as people get older it seems many lose the ability/willingness to try to figure it out.

Instead of looking around and spending a second questioning(and testing) if each item might open the door like a child would, older people seem to look for what they think a door lever should look like and give up when they can't find it.

A child is not worried about "damaging or breaking this expensive car" like an adult would be. Adults look at it and think "so and so just got this car, and has been going on about it for X days... I aint doin NOTHING that might break it".

 

[cypho]

A child is not worried about "damaging or breaking this expensive car" like an adult would be. Adults look at it and think "so and so just got this car, and has been going on about it for X days... I aint doin NOTHING that might break it".

Perhaps I'm still in the child mindset, but it would never occur to me that you could break a car without some serious effort. Was there a time when cars came with self-destruct buttons on the doors? Doors that fell off it you accidentally pressed the wrong button? Were (new) cars ever so fragile that they could broken by applying moderate pressure anywhere?

Seriously, what is the worst thing that could possibly happen if you pressed an unmarked button prominently placed on the door handle?

Yea, I can see someone thinking the windows might go down. Or the doors might lock. But accidentally causing any of those things to happen is far less embarrassing than just sitting there looking stumped.

 

[jjrandorin]

Perhaps I'm still in the child mindset, but it would never occur to me that you could break a car without some serious effort. Was there a time when cars came with self-destruct buttons on the doors? Doors that fell off it you accidentally pressed the wrong button? Were (new) cars ever so fragile that they could broken by applying moderate pressure anywhere?

Seriously, what is the worst thing that could possibly happen if you pressed an unmarked button prominently placed on the door handle?

Yea, I can see someone thinking the windows might go down. Or the doors might lock. But accidentally causing any of those things to happen is far less embarrassing than just sitting there looking stumped.

The person could pull your emergency release handle on the inside of the door and damage your window, or the trim surrounding it. (thats one thing that can happen).

On the outside, there is nothing really, its just confusing to people cause there is no handle sticking out to grab. "curiosity" and "exploring" should be reserved for your own belongings, not someone elses (thats the way most people would think).

I wouldnt want someone poking around on my settings in my car (for example) without permission. Nor would I want them messing with my AV equipment. Same principle. Most adults would look at it, and say to themselves "not sure what to do here" and not start exploring, where a child doesnt have that filter. A child would easily do both of those without considering anything.

Thats how children are, which is fine, but expecting adults to just start poking around someone elses belongings if they are not sure how something they dont own (and is very expensive) operates seems to be strange to me.

 

[arathald]

Unless they’re familiar with a model 3, 0% know how to properly open without instructions. But fwiw, I didn’t know how to open it myself the first time.

Honestly, I think that makes it even worse. Not that this is some major complaint, but it sounds like the door handles on the 3/Y are even less intuitive than the ones on the X. What's with Tesla and door handles?

In my experience, passengers older than 40 never get it. But my 2 year old figured how to open the door both from the inside and from the outside in about 10 seconds.

I think objectively it is easy to use and easy to figure out. But as people get older it seems many lose the ability/willingness to try to figure it out.

Instead of looking around and spending a second questioning(and testing) if each item might open the door like a child would, older people seem to look for what they think a door lever should look like and give up when they can't find it.

Maybe this isn't your intention, but this feels a lot like what we call "blaming the user" in software. If one person doesn't get it, maybe they're dumb, but if everyone doesn't get it, it usually means it wasn't actually designed well. Breaking the patterns people are used to is fine, but if they don't see any familiar hints as to how to open a door, they'll understandably get stuck. Your ability to get into a car shouldn't depend on your willingness to "explore" - a car's door handle shouldn't be a game or a puzzle box.

Again, not a major complaint, but I'm now very aware that if I upgrade (?) to a 3/Y at some point, I'll have to pay even more attention to how people are dealing with my door handles . I did see an aftermarket mod to make the "hockey stick" door handles self-presenting which would be a pretty slick way around the problem for at least the outside handles.

 

[jerry33]

No one ever had a problem with the S handles. The X are pretty easy if you tell them to press the side furtherest from the edge. But often I just open the doors for them from the screen.