Four people, aged between 26 and 32, tragically lost their lives in Toronto when their Tesla crashed into a pillar and burst into flames. Unfortunately, a malfunction prevented the car doors from opening.A woman in her twenties, the fifth passenger, narrowly escaped after a bystander broke a window to free her.
The front latch is fine, but the rear one is a wire behind a piece of trim you have to remove (unless that has changed). The passengers in the rear would have to know where it was and how to use it. In an emergency, the likelihood of being able to do that is pretty low.
It’s sort of changed. There’s a big bend in the rubber now (which the passengers strangely think is a door handle), and it is an obvious grab point. Underneath is the panel, but it’s not one that you have to grab with your fingernails anymore, it’s got a big red tab that pops right off with the littlest pressure, exposing the wire. To me it’s fairly obvious, but I still think there should be a mandatory sticker on the panel. It’s not the greatest system either, but it exists whereas these news articles are trying to shape the narrative that it doesn’t (just like when that lady drunk drove into the pond). Probably isn’t the worst idea to ditch the rubber in the pocket over the override, that part is pretty stupid and doesn’t really serve a purpose anyways.
For sure needs to be more obvious/put a sticker on it, and this still doesn’t excuse the driver. If other cars are doing the same thing they should be getting the same coverage, but Tesla gets clicks.