Why didn't Tesla combine the electronic door release button with the mechanical emergency handle?

[Gauss Guzzler]

The emergency handles on the front doors are nicely made and well positioned in a familiar/intuitive location. Why did Tesla camouflage them and add separate electronic release buttons instead of simply integrating the electronic triggers into the mechanical handles?

The emergency handle requires a pretty long pull to finally release so they could have easily designed it to trigger the electronic release with the slightest pull such that the window sequence could still activate in time even if the handle was pulled all the way fairly quickly.

Style and ergonomics aside, there is a safety aspect to this that has always bothered me. Passengers may not know about the emergency handle as it's fairly well disguised and even the owner is likely to forget about it in a panic. I can certainly imagine someone buying an old Tesla on Craigslist and driving it for years without ever knowing about the release handle. That guy who was stuck in his own Cadillac clearly didn't know/remember the emergency release and while the Tesla handle is easier to find, it still needs to be found.

So now we have the Plaid S being delivered with a critical flaw that causes a complete shutdown of the 12V system and at least two of the first owners have had to use the mechanical handles to escape - one would have died had he not found the emergency handle as quickly as he did. They'll find the cause of these 12V failures and get all the cars updated promptly but there will surely be other 12V failures in the future accompanied by life-threatening fires/floods/etc. and one of these times someone is going to fail to find the emergency handle.

At some point in the Model 3 design stage a bunch of engineers gathered in a conference room for a PowerPoint presentation of the proposed handle design and surely someone must have asked:
"Wait, why do we need two separate release systems in two different locations? Can't they just be combined for better aesthetics, ergonomics, cost, and safety?"

Surely they discussed the safety implications of their decision to camouflage the emergency handle to prevent damage from accidental use.
"Wait, we're going to deliberately try to hide the emergency release?"

Surely they all knew about the Cadillac story and the many negative forum posts regarding the 3/Y emergency handles long before they even started designing the Plaid, yet they implemented the same system in the S refresh.

Why would they do that?

 

[UncertainTimes]

Same reason they’re using the yoke steering wheel.

 

[Tam]

...Why...

2012 to 2020 Model S and Model X front doors' interior handles are functional with both electricity and without.

With electricity, it's lighter to pull the handle. Without electricity, that same handle also opens the front door but you might feel it's not as light.

Starting 2021, all front door handles are like the 3 and Y: 2 separate ways at 2 different locations to open front doors: push electronically or pull mechanically.

I have no idea why.

 

[fortunex]

If pulling the manual handle might break the glass, then combining the electrical switch with it during the first few degrees of pull increases the chance that the manual release would be triggered too fast.

That also takes away from the 'future' aesthetic where features are activated by push / capacitive buttons that don't rely on simple mechanics, if possible, and the action is separated from the trigger.

I can see why they did it, but it doesn't work as well in real life. Definitely a nice blueprint dream, tho.

The emergency handle is well placed, imo. The first time in the car I pulled it up on the way out without realizing it. As does anyone else who isn't taught the proper way to exit. It's camouflaged in the right place where it will be if needed.

That said, the design of the entirety of the door is easily at the top of my list for worst features of the car. I like the design of the cubby holes and window buttons (thankfully they kept those physical and not on the screen!), everything else is awkward.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Oh, I didn't know that the S/X had used combined electronic/mechanical handles from the start! It's easy to imagine pulling one of those handles too quickly so I wonder if they saw excessive damage occurring and devised the 3 solution in response.

It'd be a bummer if that really was the case. They nearly had it right with the S and by simply changing to the more convoluted 3 handle they might have had it perfected.

If you haven't tried the emergency handle recently, roll down the window and give it a test. The spring force is uncomfortably strong and you have to pull it uncomfortably far before it even begins to engage the very firm mechanical resistance of the latch. There's just no way any sane person could yank it all the way open in a fraction of a second. Tesla could have easily made the first 5mm of travel be soft and triggered the release within that range. Yet they passed up two opportunities to do so, first with the S refresh, and again with the 3/Y door panel update.

 

[EVer Hopeful]

one would have died had he not found the emergency handle as quickly as he did

I don't necessarily disagree with the point you're making, but I have to say that it's a complicated piece of mechanical equipment and it's beholden on the owners/renters/drivers to familiarise themselves with that equipment before using it. Maybe that guy didn't die because he'd RTFM and maybe the guy who got stuck didn't RTFM

 

[earthwormjim]

If pulling the manual handle might break the glass, then combining the electrical switch with it during the first few degrees of pull increases the chance that the manual release would be triggered too fast.

My 20+ year old BMW with frameless windows has no issue getting the timing right with the handle pull. Every other frameless car ever built seems to have no issue with it. Although they all seem to suffer accelerated wear of the motors and regulators.


But I think that question is really not the correct question, why do we have a button rather than just use the handle. The real question is, why does the car have frameless windows at all?

They have zero benefit, and tons of down sides. Sealing is more difficult, they add more wear and tear to the window motors and regulators, they require engineering to ensure they don't damage the trim when the door is opened, they leave the glass more vulnerable to breaking since the edge is always exposed, they reduce the rigidity of the doors, and in the case of Tesla they confuse passengers.

Frameless windows are a monumentally stupid design decision, with no upsides. They don't even look better, when the doors are closed you can't really tell the windows are frameless, unless you stare long enough to notice unbroken trim piece lines.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

Well when someone rents a Tesla at the airport and dies because a fire knocked out the 12V power system I'm pretty sure the judge isn't going to say: "Welp, dude shoulda RTFM"

Also I shouldn't have to RTFM at my passengers every freakin' time.

It's just a poor design, legally and ergonomically, so I'm surprised that they didn't take the opportunity to revise it with the introduction of the Model Y, or the refreshed S, or the refreshed Model 3 door panels, or...

 

[EVer Hopeful]

Why shouldn't someone driving a complicated piece of equipment have some knowledge about that piece of equipment?

Should they also not know anything about regenerative braking or how to use a Supercharger, or how cruise control works on that vehicle, or at what speed TACC cuts out, or how Hold works, or how to work the lights or the mirrors or whether or not the car has a spare wheel etc etc? At what point does personal responsibility of the renter stop?

 

[Candleflame]

If pulling the manual handle might break the glass, then combining the electrical switch with it during the first few degrees of pull increases the chance that the manual release would be triggered too fast.

That also takes away from the 'future' aesthetic where features are activated by push / capacitive buttons that don't rely on simple mechanics, if possible, and the action is separated from the trigger.

I can see why they did it, but it doesn't work as well in real life. Definitely a nice blueprint dream, tho.

The emergency handle is well placed, imo. The first time in the car I pulled it up on the way out without realizing it. As does anyone else who isn't taught the proper way to exit. It's camouflaged in the right place where it will be if needed.

That said, the design of the entirety of the door is easily at the top of my list for worst features of the car. I like the design of the cubby holes and window buttons (thankfully they kept those physical and not on the screen!), everything else is awkward.

thats a bit stupid anyway. the glass retracts very quicky and tesla patched the cars that even the emergency release puts the window down.
Yeah, if you yank it superquick you could technically hit the glass but it retracts so quickly the emergency release can just be used as a normal door opener now...

 

[Candleflame]

Why shouldn't someone driving a complicated piece of equipment have some knowledge about that piece of equipment?

Should they also not know anything about regenerative braking or how to use a Supercharger, or how cruise control works on that vehicle, or at what speed TACC cuts out, or how Hold works, or how to work the lights or the mirrors or whether or not the car has a spare wheel etc etc? At what point does personal responsibility of the renter stop?

yes.
the british driving test was modified in the late 2000s to include exactly that. Test starts with the examiner asking you a few questions about the car - show me how you check the brake fluid. show me how to make sure your foglight is working. show me how to adjust your mirrors or where the spare wheel is.

when I did it i was just a formality, he wanted me to show how to change the windshield washer fluid and where i would top up the engine oil. and i think on the interior i had to show him how to switch on the high beams ha.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

It sure is going to be expensive if Tesla ever gets hit with a lawsuit for making the emergency handles so unknown. I can't quite figure out what could have gone wrong with this person's car to disable the door buttons but not the headlights, but he said he had to kick out the window after errors came up onscreen and smoke began to fill the cabin.

 

[3sr+buyer]

If pulling the manual handle might break the glass, then combining the electrical switch with it during the first few degrees of pull increases the chance that the manual release would be triggered too fast.

In some other cars, the inside door handle is designed so that one pull unlocks the door if locked, while a second pull in that case opens the door. A single inside door handle could be designed to active the electrical door release with frameless window lowering on the first pull, while activating the mechanical door release on the second pull, by emulating the "pull once to unlock, pull again to open" mechanism in some other cars.

Yes, as noted by another poster above, the whole problem could be avoided by not having frameless windows, which do not seem to have any advantages for non-convertibles.

 

[EVer Hopeful]

Frameless windows are a monumentally stupid design decision, with no upsides. They don't even look better, when the doors are closed you can't really tell the windows are frameless, unless you stare long enough to notice unbroken trim piece lines.

Have to say I agree with this

They probably also make it easier to break in too

 

[Big Earl]

The emergency handles on the front doors are nicely made and well positioned in a familiar/intuitive location.

Passengers may not know about the emergency handle as it's fairly well disguised and even the owner is likely to forget about it in a panic.

Which is it? Familiar and intuitive, or disguised and likely to be forgotten about?

To date, I haven't heard of a single person getting trapped in their Model 3/Y.

 

[APotatoGod]

Which is it? Familiar and intuitive, or disguised and likely to be forgotten about?

To date, I haven't heard of a single person getting trapped in their Model 3/Y.

I find the emergency handles to be far too familiar and intuitive, I always have to warn passengers not to use them, but instead push the button (which often still confuses them, they think they just activated the window switch).

Thanks to the perpetual need to remind passengers about it, I find it hard to believe that any driver who even semi-regularly has passengers could ever not know about the emergency lever.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Which is it? Familiar and intuitive, or disguised and likely to be forgotten about?

To date, I haven't heard of a single person getting trapped in their Model 3/Y.

It's both. If you come from a "normal" car, the manual handles are "intuitive" and often the first thing you grab (instead of trying the button).

If you have used the car for a while and only was taught to open the door with the button, you may be completely unaware the manual release even exists and never think to go looking for it in an emergency. It's a case of partial knowledge being more dangerous than full ignorance.

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

To date, I haven't heard of a single person getting trapped in their Model 3/Y.

Hmm... there's an example just 3 posts up from yours.