Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery
Firefighters had to use an ax to smash through the window.
Firefighters had to use an ax to smash through the window.
Obvious design flaw is obvious. Do cars not need to meet basic safety standards to be roadworthy?
They do, but this is a case of a basic safety standard so obvious that it has never needed to be mandated.
Basically, they invented a never before seen safety flaw that did not previously exist.
This isn't the only time this one has endangered people. Its quite likely the rather wealthy and well connected lady who drowned a few months back was not helped by the 'battery dead/systems shorted = doors and windows dont open' problem.
No
Not in america, sharp corners apparently are ok.
If America cared about road safety, no Tesla running Full Self DrivingTM Auto-PilotTM Completely Drives Itself^TM would be allowed on the road and trucks with 6 foot high hoods would all be confiscated at gun point.
Absolutely wild that the doors just can't idk be opened
No physical key lock on outside is a major design flaw.
Even our newest cars with distance-sensing remotes have one door with a key lock, which I check occasionally to make sure it works.
Safety and practicality aren't innovative.
They can. The owner of the vehicle should have read its manual before they used it.
To be honest I have no clue how to open the doors without the key fob on my 17 year old truck either. There's no slot for the key on the door handle.
It's probably hidden under the trim piece of the handle, to the right of the actual handle piece.
Look for a key sized cutout on the bottom edge of that trim piece. I'd use something plastic to pop it off though.
Why wait for fire fighters to smash the window? Grab a rock.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The car’s owner, Renee Sanchez, was taking her granddaughter to the zoo, but after loading the child in the Model Y, she closed the door and wasn’t able to open it again.
“My phone key wouldn’t open it,” Sanchez said in an interview with Arizona’s Family.
“My car key wouldn’t open it.” She called emergency services, and firefighters were dispatched to help.
Tesla didn’t respond to a request for comment; it has dissolved its press office.
Earlier this week, Arizona’s Family reported on an instance of a woman getting trapped in her Model Y, though she was able to get out of the car once she learned of the latch.
Last year, an Arizona driver said he was trapped in his Model Y on a hot day and got out thanks to help from his sister.
The original article contains 308 words, the summary contains 135 words. Saved 56%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Fucking lmao "they dissolved their press office"
Imagine if it had been a cyber truck. Those windows are unreadable! (/s)
So reading the article... it had a dead 12V battery. The car warns you when the 12V battery is going bad. It's possible it suddenly died without warning, but unlikely. Those are literally the same tech as every other car, nothing really special about the 12V system. It's just a smaller battery since it doesn't have to power anything other than accessories, and is constantly recharged by the high voltage system.
Even ignoring all that, you can access the 12V system externally to jump it and open the doors just like any regular ICE car needing a jump. It's not like Teslas are the only vehicles reliant on things like key fobs and doors without obvious keyholes.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modely/en_us/GUID-3567D5F4-A5F4-4323-8BE0-023D5438FFC6.html
Even ignoring all that, you can access the 12V system externally to jump it and open the doors just like any regular ICE car needing a jump
No other car needs a jump for occupants to exit the vehicle, what the fuck are you talking about? Are you intentionally missing the point?
No other car needs a jump for occupants to exit the vehicle
Neither does a Tesla, there are manual overrides inside the vehicle if you are "stuck" inside with a dead 12V system for any reason.
I was referring specifically to the fact that the car can be jumped like any other vehicle if necessary, and the topic at hand is one of those situations. Any vehicle with a flush handle that uses an electronic release will have this issue if the 12V system dies. Because these systems all rely on an electronic mechanism to open the door. Interior manual overrides will bypass but from the outside, there often isn't a bypass, you would need to jump the 12V system to unlock a door.
Other than the Tesla models, there's the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Range Rover Velar that I found with a 2 minute search. There's probably more models, probably even before Tesla if someone cared to look more.
There are two totally different battery systems in electric vehicles.
The car drives using the high voltage system. The normal car functions like infotainment, door locks, windows, power ports, etc. all operate on a standard 12V system just like any ICE vehicle. The high voltage system recharges the 12V system just like an alternator in an ICE vehicle.
There are mechanical overrides inside the vehicle to force unlock and open the door if you're locked inside with no power for some reason.
The situation listed in the article can only happen if the driver ignored the warning that their 12V battery needed to be replaced, and let it die while also leaving their child in the vehicle unattended. They also apparently didn't attempt to jump the 12V battery like you would in any other situation.
I don't blame the driver for anything more than being a fucking idiot leaving their child in the car unattended. Yes they should know basic safety things about their vehicle, but I can excuse that in a stressful situation like this.
The firefighters on the other hand, should know that these vehicles all still have a regular 12V system they can access to jump a dead battery to open doors that aren't unlocking. This shows a distinct lack of education about electric vehicles, something that all fire departments should have by now with tens of millions of them on the road.
Teslas aren't the first cars that need a working battery to operate the door locks, they're probably just the most common now as they sell millions of them every quarter.
I'm pretty sure non teslas always open when you pull the handle.
I’m pretty sure non teslas always open when you pull the handle.
Consumer Reports has an entire article about the many vehicles with electronic door releases. Both for how to manually exit if necessary, and for the models with exterior electronic handles. Tesla are nowhere near the only manufacturer, they're just the most numerous now, and a target for social media users who hate the company and feel the need to comment on every article negatively as if the company is the only one to do something.
Tesla is not unique, in any way. Everything Tesla does was either copied from elsewhere or has been copied by someone else now.
My keyless entry VW has flaps on the door handles which you can use a key to open the doors if the battery was depleted.
