Falcon wing door concerns

[KL670]

As I stated on another thread yesterday, my family went for a test drive in an X. The drive was great except for the misinformation we got about the second and third row seats. It was pouring the whole day yesterday so we didn't get to play with that doors too much especially because I had my toddler in the rain with me. One big concern I had was when I was asked to just press open the falcon door (with my daughter in my arms), I was about a foot away from the door. And when it was actually opening, I had this thought in my head:"I'll just stand where I am since the falcon door can detect my presence and will go more up than out to avoid hitting me". I kept watching it as it opened and finally felt the need to take a step back after the bottom of the door was about an inch from my face. I was not impressed by that. Again, is that a kink that a software can work out or maybe it's been worked out already?
I have another scenario in my head where let's say the x is parked on a busy street and passengers need to get out, how will the falcon wing door decide how far out it'll go to avoid hitting or getting hit any moving cars? With a regular car door, the passenger can decide how far to swing the door open whereas the falcon door doesn't allow for that human component to be involved. How legit is my concern? Thanks.

 

[Roamer]

The solution is actually pretty simple. You don't activate the door if it is not safe to do so. Just the same as you would not manually open any door if it is not safe to do so. Maybe we are so used to traditional doors we think the Falcons are somehow different. They are doors. You have to open and close them safely. Would you purposely put your face in front of a swing out door to see if it would stop before hitting you in the face ?

The doors are pretty gentle. My grandson thinks it is hilarious to see if he can push the falcon close button with his toe while I am strapping him in. I always act like the door is smashing me and we both get a good laugh. I don't know where he got this silly prank personality from. He hasn't yet figured out that the door beeps a warning and let's me know he did it before the door smashes me.

 

[KL670]

Roamer, I agree that safety needs be to determined by thr driver/passenger when opening the doors regardless of what doors. But my question/concern has more to do with "isn't that the whole point of the design? For it to be able to detect whether it's safe to open when there are objects right next to it?" With my current suv, when using the automatic lift gate, I expect it to swing out so I'm always a few feet behind it. But with the falcon door, I just thought the sensors would pick up a father and child standing next to it if the design of it is able to avoid hitting walls and ceilings. Maybe I'm expecting too much :frown:

 

[Rytis]

It may have detected you, and would have still left that 1 inch while lifting up. It is just that the door does not know it is a person and not a wall - it would be perfectly fine to leave a 1 inch clearance next to the wall, but to a person it feels too risky, even though actually still safe.

 

[proven]

I'm curious... would the door have hit you if you didn't move? Could it have just been really close? At the launch event the doors came very close to the other cars but didn't stop. The good news is that it doesn't take much force at all to stop the doors, and the service center told me that the bottom edge has sensors in it that detect contact.

 

[apacheguy]

I agree. It should have detected your presence. None of this, "well you shouldn't have opened it in the first place." That's not what the design spec says. It says it should open under any circumstance and will stop once an obstruction is sensed.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually someone should try this. Get a nice big book like an encyclopedia and hold such that it will impact the door on its way up. Does it stop?

 

[KL670]

I believe it would have "hit" me. I was describing my experience to the ownership advisor who by the way is really nice to work with. He said the sensors would have probably touched me and stopped as I was considered a soft object.

 

[Roamer]

KL670, I suppose all machines have their limits. My biggest complaint has usually been they are a little too sensitive. Usually if you are standing inside the swing arc it will stop after opening a few inchs because it determines it does not have adequate clearance to complet the open cycle. I am a little surprised it opened that far if you were standing that close when it first started the open cycle. If I stand within 12 inches of the door it normally starts an open cycle then sees me and stops opening.

The sensor is located in the bottom center of the door and it only sees what is visable from the view out from that area. I was astonished when it opened one day next to my Model S with the rear view mirror folded out. The falcon actually came up, then noticed the mirror and tucked in moved around it and went back out. It was pretty impressive to watch.

 

[roblab]

I agree. It should have detected your presence. None of this, "well you shouldn't have opened it in the first place." That's not what the design spec says. It says it should open under any circumstance and will stop once an obstruction is sensed.

- - - Updated - - -

Actually someone should try this. Get a nice big book like an encyclopedia and hold such that it will impact the door on its way up. Does it stop?

I did. It saw me and did not hit me. It stopped. It did not hit the book.

It is not dangerous. If it somehow doesn't see you, it's a nudge, not a hit. No harm.

 

[EboMike]

I don't have my X yet, so I can only speculate, but thinking back to the reveal demo in September, it seems that the car is designed to allow the FWDs to open in tight spaces - remember the minivan demo. That means that the doors are meant to slide uncomfortably close to obstacles. This is perfectly fine when these are stationary objects. But a human being will probably flinch when a big door comes within inches of their face and *think* that the doors won't stop for them. Hey, I wouldn't want to try it out myself, especially while holding my child. But I bet the doors would have stopped, just like in roblab's experiment.

 

[Aljohn]

This is a "common sense" issue. I would not stand with my toddler under the rear hatch of my Audi to see if the door would stop in time. I would not set my toddler under the garage door to see if the sensors will reverse the door before crushing him. The doors have sensors to detect objects, not a hand, at stick of every small object at any point of the door. I have watched videos of delivery with small children (unsupervised) around the doors -- The Front and Falcon Winged. Watching I get concerned that the fascination attracts the children to play with the doors -- open and close with the internal buttons. Sometimes one child is playing with the door and the others standing in their paths... Parents facing the other way. There are some cautions with any automatic device. I hear no complaints about the safety of the automatic window rolling up -- they are familiar. I hear no complaints about the rear hatch -- it is not unusual and we all know to have children keep their fingers away from the track. Don't rely solely on technology, we still must have common sense.