Tesla being investigated over door handles. Bloomberg

Sounds like Trump is just looking for another donation from fElon

If past experience is any indication, Tesla will weasel out of this with a *Trust me, bro*.

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Has nobody thought of simply having a fail safe mode by default whereby, if power is lost, or there is an impact, the doors open? There could be an option to override it, perhaps with a disclaimer such as "You should only disable this in unusual situations, e.g. some people who want to kill you might ram your car knowing this will cause the doors to open".

After this the European authorities should investigate, followed by the Australian authorities.

Tesla door handles are electric switches. No power = rescuers outside the car cannot open them.

And next they should investigate their other car models with the exact same problem.

The stock price is going to climb higher on this news.

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Just getting around to the faulty door handle issue huh? I guess they'll get on to the promise and sale of false self driving any year now.

What about the back seat handles that don't exist except under a mat inside the door pockets? I'm especially curious how this will work on their cyber cabs. People riding alone in the back seat can't get out if the power is cut. They don't know that there's an emergency handle hidden deep in the door pockets. It's such a stupid design.

Yes they should.

Full Self Opening door handles by the end of the year

They have window punch tools for this very reason

The rear doors are not required by law to be able to be opened from the inside of the car in most countries. This is why mechanical child locks can exist, there are no way to open a rear door when childlock is activated on any cars. But if you do add an emergency handle like they did, it should be very obvious and easy to reach, not needing a 3 page manual to know how to get to it and operate it!

Yes. These electronic handles created a problem where one wasn't needed. All in an effort to save money ... err ... look futuristic?

Only the Model Y from a specific year. Isn't this a problem on all their cars?

Yes but child locks don’t prevent the door being opened from the outside, so emergency services can still access the vehicle.

Hang on. The government that Musk paid to get elected is investigating Musk. Spoiler alert: Tesla will be found in full compliance. This is akin to a drug dealer investigating the negative effects of drugs. Nothing to see. Next

Yeah, was just pointing out how it is "legal". Still stupid design. The exterior handle on all doors physically moves and there is already a physical way to open the door due to the emergency handles on the inside. Should just make the exterior handle use the mechanical option and ditch the electronic version of it. Sad thing is that more automakers are going the full electronic way too, there are some things in a car that should stay mechanical.

Which are less than useless against the Model Y's laminated windows.

> any year now Decade

Just imagine fighter jet pilots unable to eject because their ejection handle was not mechanical and depended on electric power that their plane just lost because their childish creator thought "it was cool".

There is a fail safe manual pull to open the door. Next time just admit you don’t know the car

I believe you actually want the doors locked during the crash to keep occupants in the car with the airbags. They really just need manual door handles in easily accessible places. There's no technical reason they aren't doing this, it's purely aesthetics.

Perfect. Stock will climb another 3%

Well, as long as it looks cool. 😎

I think they are also needed because the stupid frameless windows needs to go down slightly before the door opens.

As far as I remember, the reason given was for improved aerodynamics. But that was a problem solved in the 1980s by Euro hatchbacks with very low drag coefficients, using mechanical linkages

Elon mustn’t have gotten around to dismantling that agency.

This corrupt admin won’t do a thing unless they are trying to hurt Elon. Nada. Egress has dangerous from the word go.

That's for the inset/flush design and not the electronic portion. Theoretically you could have a flush handle that still worked mechanically. But that would be more complex which means more time and money.

Elon will bribe Trump, and this investigation will go away. It’s as simple as that. We no longer have a federal government for the people.

>There is a fail safe manual pull to open the door. I know. But, in any case, an investigation has been opened. For some time I have been thinking some kind of fail safe system might improve safety. I have a professional interest in security through which I am aware that buildings sometimes have systems that will make sure doors open automatically in the case of a fire or loss of power. For an example have a look at this: [https://forums.fireservice.co.uk/topic/2333-electrically-powered-sliding-doors-as-moe/](https://forums.fireservice.co.uk/topic/2333-electrically-powered-sliding-doors-as-moe/) I though that, perhaps, what has been deemed a safety feature for buildings might transfer to cars. When I saw this post I decided to share these thoughts in a comment here. People who are unconscious cannot use a manual pull. If a car is full of smoke they might not be able to find it. The only person conscious in the car might not be the owner, who might have forgotten to give all his passengers a full safety briefing, and I could go on. >Next time just admit you don’t know the car If you want to get on with people, and at the same time come across as both intelligent and helpful, I suggest you adopt a somewhat less dictatorial, more discursive, approach, rather than deciding the person you are replying to is ignorant or stupid, and then saying something to put them down based on assumptions you have made that could very well be incorrect. For example, given your state of mind when you made that comment you could have simply used your first sentence. I could have then explained why I think that isn't enough to maximise safety, as I have above. However, by following through with "Next time just admit you don’t know the car" I am struggling to avoid forming a negative opinion of you. Why do that to yourself when we have only just met?

… I’m as anti-elite/corporate as you can probably get, but they ARE in compliance… if you forget to change your 12V battery or read your owner’s manual that’s on you…

They have mechanical releases…

I imagine, then, something mechanical, with a built in delay of a second or so, causing the doors to pop open after an impact, would be perfect. Also manual door handles of course, but no point in someone tugging on it if the door is locked.

I assume this means the Tesla stocks is mysteriously going to rise another 15% in the next days.

I install access control system on buildings. Code is extremely clear on this. If it is a fire exit, of which most exterior doors are, there is no room for interpretation. The exit must have a intuitive and standard way to egress in the case of an emergency. This even applies to top level security rooms of which I maintain.

The article is right there, available to read: "NHTSA’s investigation is focused on the operability of the electronic door locks ***from outside of the vehicl***e as that circumstance is the only one in which there is no manual way to open the door."

Other cars with electronic handles don't have this problem. On VW/Audi for example, to activate their manual door release, you just pull on the handle extra hard, then pull the handle again to open the door. They designed it so that anyone naturally panicking after a crash would get it open.

There is at least one other problem with electronic handles that other manufacturers may have as well. When the LV battery dies after a parent has put their kid in the back seat. I've seen stories about this not only for Tesla but for other manufacturers as well (Ford iirc).

That's what I said, except with the addition that it was sold on cheap economy hatchbacks

I was told they have a manual override

Crazy how long this has taken, but "covers certain Model Y vehicles from the 2021 model year" is even crazier!!! Isn't every vehicle they make a deathtrap during power loss?

I just read [Another Article](https://autopostglobal.com/latest-scoops/photo-report/article/66083/?utm_source=msn&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=slidelink) that says that China is looking to outlaw hidden handles. If they do, manufacturers world-wide will be forced to change their designs.

In other news all auto safety regulators have been fired and seat belts are now optional

(supervised)

> Spoiler alert: Tesla will be found in full compliance The result depends on whether Elon behaves nicely

They need a switch to activate the window drop, but there's no reason that couldn't be piggybacked onto a mechanical latch mechanism.

It is, but the defect investigation is proceeding on one specific complaint, and they'll expand to every affected model if it comes to that.

Yes indeed, the Germans solved this in my 2012 Mercedes SLK where the windows drops an inch or so when opening and closing.

Someone should explain to the NHSTA that Musk is a rich Nazi and thus immune from regulatory action.

That's why he said "just imagine ".

To use the Tesla Model Y manual door release in an emergency (e.g., no power), pull up on the lever located in front of the window switches in the front doors. For the rear doors, open the door pocket, remove the rubber mat to reveal a slot, slide your finger in to lift the cover, and then pull the mechanical release cable forward. Always use the normal electronic door button for regular use, as the manual release is only for situations with no power. There is quite few videos about it as well for those who don't bother reading manuals.

They do for both front and rear. Check YT for Tesla Y manual door release.

Teslas designs around these issues are basically Jony Ive’s horrible “Form Over Function” mantra taken to the most idiotic and dangerous extremes. They should have made the stupid handles mechanical.