Turtle on its back (upside down X) what happens?

[Screwbal]

Taking delivery of a 100D X tomorrow and trading in my S. A curious question cane to mind I haven’t seen here before so here I am.

Let’s say you flip/roll any normal car and it’s on its lid. People in the car or responders can easily open the doors because of where the hinges are.

Not let’s say the X winds up upside down... because of the way the doors open in back I imagine the only way you’re getting out is to break the window or th jaws of life? Depending on your passengers they may have problems getting out of the window hole.

Has this come up before as a topic?

 

[outie]

Is it really easy to open the doors for normal cars when it’s upside down? I’d imagine the door/hinge is likely damaged making opening just as difficult.

 

[Baja30]

Go out the front doors. If it's that bad of an accident, then Jaws of Life come out.

 

[HankLloydRight]

We have this conversation frequently among my Delorean owner's crowd. It's a real problem, because in the Delorean, there are only two doors, and they don't have that "falcon" hinge in the middle. It's claimed that if the car is on the roof, you can push open the door and leverage the car to tilt enough to get out, although I'm not sure anyone has tried this yet.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Open one FSD and push it back on its wheels.

 

[vandacca]

Not-so-serious answer: Open only 1 FWD door and have it right-itself

Slightly more serious answer: The center-of-gravity is so low on this vehicle, it's next to impossible to roll-over. You would have to have some serious speed and drive it into a ditch or drive 2 wheels off of a ramp

 

[Discoducky]

X is near impossible to turtle unless pinned, but if it is you can go out the front doors or rear hatch or open any window (be sure to try this as an EV is most likely to still have power to body controls) and crawl out. Or carry a window break tool and use it to shatter the safety glass.

 

[GregKo]

Guys,

There is an emergency handle that opens the FWDs in the event of a power failure or roll over. The handle / pull rope or what ever its called is behind the speaker grill in each door. Just pop the grill off and pull it.

Be safe.
Greg

 

[vandacca]

Guys,

There is an emergency handle that opens the FWDs in the event of a power failure or roll over. The handle / pull rope or what ever its called is behind the speaker grill in each door. Just pop the grill off and pull it.

Be safe.
Greg

FWD doors are very heavy. It's very hard to manually open when upright, and I suspect would be next-to-impossible to manually open when upside-down.

 

[Peteybabes]

i wouldn't be surprised if there's an explosive charge that blows the doors off like what's found in the Mercedes SLS in case of a rollover...also called "explosive bolts" i believe.

can anybody confirm?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

i wouldn't be surprised if there's an explosive charge that blows the doors off like what's found in the Mercedes SLS in case of a rollover...also called "explosive bolts" i believe.

can anybody confirm?

Wouldn't want to be inside if they overdo it Italian-Job-style.

Not a job for Takata (or Arthur).

 

[Az_Rael]

Is it really easy to open the doors for normal cars when it’s upside down? I’d imagine the door/hinge is likely damaged making opening just as difficult.

THIS. Odds are the car would not be sitting perfectly wheels up, and some of the door frames would have gotten bent in whatever accident resulted in the rollover. I think the fellows who rolled an S off a cliff a while back had to crawl out a gap in the broken pano roof as they couldn't get the doors open.

The solution is to keep glass breakers accessible to everyone in the vehicle.

 

[SSedan]

why too much thought being put into this. We can not plan for every scenario, it is impossible to plan for every wildly improbable thing that could happen.

No matter how much planning is done someone will find something irrational to fixate on.

If you are planning to roll the thing softly enough to not break the glass while you are in the back seat then the Model X is not for you. If you are planning to drive it while doing your best to avoid accidents and want the premium luxury SUV then buy one.

 

[DFibRL8R]

There are many variables in a severe crash that might impede escape. Entanglement can occur limiting the occupant's ability to exit even if all the doors open perfectly. Many of the Model X's safety features (such as low center of gravity to minimize rollover risk, structural rigidity, mass, large front-end crumple zone) decrease the chances of being trapped in a collision. As for the OP's question, I would go with exiting the front doors, rolling down a window or glass breakage as first escape options if the vehicle was on it's roof. Maybe opening the rear lift gate would work but it could be more risky if the vehicle is unstable.

 

[DrivingRockies]

Surprisingly difficult to find photos/videos of a rolled-over Tesla. Even NHTSA videos... Or I forgot how to internet.

 

[Ardie]

The more believable (and horrible) possibility is going into the water, where most cars nose forward, hit the bottom of the lake/river, and keep nosing forward until it is on its back.
Or, if you should happen to swerve to avoid a squirrel/deer/pedestrian/bicyclist, and go off an embankment into the weeds, I suppose your car could end up on its back.

In either case, open one of the front doors. They shouldn't have any problems opening upside down.
No? Then roll down the window. There are four; one of them ought to still be working.
No? Then perhaps the rear deck will open up enough for you to squeeze out through the rear.
No? Then kick out the front windshield. They are designed to pop out when a heavy object (normally you) hits the windshield from the inside.
No? Then sit back and relax. Your car has (hopefully) called back home about your mishap, and help will be on the way.
No? Then I hope you brought a cat. Stay with it. It should still have 4 of its 9 lives left.


-- Ardie
(I hope this isn't the result of a "Hey, y'all, watch this!" moment.)

 

[DrivingRockies]

swerve to avoid a squirrel/deer

Bad. Don't do that.

 

[travwill]

Thinking about it, the FWDs may be easier to open than a regular door with the manual release. I could imagine either car would have some roof compression. On a regular door car this would likely compress against the door not allowing it to swing open from the side. On the X, I'd imagine that the bottom of the door (now at top) would still be able to be pushed outward due to the hinge allowing for it, even if the top of the FWD is against the ground...

 

[Xenoilphobe]

 

[TOBASH]

There is a USA legal requirement that doors need to open in this scenario.

Best,

T