Door auto open to the passing car on the side. Whose fault?

[bell2041]

You know how you are pulling the front doors handle from the inside and the door jumping out to open it for you.
In any car (other than Model X), you look before you open the door, then you trigger the handle, double check in the mirrors that it's safe to open, and then open the door. In Tesla, the door jumps out as soon as you trigger the handle.

Well a couple of days ago it, the door jumped out on the car that was passing me and I could NOT catch it on time, and the other car hit my door. Now, whose fault is that? If they made the door open automatically, why isn't the car checking for passing cars on that side? Do I need to play this game "catch me if you can" every time?

That is pretty easy to do with all the sensors and cameras Tesla has.

Audi did it, meaning this feature is out there, and now I know, it's very critical one to have on Model X.
I simply afraid to open the door now.

start on 9m 29s

 

[nilspjac]

Ouch! Yep, seems like a feature Tesla should add asap! Tweet Elon!

 

[TexasRat]

Definitely would be nice to see Tesla add this feature.

 

[bell2041]

I mean this is just not safe what Model X is doing now.

 

[TexasRat]

In the meantime, I guess we have to just be defensive about opening our doors sine we know that initiating the open will push the door out wide.

 

[jaguar36]

It would be awesome if Tesla added this as a feature, but just like with all the rest of the automatic stuff on Tesla's the driver is responsible.

 

[bell2041]

It would be awesome if Tesla added this as a feature, but just like with all the rest of the automatic stuff on Tesla's the driver is responsible.

Not really fair, since there is no way to disable that feature. So why should I be responsible for the something that they are forcing us to use that is not even safe?

 

[ek993]

I was going to ask - is it possible to disable? After owning the car for a couple of days now the auto opening doors make me feel a little uncomfortable.

 

[Big Earl]

Well a couple of days ago it, the door jumped out on the car that was passing me and I could NOT catch it on time, and the other car hit my door. Now, whose fault is that? If they made the door open automatically, why isn't the car checking for passing cars on that side? Do I need to play this game "catch me if you can" every time?

Unfortunately, I have to say you're at fault. The door operates the same way every time. You're the vehicle operator and you're aware that the door opens when you pull the handle. The solution here is to not pull the handle unless the path is clear. If the path isn't clear and you still want to pull the handle, you need to be prepared to catch the door so that it doesn't strike the object in its path.

Yes, it would be great if Tesla added a warning if a vehicle was approaching from the side. IMO, not having the warning cannot be construed as negligence on their part.

 

[Tslrsx]

You need to watch before pulling the doorhandle or hold the door, it isn't that hard. The problem is worse with passengers that don't Know the car

 

[gjunky]

You can disable to auto open (on approach) of the front doors. This would help you to avoid this situation while you are walking up to the car when it is parked on a street and traffic is coming by.

As to when you are parked, you can always hold on to the solid door handle while you open the door with your other hand (this makes you automatically look back). This is a good idea in any car, not just the X, when parked on slopes or in windy situations.

 

[spectrum]

I don't mean to sound harsh, but I think you should have checked for cars before opening the door. The problem isn't that the door opened, because that's what you asked it to do. The problem was more so that you opened the door when you shouldn't have. It could have happened even with a Model S (or any car) if you didn't pull back in time.

 

[jboy210]

The human is ultimately responsible for not opening the door if it is not clear. There will always be situations that the automation will miss (bicyclist, plants, small children, etc.)

Maybe we need to adopt the Dutch method of only opening the door with the hand furthest away from the door. This gets you in the habit of looking back over your shoulder and ensure there is no upcoming obstacle.

 

[ek993]

For all the posts that say that it's the human at fault - yes, that is absolutely true. But humans make errors - that is our nature. The door handle can slip out of our grasp as one of many scenarios. This could lead to human injury.

It would be good if Tesla offered a way to disable this feature for those that do not want the automation. Continuous improvement and learning is another area that Tesla I hope takes into consideration for future development work. Much like airline crashes - disasters strike (usually caused by human error) but then lessons are learned and actions are put in place to try to ensure the same accident can't happen again. Some of those changes might include changes to software / automation / flight systems.

 

[commasign]

If there is a car (or other object) next to you, the door won't open wide. It's actually quite conservative, not opening wide almost to the point of being annoying at times.

I think a car (or other object) not next to you the moment you initiate door opening but close enough behind and moving fast enough that it will collide with your door is an edge case, not entirely different than any other car and therefore something that is more the responsibility of the driver. It's very similar to a regular car situation where you might have a very heavy door and when you open the door with a little too much force it might slip past the first detent resulting in a collision.

That said, Tesla could adopt a software solution to make the door behave like the Model 3 door where pressing the button just pops the door open and you have to manually widen the opening yourself.

 

[stefan.bc]

If there is a car (or other object) next to you, the door won't open wide. It's actually quite conservative, not opening wide almost to the point of being annoying at times.

This is not entirely true. For example my door scratched the mirror of another car. The car was far enough to allow the door to open but not the mirror. Imagine similar situations.

 

[commasign]

This is not entirely true. For example my door scratched the mirror of another car. The car was far enough to allow the door to open but not the mirror. Imagine similar situations.

Good point. I guess what I meant was "If there is a car (or other object) detected by one of the ultrasonic sensors..."

 

[spectrum]

Tesla could adopt a software solution to make the door behave like the Model 3 door where pressing the button just pops the door open and you have to manually widen the opening yourself.

Although I can see how that would have helped OP, it would reduce the convenience of having the doors actually open all the way 99.99% of the time they work perfectly, letting me reach over to the back seat and grab my backpack and exit the car with minimal effort.

I stand my argument that this is mostly OP’s fault (for opening door into traffic). The only reason it wouldn’t be his fault is if OP didn’t know that the doors did this. Knowing that the doors do this, I would absolutely look twice before opening the doors into traffic. In fact, if I parked on the street often, I’d disable self presenting as well.

We can automate these machines as much as we want, but they will grow increasingly complex and still never be perfect.

 

[xyeahtony]

Let’s check for cars before blindly pulling the handle next time

 

[P85_DA]

Let’s see some pics ..