Electronic door latches are not a Tesla invention. They are featured in many vehicles. They’re considered a luxury item and presumably some people like them over a mechanical latch.

All Teslas have a mechanical override. In the 3 and Y it’s very obvious in the front seat (so obvious that some of my passengers instinctively use it over the electronic latch. Doing so repeatedly can damage the weather stripping). The back seat has no override (that I know of).

It’s less obvious (but still present) in the S and X.

Take from that what you will, but this is only a story because it’s Tesla.

[–] youngalfred@lemm.ee 19 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Just curious - are you able to point me to any articles of people dying in non-Tesla car fires due to being trapped because of electric door handles failing?
I tried searching, but was only able to find an article of a man dying of heat exhaustion in a Corvette in 2015.

[–] ch00f@lemmy.world 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

So my point is that the story is only newsworthy because it’s Tesla. I think you’re arguing that it doesn’t happen in other cars because you can’t find news about it. I think we’re arguing the same point. It could be happening in other cars, but it isn’t newsworthy.

30,000 people die in America every year because of cars, but we don’t see 30,000 news articles about it.

What would make a Tesla more dangerous than say a 2008 Corvette that has the manual release conveniently placed on the floor?

Here’s a photo from a forum where someone suggests a way to cover the label because they don’t like the look.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

Someone else in this thread claimed they were seriously injured so couldn’t get out on their own anyway. The specific claim was that after bystanders broke a window, no one tried to get out

Yes, I guarantee there have been many accidents with the occupants too injured to exit on their own, where the car has burned

[–] GrindingGears@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 days ago

My FIL's Corvette has the exact same style of latching. It has a manual override, but I'd challenge someone to find it without googling it, especially if it's dark. But that cars made by Chevrolet, so we don't do them dirty, now do we!?

Also they hit a cement barrier after bouncing off a guard rail at over 200km/hr. So I mean yeah, don't think those doors were opening even if the latches were made of Oreo cookies. Not to make light of what's obviously a horrible event that resulted from some shitty choices made, but there's also pictures being used in all the press articles that show a side view of the car that's pretty clearly being used to add to this all. It's pretty clever framing, until you look at this car from the front and realize more than half of it is squished/missing.

It wasn't until after I owned a Tesla that I realized just how bad this shit is when it comes to the press articles about them (ignoring the fact that gigachad Elon is currently acting like a skid). Let's also just completely gloss over the fact that someone survived this accident (with relatively light injuries), which is sort of a miracle considering this vehicle was estimated to be travelling in excess of 200km/hr at accident beginning. Wonder what the results of a fossil fuel burning domestic car in the same situation. I mean let's not actually find out, but just food for thought.

Just for the record, my model Y had fully functioning manual overrides on all doors, frunks, trunks and even the charging port. The back ones are actually a pretty stupid design, no denying that, but they are there.

[–] return2ozma@lemmy.world 4 points 3 days ago

I think the problem is that it's not as obvious in the backseat as a non-Tesla vehicle.

[–] fourish@lemmy.world 1 points 3 days ago

It just comes up because everyone that shorted Tesla stock hoping for a big payday just got their asses handed to them and their money taken away.

Lol.

[–] Bookmeat@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (2 children)

These anti-safety features are getting more common and annoying. My personal peeves are turn indicator lights that are red instead of orange and then on top of that are the animated ones. Cute, but now I have extra processing to do, often at night, in the train, to figure out whether they're braking or turning. Of course this is a non-issue on BMWs.

Or headlights that turn off when the turn indicator comes on. Or strobing bicycle headlights that blind drivers for a split second before making the cyclist invisible in the absence of light the next moment.

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 3 points 3 days ago (1 children)

turn indicator lights that are red instead of orange

This isn’t new. This is a long standing problem with American regulations prioritizing manufacturers saving a few cents at the expense of their customers lives

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 days ago

Technology Connections has entered the chat: The Senseless Ambiguity of North American Turn Signals

[–] OneWomanCreamTeam@sh.itjust.works 3 points 3 days ago

My favorite, is the removal of almost all physical buttons, encouraging drivers to dig into menus on touch screens rather than looking at the fucking road.