The Dangerous Feature in Tesla's Doors

These emergency door releases should be made highly visible, like they are in aircraft.

No. They should have regular handles like 99.9% of every other vehicle on the road. Same goes for Rivian.

At least they have a high crash test rating, so you have a high likelihood of being alive after hitting that tree, but it sort of makes it worse since you are then trapped alive inside a burning vehicle. You might ask why they have electric door openers, and as far as I could research, it seems to be a safety issue where they are more safe from opening during a crash (keeping the occupants from being ejected), and you don't have to have a counterweight in the doors that mechanical door locks need to have in order to keep shut during a crash. Not sure if this is the only reason, though. My Volkswagen ID. 4 has electric door handles too, but the smart thing is that the emergency mechanical override is the exact same handle, you just pull it twice a bit harder (further out than for the electric opening). This also works for the exterior handles, which are normally operated by a button on the inside of the handles. This is likely what you would try in any case when you are trying to get out of a car when panicking.

I doubt you would notice these if the car is on fire and you are panicking and trying to get out. Better would be to have handles that double as both electric and emergency mechanical openers, such as in for example Volkswagen cars.

Yes, this should really be codified in regulation. If Elon didn't have his hands in the back side of so many politicians it would be already.

In the short term, every Tesla sold should come with one of these mounted in the back seat area. [Cutting/breaking tool](https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-Emergency-Cutter-Window-Accessories/dp/B073JCMTW2?crid=3FSRI9JPKE33P&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9._hr9hTcgsT4DJXfMinZKbPM0cdiq3yjFSvBKZUFGEFrWbCZnlcYu5AUOCtLgySrV8kmHjvyiDGZ-8DQJ9g7T1ZTekCDQdlZ3j6oomrkzDDpoMT4nPe7i_rFEaDnx4dO05WyGbEmY4upgwGANEWxJ2d8Vy4eZNXRbyiagd4dz8rN730LznMOyVVb_epjQE0j-vPB-DY2adK_AXoFga-MEP__tvv-MI90UX07tzfEhs2SrlxkWjh7WI_nk589xvYSzc-5rVn1ZVNpGK35--4-rphcBkeF3y33FuDhhs-ZBQ-E.s_L0zV2v1yEwWxw4VQ1RFb9qulFRzhk5XHWLNty9kvg&dib_tag=se&keywords=car%2Bseat%2Bbelt%2Bcutter&qid=1767128272&sprefix=car%2Bseat%2Bbelt%2Bcutte%2Caps%2C142&sr=8-1-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1&linkCode=ll1&tag=standishlinks-20&linkId=3ce67b124f04fe669ecf1f1f340b96ed&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl)

Isn't this pretty much the industry standard when an electric opening system is in place? I think only Tesla does it differently because they had to reinvent the wheel.

I would hope so.

They don't even mention the capacitive touch open doors on cyber truck that dogs keep opening and falling out the car while it's moving

These aren’t going to do a damn thing because of Tesla’s laminated glass (versus tempered glass). Best case scenario, you *might* make a nice little hole in the glass.

I would think a simple software update could address this issue. Perhaps automatically unlocking all the doors when a sudden impact occurs. You would still need to push the door open to get out.

That would not work if there where an electrical issue after an impact. They need a mechanical solution that is obvious when someone is in an emergency situation.

Hmm 🤔 what about integration of some sort of accelerometer into the doors? That could detect sudden hard braking and impact?? I would like them to fix the icing issue with these handles it’s annoying

If you have child lock on the back seat then it doesn't matter what your door handles look like.

Right. But, most sensible people would disable them when not needed.

And anyone saddled with them should paint the manual parts orange or add Porsche GT3 style cloth hooks. Meanwhile my lucid has manual door openers by the handle. Annoyingly the external doors are flush.