“It’s terrifying,” said Kevin Clouse, a Georgia resident who was trapped in his Model 3 following a 2023 crash and had to kick out a window to escape. He recently filed a complaintwith US regulators and has sought to raise awareness of door-related entrapment on social media. “You’re in a box that’s on fire and you can’t get out.”
What a horrifying way to go.
The Euro NCAP crash test scoring was just revised so that cars that don’t have manual controls for the most important functionality cannot get 5 star ratings anymore.
I have similar style of handles on my car that the model 3, S, and Y have. The thing is the manufacturer made the handle manual while still being flush with the body, they even added a physical key hole so I can have access to the interior if the battery is dead, while still being flush with the body. It’s not hard to do manual, it’s safer, it just costs slightly more, and as we’ve seen in capitalism, lives are cheap. So what if it kills someone, you saved $5.
When I was young and naïve in my 50s, I thought US cars had safety requirements, and the era of rolling death traps had been beaten back by Ralph Nader. Must’ve been my mistake. Is there nobody in the government looking at safety issues like un-openable doors?
Recently there was a similar incident in China involving a Xiaomi car. This led to an incoming legislation that will require all cars to have mechanical handles in case of emergency.
Tesla alone had many such cases and there are no plans whatsoever to do anything about it.
Imagine losing to China in safety regulations.
For a while, long before Teslas were around, my wife went through a phase where she didn’t want a car with electronic door locks, “in case we crash into a retention pond.”
So it came time for a new car, and while I’m talking with the sales people about price and such, all she wants to know is if she can get it without electronic locks. It seemed like she’d pay double if it didn’t have the e-locks.
Finally I said, “I’ve never gone into a retention pond, and I don’t know anyone who has ever gone into a retention pond. It seems like the real solution to the retention pond problem isn’t skipping electronic door locks, it’s STAYING OUT OF RETENTION PONDS! Let’s try that solution first. if you go into a retention pond, then we’ll discuss getting rid of e-locks.”
It’s been about 30 years, and I still don’t know anyone whose gone into a retention pond, including my wife. But she still mentions the lock thing whenever we get a new car.
110 people died in a car crash today in the USA alone.
Yikes! I better buy a bigger vehicle so that if I’m in a crash, I won’t be the one getting crushed! /s
Can someone explain what was wrong with normal door handles that they would do this?
Is it like some Steve Jobs-esque obsession with a car not being a car or something?
They think the extra .01 “mpg” gained from smooth doors is worth the risk. I think most people would agree that it’s not.
It’s actually dumber. I’m pretty sure this just got removed because mechanical door handles don’t look or sound as cool as electronic door handles.
One must remember that Elon Musk is perpetually trapped at 11 years old.
In a normal car company, the CEO would be fired.
No, because nothing matters except stock price.
Musk’s companies aren’t evaluated based on their ability to sell products/services, they’re valued on hype.
If he left any of his companies they would suffer drastic stock crashes which would likely kill the company.
Oddly enough Silicon Valley does a really good job of explaining how wonky the math gets.
“Normal” companies try to raise stock by making a product, these tech companies are basically exploiting glitch’s in the stock market. It’s why everyone else is losing.
