I considered buying a Model 3 but the door handles were the dealbreaker for me.

The standard door handles don't work if the vehicle has a loss of power (such as after a collision).

In the front, there's a manual release in the front seat that's accessible if you know where to look, but would be easy to miss in an emergency.

In the rear, it's almost impossible to access the manual release in an emergency. You have to pull out a floor mat and then pop open a panel that requires a metal tool to extract, and then reach blindly into a hole to pull the release. And this process damages the car, so you can't really practice in a non-emergency.[0]

I couldn't believe I was actually understanding it correctly and that this could be legal in the US, so I called Tesla's hotline and asked how to exit the vehicle in an emergency. The Tesla rep said it's easy to activate the manual release if you know where to look, so I asked how passengers unfamiliar with the car are supposed to use it to escape in an emergency. The rep said, "Oh, it's just a quick 5-minute explanation when they get in."

Apparently, because Tesla decided to put this stupid design on their door rather than one that works without elecricity, it's now the car owner's responsibility to sit every passenger through a 5-minute safety briefing as if they hopped into a 747.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6PbRBbIGnv4

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dgarrett 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> In the rear, it's almost impossible to access the manual release in an emergency. You have to pull out a floor mat and then pop open a panel that requires a metal tool to extract, and then reach blindly into a hole to pull the release. And this process damages the car, so you can't really practice in a non-emergency.

Just so you know, this is improved the latest (2023+) Model 3. There is now an easily removable panel in the door pocket, with a yellow cable to release the latch.[0]

I still hope they improve the mechanism to not require this, but they did at least improve it a bit in the latest model.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1jhCz12SKM

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gamblor956 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

On every other car, you can open the rear door by just using the door handle. No need to remove a panel so you can pull a yellow cable to release a latch so you can open the door.

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dzhiurgis 7 hours ago | parent [-]

Can it drive itself?

	▲	rainsford 3 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I mean a lot of them can. But those design features are completely orthogonal. Nothing about "self driving" requires stupid and unsafe door handle design. Tesla has clearly fallen into the trap of thinking that making something futuristic requires changing even the things that work just fine and don't require futurifying instead of realizing that the best future improves the things that could work better while leaving other things alone.
	▲	gamblor956 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Many of these cars can drive themselves better than Teslas can. My Subaru may not be able to change lanes but it also won't run straight into a truck, police car, ambulance, tree, or wall like a Tesla will.

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ashton314 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Well, they put a sign on the trash can that says “this is in fact on fire” so you know that they’re aware it’s a dumpster fire.

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duskwuff 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

"Bu look, you found the notice didn't you?"

"Yes," said Arthur, "yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked file cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying Beware of the Leopard."

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dzhiurgis 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

There’s 5 to 10 unique things about Tesla, esp at that price point. But yes let’s focus on door handles and how they behave in an edge case of an edge case.

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mtlynch 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

The first edge case is a collision. What's the second?

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ponector 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Right, you don't need doors to be easy to open in case of emergency. Because you are a good man, emergency never occurs to you.

	▲	dzhiurgis 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Once again - edge case of an edge case. Emergency openings are there, but not perfect. Next.

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_da_ 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

The Y also has the redesigned release (from the beginning, afaik).

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rightbyte 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I couldn't believe I was actually understanding it correctly and that this could be legal

I think laws are usually reactive. Why would there be a ban on such a silly thing.

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vkou 10 hours ago | parent | next [-]

It's not about banning a particular design, it's about mandating that emergency egress is possible.

If you're ever trapped in a burning car and can't open the fucking doors you might find that requirement to be a little bit less silly than you think it to be.

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tartuffe78 10 hours ago | parent [-]

No other car company has screwed it up this badly before. Tesla may force it to happen if enough deaths occur.

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weaksauce 9 hours ago | parent | next [-]

there was a rich woman that drove into a lake on her estate and drowned because she couldn't open the door in time. you'd think a high profile death of a rich person would change something at least.

	▲	xoa 8 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		>there was a rich woman that drove into a lake on her estate and drowned because she couldn't open the door in time. Just to expand a bit on vkou's sibling reply, exiting a car that has already gone under water is absolutely non-trivial in any vehicle. Water pressure goes up very fast with depth: at just 10' (3m) deep, just minimum recommended depth for a simple outdoor low dive board pool, you're already at 4.25 psi. At 16.5' (5m) you're up to 7.1 psi. Just using a tape measure on a more compact car (not my truck) our in the parking lot, a GTI mini, front door is ~1680 in^2 in surface area. So you already cannot open the door if it's air inside and water outside and you're in even 10' of water let alone more. My recollection from driver's ed and then emergency response is that you're supposed to get the window open (by lowering it in time if electric or unshorted or more likely by shattering it with the emergency tool you hopefully have in the car) and let water fill the interior to equalize the pressure, trying to get a last breath from the bubble at the top as long as possible. Then you've got a breath-full-of-air time to get the door open (or get out through the broken window) and get to the surface. And not lose your bearings if it's anything but shallow+bright sunlight, etc., easy to do under water when panicked if you're not well trained to instinctively do tricks like let out a small stream of bubbles to feel which way is up. It's a pretty frightening (and thankfully rare) scenario. I think I vaguely remember the incident you're talking about, and bad doors certainly didn't help, but it's not the same impact as someone being trapped right on land where 99.9% of vehicles made in history would allow an easy exit.
	▲	vkou 9 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		She was drunk as a skunk, and drowned in a private lake on her estate, which somewhat dampens public outrage and sympathy. ... Also, exiting a sinking car - any make and model of sinking car [1] - is a non-trivial exercise. --- [1] You might be okay if you're in a convertible with the roof up.

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brandonagr2 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

If a car has a physical child lock switch engaged, it's not possible to open the door from the inside even in an emergency.

Clearly rear emergency egress is not a requirement, a child opening the door while going down the highway is a much larger risk.

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mrguyorama 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Why is this desirable? Why is it a good thing that laws only happen after people already die from an avoidable and predictable problem?

	▲	rightbyte 8 hours ago \| parent \| next [-]
		I'm sorry I might have chosen my words poorly. I am also advocating more proactive safety crackdown in cases like this. I'm just relating to the infeasable task of proactively banning permutations of silly designs.
	▲	potato3732842 10 hours ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		It's not. It's a figment of stupid engineer circle jerk culture where they'll do all sorts of insane actuator and automation implementations to avoid having to design a simple part to withstand the force of a human operating it. There are many ways to do a fold flush manual handle/lever and hook that up to a traditional door mechanism.

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jp191919 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

In my experience, most passengers unfamiliar with the Tesla Model 3 instinctively use the emergency door release in non-emergency situations, rather than pressing the button as intended.

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IncreasePosts 10 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I have a model Y and it is the first car in my life where I need to give passengers a tutorial on how to enter/exit the car. Also, my mom in the front passenger seat just assumed the emergency door release was the normal one(because she has never pushed a small button to open a door in a car before), and she pulled it and a big "WARNING! YOU MIGHT BREAK YOUR WINDOWS DOING THAT" message popped up on the screen.

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mebizzle 9 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Id like to point out that the comment about the manual release is a bit disingenuous since most people accidentally use them when trying to get out as it is more akin to a traditional car than the intended method for opening the doors which is a thumb button. In my anecdotal experience anyway.

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lawlessone 10 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

>as if they hopped into a 747.

I think escaping the 747 is , thankfully for those who fly , easier.

	▲	buildsjets 10 hours ago \| parent [-]
		The handles are painted bright red, they have glow strips in the dark, and there are capital letter simple-English and pictographic instructions on how to use them clearly visible.