SDRick
Active Member
Sounds like going for the window openers as soon as possible would be the best course of action?
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What would happen if you end up in water?
- Thread starter modelx007
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- Driving Dynamics Model X
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
That's my plan. At least the car floats and that should give ample time to roll the window down.
The car does Not float. A friend just died in a Tesla submerged in a 10-15’ deep pond.
I’m sure the family (very wealthy and politically connected) will be suing Tesla.
Not only does the car sink, but it catches fire: thermal runaway from water ingress into the battery.
And, as pointed out, the doors will no longer work because they are electric.
These cars are death traps if submerged. Much much worse than a non-EV.
jabloomf1230
Minister of Silly Walks
Condolences for your friend. It's extremely difficult to escape from any submerged car because of the water pressure on the doors. Most cars today have electric windows, so Tesla is not unique in that regard either. Tesla doors have manual emergency releases that are not electric, but again, water pressure is likely to preclude using the release if the car is submerged. Tesla battery packs are pressurized to prevent water incursion, but obviously at a depth of 15 feet, that may not work indefinitely. It's unclear from your example if your friend's car caught fire or your were making a generalization. As to Teslas's liability, the circumstances surrounding how the car entered the pond will be the deciding factor.
⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️
Village Idiot
CaptUAL
Member
Why would any logical and reasonably gifted person be stupid enough to drive a 4,ooo+ pound electric car into water?
NJturtlePower
Living the Dream, Driving the Future!
Why was the vehicle driven into the pond? That is the #1 BEFORE all this other BS.
Drunk / DUI driver? Distracted driver?
Might as well sue the pond owner too, but but they'll lose either way.
She owned the pond!Why was the vehicle driven into the pond? That is the #1 BEFORE all this other BS.
Drunk / DUI driver? Distracted driver?
Might as well sue the pond owner too, but but they'll lose either way.
Car went into reverse by mistake. The touch screen shift is incredibly poor UI design.
Angela Chao drowned after fatal mistake in her Tesla, called for help
NJturtlePower
Living the Dream, Driving the Future!
I use predictive shifting, works great 95% of the time.
No issues swiping the other 5% after 5 years with Model 3's with stalks, non-issue.
So the brakes didn't work either? She pulled a k-turn right at the very edge?
At least they admit it was driver error... everybody likes to point fingers rather than take personal responsibility.
jabloomf1230
Minister of Silly Walks
I doubt that those would work against the exterior water pressure. Has anyone seen an example of the mechanical releases working in even a partially submerged Tesla?
SDRick
Active Member
You are correct, one needs to wait until the pressure equalizes to open the open door. What makes this particularly problematic is typically a car will flip upside down, so there's that as well.
And this is a major source of our problems. People thinking that they are "special" because they are wealthy and politically connected. We became a corrupt oligarchy and yes, we know now she was an in-law of McConnell, and a billionaire, underscoring the merger of wealth and Washington politics. Would you be similarly empathic for someone who died because of the old Chevy bought with last savings misfired an airbag?
Was she drunk or under drugs? This is the first thought I had reading stories.
But as she was so wealthy and connected, and owned the pond, we may never know it.
Good question. Does the mechanical release let the window slide down a little? If so then it will let water in and equilibrate pressure. Also, she probably died from water getting inside, not from getting bored on life, so at some point the mechanical release of the door should work eventually. A test would be a really interesting and important learning project though, I totally agree.
The glass hammers and spring loaded glass breaker devices like Resqme won’t do jack on laminated windows, and most people won’t keep a spare charged Sawzall in the car:
info.oregon.aaa.com
The X, like a lot of recent cars, has all laminated windows and no tempered glass. I think that’s by recent recommendations because those are safer supposedly.
Now I don’t know if you had a Resqme in there and used it like 20 times, could you then kick it out? If not, her only hope was to wait until the car was almost full of water and then open the door.
In a civil suit, the prosecutor could make hay of the X’s on screen gear shifter being confusing I suppose or the mechanical door release being obscure. The former is bs and the latter I think is a legit concern.
Tesla could mitigate this by having an onboarding process for any new driver profile in the car where they have to demonstrate they know the manual door release before they can start driving it.
AAA: Laminated Glass Doesn't Give Drivers a Break | AAA Oregon/Idaho
Unlike tempered glass, vehicle escape tools can’t break the stronger material BOISE – (July 16, 2019) – Due to a revision in the federal motor vehicle safety standards, an increasing number of late-model vehicles are now equipped with side windows made out of laminated glass, a stronger material...
info.oregon.aaa.com
The X, like a lot of recent cars, has all laminated windows and no tempered glass. I think that’s by recent recommendations because those are safer supposedly.
Now I don’t know if you had a Resqme in there and used it like 20 times, could you then kick it out? If not, her only hope was to wait until the car was almost full of water and then open the door.
In a civil suit, the prosecutor could make hay of the X’s on screen gear shifter being confusing I suppose or the mechanical door release being obscure. The former is bs and the latter I think is a legit concern.
Tesla could mitigate this by having an onboarding process for any new driver profile in the car where they have to demonstrate they know the manual door release before they can start driving it.
Bill D
Member
I agree. I have 2 Teslas. One with a shifter stalk and one I just bought with on-screen shifting. When alternating between them, I must admit it's not intuitive to move my hand up to put the car in drive and move it down to put it in reverse. Every other car I've driven was the opposite.
I'm sure I'll get used to it but right now, as a newcomer to it, I feel like Tesla's on-screen sliding car could be replaced with 4 fixed-position icons labled PRND, which is the industry standard. This would match what Tesla shows on their instrument cluster and on their charging tray,
Accidently going in the wrong direction could be fatal, as it was with Angela Chao.
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