It wasn't an oversight, it is a feature because manual door pulls are old fashioned and not as cool.

Electronic windows were an improvement over hand cranked, but the doors could still be opened. Though I do wonder if they have ever been the cause of a loss of life.

I agree that this design should have never passed any safety board. That the ability to open the door can be disabled or made much more difficult.

Musk greased the right palms.

DOGE went after the people who could recall Elon's death machines first.

That's why they call it a "manual" release, not "emergency". To try and sneak under the radar for doing something so dangerous.

But the worst part is that at peak Tesla popularity, people were blaming the victims for not knowing that it was a small cable, hidden inside the door, under the liner in the door pocket.

I wouldn't even feel safe if I had a close electrician friend strip the batteries for use as a house battery.

They crashed near my town!

Our local news also covered it (linked in the article). The local Reddit board definitely noticed how quiet the media was about it.

Because you're right, the 911 dispatch records are public, the dispatcher mentioned that the people inside the vehicle were yelling for assistance. They were alive and awake. They just couldn't figure out how to escape.

God, what a stupid door handle design!

When the article (the original one) said “at least 12 people” had died trapped in Teslas, my first thought was, “At least 12 people are reported to have died, because that number sounds way too low.”

With how much media fuckery by billionaires is going on these days, I wouldn’t be surprised if many more casualties are going un- and under-reported. When rich people control media, they control people’s perception of reality. There’s so much blood on Elon Musk’s hands, it’s sickening.

Other fancy cars have similar issues. This is really something that should be dealt with through regulation.

Depends... how well do you like your back-seat passengers?

Lol, buying an electric car to own the libs.

In a CT you just send a mean tweet and the glass will break. Or at least something will.

Smart.

It would not work on a CT, unfortunately. A hammer, rock, or tree branch will do in a pinch, or one Good Samaritan managed to do it with his bare hands to rescue a kid from a fire (he went full Rip and Tear mode, and peeled it off the track I guess)

From what I have gathered glass breakers don't work on ~~tempered glass~~ laminated glass (which is what newer cars are now using). I read somewhere that fire fighters essentially have to use a sawzall in order to get through a window like that. Pretty much everything I can think of that's almost as compact as a glass break requires power or batteries of some kind which would be yet another thing to remember to charge and maintain.

Not that it would be OK as a commercial product, but I have wondered how small a shape charge could get and still make a good enough opening for egress.

something like this? a resqme?

we have this and i gifted it to family and friends too

Tempered glass will break easily with either an impact style glass breaker or the automatic punch type. Most cars use tempered glass for side windows. As a retired medic who has done more than my share of nasty car accidents, I absolutely hate impact glass breakers like you find on "Rescue knives". They almost always send broken glass shards all over my patient and I'm forced to kneel in said glass while working. The auto punch style tends to drop the glass shards more straight down minimizing having glass everywhere.

More Pro Tips from an old firefighter/rescue squad/medic: a $3.50US Harbor Freight auto center punch works as well for breaking glass as those fancy $50US glass breakers and is a worthy addition to your glove box. Toss a pencil and paper in there to take notes if needed also.

Safety glass cannot be broken with a glass breaker because it's a laminated glass with a plastic film holding everything together. It can be sawed with something as simple as a dull reciprocating saw blade though. But you need to get a hole into it first. A fire ax is probably the go to tool for that, but a Halligan tool will also work. (Pro tip: A Halligan tool will solve most issues involving things that block your way.) Some cars do use safety glass for side windows.

Super Important Pro Tip: Always, always try before you pry. No matter how bad an accident scene might look, it's amazing at what still works. Doors open, seat belts release, (in 20 years I never needed to cut a seat belt), and widows roll down, (even electric ones).

Final Pro Tip: Always, always be cautious when approaching a wreak. Stay away from the low side of a wreak and be super extra fearful of a car on it's side. Look under the car before you get close. Look for leaking fluids. Stay up wind of an EV if you see any kind smoke. Those fumes can kill you. Be wary of undetonated air bags. Don't stick your head into the car. About 100 cops are killed every year in the US because they get stupid and stick their heads into that situation.

All in all, the ultimate rule in rescue is "You are there to be a part of the solution to the problem. Don't be stupid and become part of the problem."

The crazy thing, I think that the other guys are imitating Tesla.

Tesla was an early adopter of electronic latches. They open slightly smoother than a mechanical latch. That smoothness is haptic feedback that became associated with "fancy car" in the buyer's head. The Ford Mach-E and the Audi e-Tron... I think they're just imitating Tesla, only they don't do it in the stupid and dangerous way, because they're not amateurs. They're imitating Tesla while removing the obvious safety flaw in the design.

Of course, you are 100% right. It should just be a regular car door handle, if there is ANY risk of the door not functioning with the silly tiny-added-value electronic feature.

Most Tesla front windows are laminated glass like a windshield, not tempered. It helps block out road noise and wind whooshing which is important in an EV since you don't have an engine rumbling to cover up those noises.

The glass breaking hammer may not be as useful as you think.

https://youtu.be/SsbL388Ay3A

Make them tape it somewhere accessible in the car. If it's loose in the car, the they will never find it in time after an accident.

Better solution is to have an explosive pin on each window. Flip the cover, and press the button and all the pins detonate, shattering each window.

You could make even tie it in to the door circuit. As long as the car has power to the door latch, pressing the button does nothing.