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"Person trapped in a tesla when battery dies" news story
- Thread starter dusty22
- Start date
Exactly! But the news media was clearly reporting misinformation with that "secret" latch bit and did a terrible reporting job. Like you all my passengers always ended up pulling the manual door release instead of the button to open the door, so it's not a "secret". But there are ICE vehicles with electric doors and those cars can break down too and that's why manual emergency releases are installed in vehicles with electric latches. And as far as these "numerous" reports about people being trapped inside their Tesla just shows that people are idiots, because they don't know their vehicle by reading the manual. But the most idiotic thing the woman said in this video was that the windows and doors should default to open, if the 12v battery dies. So what if it dies when your car is parked away from home and it's raining outside?
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I don't care about the video or whether it's a "secret" or not, but I've never had to read a car's manual before I bought a Tesla....I may have had to refer to a manual before for discrete problems, but with this Tesla I was reading huge chunks of it to understand what options were and how I could (or had to) adjust my car. Going from decades of ICE cars, it was not very intuitive.
fholbert
Active Member
That’s supposed to be a secret?
That woman was kind of dumb when she couldn’t figure out how to open the door. If she just looked down she’d see the release.
But she was really dumb to take it to the media after seeing what a stupid mistake she made.
When I bought my NEW Tesla, they took me to the car, helped me set up my phone, adjust the seats, air conditioner and showed me the door release having my wife and I open the door that way.
Maybe she bought a used Tesla.
FWIW, I’ve never read the owners manual, but I know it’s not in the glove box.
Explain one thing to me. Why is her garage door opener hanging from the drawer pull?
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You can't see it by looking down at it, because it's under that area. But every passenger I've had in my Tesla always and I mean always opened the door (unless I specifically told them about the button), used the emergency latch because that's where the door release mechanism is on most ICE vehicles. And yes, that woman is dumb because while most cars are intuitively easy to figure out, I'd think when you get an EV you'd want to read the owners manual. What really pisses me off is the news reporter and anchors weren't reporting facts and clearly are Tesla haters. I will say though that Tesla does need to come up with a different emergency manual door release for the back seats because in an emergency situation little kids or even adults won't be able to figure it out and I doubt every Tesla owner tells every back seat passenger about the manual release under the door pocket cover, I know I certainly don't. But at least they have something because for years they didn't have them for the back seats.
Yeah same thing happened to me back in 1911 when i finally got rid of my horse and bought a “car” thingy. Very confusing, and had huge trouble fitting my saddle to the top of the car.
Makes me wonder why Tesla did not just use the same manual release design as the front doors for the rear doors.
E90alex
Active Member
Yes there’s a manual release. No it’s not immediately intuitive. The associate at delivery should point it out and demonstrate it for every car they deliver.
But in general the electronic latch is an answer to a question nobody asked for. It does not solve any problems or pain points but instead creates more problems. It’s not even a cost saving measure because they still have to include the manual release in addition to the button and wiring.
But in general the electronic latch is an answer to a question nobody asked for. It does not solve any problems or pain points but instead creates more problems. It’s not even a cost saving measure because they still have to include the manual release in addition to the button and wiring.
She' not that dumb. She got your attention by making up a story, and the news media got your attention and got clicks by reporting that story. Success.
Given how much my grandchildren touch buttons they can reach from their car seats (now that they are older and can stretch), it is a better plan to not have them the same as the front (mine front ones are under a 'pocket' that fits into the handle space there so it has to be slipped out to pull the emergency switch, assuming in an accident it didn't fall out on its own.) The buttons the kids play with can be deselected from the screen, but that can't be the case for a mechanical switch.
I have not yet taken apart the rear doors and looked at how that one works (and install an extension to make the task easier in an emergency.) But I at least know the process in theory if not in practice.
Because little kids would open the door on the thruway.
The electronic latch lowers the window before popping the door so that you don't damage the window or the door seal. In a software update, Tesla also added the "lower the window" functionality upon opening with the manual release, however the operator still has the potential to cause damage if they're too quick to push the door open.
The electronic latch makes lots of sense, because the car is software defined... the button tells the computer to trigger the door open routine. The manual latch is there as a required safety backup.
E90alex
Active Member
Believe it or not, Tesla did not invent frameless car windows. They have existed for over 20 years. Amazingly, all the other automakers with frameless windows can still manage to drop the window even with a mechanical door release and without potential for glass damage for using the mechanical door release.
Who has time for a work around or are even thinking about a work around when you have a Toddler in a Car Seat trapped in a Car when it is 90 degrees out?
