There’s a couple things that I would like to point out here. I am a Tesla owner, not a huge fanboi or anything, but this is another press example of trying to incite fear.
One: this vehicle was travelling over 200km/hr. It hit a cement barrier. That car could have been made of bubble wrap, it wasnt going to be pretty, no matter what.
Two: there is, in fact, a mechanical override latch in Tesla doors. You pull up on the latch at the top of the panel. It looks like a door handle. In fact, most people who are first riders in my car, end up pulling it before they realize there’s a door button there. Which is a pain in the ass because the door window doesn’t automatically roll down when it closes and it can damage the seals. But yeah, there’s a mechanical latch right there for the pulling.
Also there’s other vehicles that have the exact same door systems, but the press also neglects to ever mention that. Corvettes are one that comes immediately to mind.
Again not totally a Tesla fanboi, I bought it before Elon went off the deep end. I do like the car though. Don’t hit shit at 200km/hr or drunk drive into ponds, and you are generally fine.
The front latch is fine, but the rear one is a wire behind a piece of trim you have to remove (unless that has changed). The passengers in the rear would have to know where it was and how to use it. In an emergency, the likelihood of being able to do that is pretty low.
Having worked at the plant in Fremont: The design has probably changed multiple times just in the past month. They were constantly making small little changes to the way various things were put together so that not even a single batch of cars made in the same day would necessarily be exactly the same design. It was one of the few cool things about how they operate.
Safety of the workers in the plant worked the same way. Some dude biffed his forklift and almost took me out with his long-ass load. Managers and safety people were on the scene in less than 5 minutes and already laid out new rules for the forklifts about how long their loads could be to prevent it happening again.
Oof, glad you did not get hit. That is fucking scary. I have heard some shit about the factories, but go fast and break things does not work in this scenario
The craziest thing that happened while I was there was some dude brought a gun, had it in his locker, and ended up shooting himself taking out when going home.
It’s sort of changed. There’s a big bend in the rubber now (which the passengers strangely think is a door handle), and it is an obvious grab point. Underneath is the panel, but it’s not one that you have to grab with your fingernails anymore, it’s got a big red tab that pops right off with the littlest pressure, exposing the wire. To me it’s fairly obvious, but I still think there should be a mandatory sticker on the panel. It’s not the greatest system either, but it exists whereas these news articles are trying to shape the narrative that it doesn’t (just like when that lady drunk drove into the pond). Probably isn’t the worst idea to ditch the rubber in the pocket over the override, that part is pretty stupid and doesn’t really serve a purpose anyways.
For sure needs to be more obvious/put a sticker on it, and this still doesn’t excuse the driver. If other cars are doing the same thing they should be getting the same coverage, but Tesla gets clicks.
Thanks for the insight. I still want to voice my opinion that the window design is bad and Tesla and any other manufacturer using that design should feel bad.
I had a 2007 Subaru Impreza with frameless windows. There was no need to to worry about the window when closing the door. It simply made a pressure seal against the doorframe gasket.
There’s a lot of cars that use this same design, which I agree is annoying. I also have a Mini Cooper and it’s the exact same damn problem. It’s always a bugger to wash them too because water gets inside the window trim and then every time you open the door it smears water along the bottom and the top, because the window recesses to be closed.
There’s a couple things that I would like to point out here. I am a Tesla owner, not a huge fanboi or anything, but this is another press example of trying to incite fear.
One: this vehicle was travelling over 200km/hr. It hit a cement barrier. That car could have been made of bubble wrap, it wasnt going to be pretty, no matter what.
Two: there is, in fact, a mechanical override latch in Tesla doors. You pull up on the latch at the top of the panel. It looks like a door handle. In fact, most people who are first riders in my car, end up pulling it before they realize there’s a door button there. Which is a pain in the ass because the door window doesn’t automatically roll down when it closes and it can damage the seals. But yeah, there’s a mechanical latch right there for the pulling.
Also there’s other vehicles that have the exact same door systems, but the press also neglects to ever mention that. Corvettes are one that comes immediately to mind.
Again not totally a Tesla fanboi, I bought it before Elon went off the deep end. I do like the car though. Don’t hit shit at 200km/hr or drunk drive into ponds, and you are generally fine.
The front latch is fine, but the rear one is a wire behind a piece of trim you have to remove (unless that has changed). The passengers in the rear would have to know where it was and how to use it. In an emergency, the likelihood of being able to do that is pretty low.
Having worked at the plant in Fremont: The design has probably changed multiple times just in the past month. They were constantly making small little changes to the way various things were put together so that not even a single batch of cars made in the same day would necessarily be exactly the same design. It was one of the few cool things about how they operate.
Safety of the workers in the plant worked the same way. Some dude biffed his forklift and almost took me out with his long-ass load. Managers and safety people were on the scene in less than 5 minutes and already laid out new rules for the forklifts about how long their loads could be to prevent it happening again.
Oof, glad you did not get hit. That is fucking scary. I have heard some shit about the factories, but go fast and break things does not work in this scenario
The craziest thing that happened while I was there was some dude brought a gun, had it in his locker, and ended up shooting himself taking out when going home.
Just…wow
It’s sort of changed. There’s a big bend in the rubber now (which the passengers strangely think is a door handle), and it is an obvious grab point. Underneath is the panel, but it’s not one that you have to grab with your fingernails anymore, it’s got a big red tab that pops right off with the littlest pressure, exposing the wire. To me it’s fairly obvious, but I still think there should be a mandatory sticker on the panel. It’s not the greatest system either, but it exists whereas these news articles are trying to shape the narrative that it doesn’t (just like when that lady drunk drove into the pond). Probably isn’t the worst idea to ditch the rubber in the pocket over the override, that part is pretty stupid and doesn’t really serve a purpose anyways.
For sure needs to be more obvious/put a sticker on it, and this still doesn’t excuse the driver. If other cars are doing the same thing they should be getting the same coverage, but Tesla gets clicks.
Thanks for the insight. I still want to voice my opinion that the window design is bad and Tesla and any other manufacturer using that design should feel bad.
I had a 2007 Subaru Impreza with frameless windows. There was no need to to worry about the window when closing the door. It simply made a pressure seal against the doorframe gasket.
There’s a lot of cars that use this same design, which I agree is annoying. I also have a Mini Cooper and it’s the exact same damn problem. It’s always a bugger to wash them too because water gets inside the window trim and then every time you open the door it smears water along the bottom and the top, because the window recesses to be closed.