Model 3 rear door no unpowered emergency release safety

[Twiglett]

But given some of the AP issues/accidents due to partial lane incursion detection issues (for example the tow truck partially in lane here), it's not clear the AP today is providing that net positive. Perhaps this will be fixed soon and so this isn't a real issue???

Honestly looking for a reason to keep my delivery, not cancel - it's in most ways an amazing car.

It isn't a real issue now. AP is driver assistance, not driver replacement.
As with all systems there are going to be corner cases or odd circumstances that aren't handled.
But as others have already pointed out, the Model 3 is still one of safest cars to be in just from its passive systems.
So even if AP doesn't react to a lane incursion (like any car without AP) you'd still be safer in a Model 3

 

[Sherlo]

I'm not sure. After a crash perhaps?

Model S but gives overview of how other manufacturers use Auto Unlock

Fiery Tesla crash with trapped driver puts focus on vehicle door locks

 

[AquaMan]

Per the video someone attached, apparently there is redundant power to it, (I guess both from the big battery and 12v battery) AND... Even if that's cut, there's still the rear door on the other side. In a crash I'd certainly try that before climbing to the front. And remember this is a car which rarely rolls over.

I'm a big fan of safety... But the decision to get in a car is never risk-free. The added risk here is nearly zero, and I wouldn't cancel an order over this.

 

[MikeHolliday]

Do you understand that after an accident and a Tesla comes to a complete stop all of the doors open...

Why should this be an issue? If my grandson is in the back when I have accident in one of my non-Tesla cars, even if he could get out of his car seat, he could never exit the car due to the child safety locks in the rear seat. They are always set to be lock position, so an adult or child could never exit the rear seat of any of my ICE cars...

 

[alsetym]

That speaker release is in the Model X, not 3.

I agree this is a super weird concern and not a reason to cancel the car.

The Venn diagram of car accidents where the driver and front passenger are totally incapacitated, the 12V power source is out of service, the rear passengers are unable to get to a front door, a first responder is unavailable to free passengers, and accidents which are survivable for anyone in the vehicle probably doesn’t have much overlap.

Or maybe a different Venn for your typical car. Lets take my last ICE car, that one of the rear doors randomly opened when going around corners too quickly. A non-zero chance having everyone in the car suffocate from gas fumes or catch fire and explode, since it was a gas car. One can find danger where ever you look, particularly when you don't understand how door mechanisms and door locks work on 95% of modern cars and have never actually sat down and done the hard work of quantifying risks.

Seriously though, where do people come up with the most ridiculous, irrational things to complain about? Cancel an order on a $50k USD car because of a door lock? I have very little tolerance for this kinda thing.

 

[Gasman23]

I wonder if the OP ended up cancelling their order. If not, then I’m in no doubt they’re on this forum complaining that one of their panels is 2microns out of position and that they’ve lost 3 miles of range

 

[Gasaraki]

There is a manual release cord under the rubber thingy in the cubbie hole in the rear doors. It's behind a little plastic door.

 

[MikeHolliday]

There is a manual release cord under the rubber thingy in the cubbie hole in the rear doors. It's behind a little plastic door.

The Electric release is a safety feature. After an accident, as soon as the car comes to a rest, Tesla Models open all of their doors AUTOMATICALLY! That would not be possible without electrical doors...

 

[tilt]

I did the manual release install yesterday. It was quick and easy, I didn't even remove the wiring to the puddle light. You don't need to remove the interior door panel once you are familiar where the cable is. You can just leave it hanging from the top, unhook the release from the clip, take off the foam from the loop, and route it to the hole you drill. I then pulled the cable's loop through the hole by grabbing it with needlenose pliers. I bought red zipper pulls off Amazon and attached them to the cable's loop.

 

[Huskyfan]

Cannot believe the OP would cancel for this reason. Must be terrible to live in fear of just about the most remote of emergencies.

Eighteen years working as a firefighter in downtown Seattle. Prolly been on 500 accidents involving cars. Like someone else said, if a kid can get out of his car seat he can almost certainlycrawl into the front of the car to get out. And honestly, unless the car is on fire or in a very unsafe location, the best place for passengers to remain is in the car until emergency crews arrive. I’ve been on more accidents involving passengers getting hit by passing cars than accidents with kids hurt.

Unless its a totally catastrophic accident never seen any injuries to children properly secured in car seats. Folks in front seats, different story. Even roll over accidents. And lets not even talk about fires. So rarely do cars become engulfed in a fire due an accident. Car fires happen, but it is usually an electrical, or some form of fluid leak (brake fluid, ATF, gasoline, oil) that catches on fire.

 

[daniel]

Somebody on another forum posted this Image:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Ezb3Jp6XsA07-pJ?format=jpg&name=large

I looked at my Model 3 and was surprised to see that there's no manual door latch for the rear doors. (I'm never in the back.) Given Tesla's strong record of building the cars with extremely high safety ratings, I'm wondering if the above is bogus. But I have no way to shut off the power to test it. Can anybody shed some light on this so I can reply on the other forum? Thanks.

 

[GtiMart]

Everything I've read so far indicates that this is correct, you can't. You would need to creep up front...

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Everything I've read so far indicates that this is correct, you can't. You would need to creep up front...

Or use an emergency glass breaker to exit from rear windows.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

I'm not aware of a power failure ever trapping anyone in a Tesla back seat.

If such a thing somehow happened *and* none of the front seat passengers were willing/able to open the rear door *and* there were no willing bystanders, then the situation would be exactly the same as *every* other car in the world with child-locked doors.

It's the front door handle of the 3/Y that you should be concerned about. Even if you knew where the hidden, unmarked manual handle was at some point, you might not remember in a crisis. Fortunately EV's almost never lose power, unlike ICE cars which randomly go dead every few years.

75-year-old gets trapped in a Cadillac XLR, proves you should read the owner's manual

The emergency door release handle doesn't work if you don't know it's there

www.autoweek.com

 

[daniel]

What about the outside door handles? Do they function in a power failure?

 

[daniel]

I'm not aware of a power failure ever trapping anyone in a Tesla back seat.

If such a thing somehow happened *and* none of the front seat passengers were willing/able to open the rear door *and* there were no willing bystanders, then the situation would be exactly the same as *every* other car in the world with child-locked doors.

It's the front door handle of the 3/Y that you should be concerned about. Even if you knew where the hidden, unmarked manual handle was at some point, you might not remember in a crisis. Fortunately EV's almost never lose power, unlike ICE cars which randomly go dead every few years.

75-year-old gets trapped in a Cadillac XLR, proves you should read the owner's manual

The emergency door release handle doesn't work if you don't know it's there

www.autoweek.com

I don't know that the Y is like, but in my 3 the emergency latch is where I always expect the door latch to be. The little button you're supposed to use is so unintuitive that I always have to tell people to use it instead of the latch that they naturally want to use.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

What about the outside door handles? Do they function in a power failure?

Doh! You're right! Only the front doors can be opened without power, and only from the inside!

 

[Big Earl]

What about the outside door handles? Do they function in a power failure?

Nope.

 

[daniel]

Doh! You're right! Only the front doors can be opened without power, and only from the inside!

Are you sure of that? Has anyone tried it? Do the outside door handles only trigger the electric latch? They don't trigger the manual latch if there's no power?

 

[daniel]

Nope.

So if there's a power failure there's no way to get into the car? Somehow that doesn't seem right. There has to be a way to get in.