While I have no love for tesla, this speaks to a broader issue. That is, overcomplicating simple things for no reason.
The doorhandle is something that is simple, universal and functional. Changing it from what it has been to what Tesla did has no benefit, only risks, complication and profit.
There was an old man who got trapped in his corvette and died for the same reason. Powered door button didnt work and he could not find the manual release.
Choices to use overcomplicated mechanisms like this are driven by greed and ego. They are made worse by people who willingly accept these approaches and support the trend. They are impressed with the novelty of a new toy, dont think for a second that it could ever be a problem. Just eat what was put into the trough and dont ask questions.
One part greed and one part stupidity makes a mess like this.
Stop buying stupid shit without understanding the consequences.
The Corvette owner was not aware there was a manual release. But it was functional. No one reads the manual.
The handles fold in to reduce drag.
But of course, no one reads the article. One kid did get out of the car, and it’s not clear how, but it was very obvious the parent was traveling at a very high speed before he lost control and slammed into a tree.
Today’s car all autolock the doors once they get moving. If this were any other car, the doors would have been locked, so whether there is a handle or not is irrelevant.
Car doors have been auto unlocking when trying to open them for decades - mechanically. Making a potential time critical feature require a manual is insanity. You’re not thinking clearly when your car is burning or you just ran into something.
I wonder: Is it bad form/etiquette on Lemmy to call out the fanboys doing drive-by downvotes on your comments?
EV’s account for about 11 times less fires than gas cars for the equivalent miles driven. In case anyone is wondering if the coverage of Tesla fires is somehow skewed (it is). For every EV you see on fire, 11 other gas cars burst into flame (on average for miles driven).
Bias in journalism only serves to blind you from facts.
What an uneducated response. This is about Tesla hiding their manual door pulls and making them tiny, fragile little wires you have to find and pull.
Tesla did this to save money and take advantage of their dumb consumers. It worked and now every single person driving a Tesla is in danger of being burned alive in a crash.
All cars autolock the doors once the car is moving. You cannot open a locked door from outside, regardless if the handle is accessible or not.
This driver was passing a line of cars at very high speed with three children in the car before he lost control and hit a tree. Not sure there would have been a different outcome in any other vehicle.
I find your comment unhelpful and irrelevant. We are not talking about the safety of all EVs in comparison to combustible engine cars. We’re talking about Teslas, Swasticars, trapping people inside of their cars when they catch on fire. Did you read the article? Do you think the article is biased? I’m biased, most certainly, but I’m not a fucking journalist, nor am I blind to facts.
Yeah, people can escape from the vast majority of car fires because regular cars aren’t designed to trap you inside.
Try opening a locked door from the outside in regular cars.
Tesla makes it difficult for the people in the car to exit the vehicle.
No other car company does that, because it is stupid.
From the article: “The doors in a Model Y become inoperable when power is cut off to a battery, which forces any occupant to perform a manual release; unfortunately, it’s difficult for children to activate the feature.”
While it’s nice that EVs burn less often, Tesla vehicles specifically becoming a death trap is nothing new. It’s straight up unsafe design that these cars can’t be easily opened from the inside or outside rescuers in emergencies.
Another issue is that EV fires are often incredibly hard to extinguish. I read in another German article about this accident that a first responder used a normal fire extinguisher on the car but was not able to put the fire out. (He was also the one who was unable to open the doors as people where screaming inside.) When Firefighters arrived and extinguished the flames the vehicle kept re-igniting several times.
Imagine having just the mildest ever crash. Like say, you don’t even crash at speed or into another vehicle, just a very, very mild crash.
Something has hit the battery.
Car is shut down. No power.
People outside your car asking you if you’re alright, someone calling 911. You assure them you and your children are unharmed.
Air is starting to taste of pennies.
Then you reach for the manual release loop because you read the fucking manual.
>thought Tesla can’t be as much of a death-trap as they say, didn’t bother to read the manual.
>fumble around for some sort of manual release wire
>children 3 and 7, starting to get nervous
>“shit shit shit, where the fuck is it”
>find some sort of a thin wire after fumbling for a while
>door doesn’t fucking open
Any car with door locks cannot be opened from the outside. Emergency crews would have punched out the windows before even trying to open the doors because in a high speed crash like this the whole frame gets twisted and pinches the doors.
This tragedy starts with a parent passing a line of cars at very high speed and losing control of the car.
Not all EVs are Teslas.
Telsa does not have a wholly exclusive monopoly on EVs.
If your kneejerk reflex to reading about Tesla critical news, is to… assume this represents all EVs…
You are some kind of brainwashed.
This would be like reading about a venomous snake bite caused death, and then you pointing out that not all snakes are venomous, and that any news about legitimately dangerous snakes is slander against all snakes.
The title is misleading. The article admits there were very few known facts, other than the driver was passing a line of vehicles at very high speed before he lost control and hit a tree.
You race on public roads and hit a tree at high speed and you will not have a good outcome in any vehicle.
I would like for you to explain this comment, please. Specifically, which title is misleading?
