Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery : teslamotors

[–] [email protected] 52 points 5 days ago (3 children)

Obvious design flaw is obvious. Do cars not need to meet basic safety standards to be roadworthy?

[–] [email protected] 19 points 5 days ago

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.

[–] riodoro1 10 points 5 days ago

Not in america, sharp corners apparently are ok.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 5 days ago

No

[–] [email protected] 10 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

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.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago

Why wait for fire fighters to smash the window? Grab a rock.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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!

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 days ago

Fucking lmao "they dissolved their press office"

[–] str82L 2 points 5 days ago

Imagine if it had been a cyber truck. Those windows are unreadable! (/s)

[+] halcyoncmdr -16 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (4 children)

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

[–] qevlarr 20 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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?

[–] halcyoncmdr 2 points 5 days ago

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.

[–] vxx 7 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I'm pretty sure non teslas always open when you pull the handle.

[–] halcyoncmdr 0 points 5 days ago (1 children)

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.

https://www.consumerreports.org/cars/car-safety/how-to-escape-your-car-if-the-electronic-door-release-fails-a8152892189/

Tesla is not unique, in any way. Everything Tesla does was either copied from elsewhere or has been copied by someone else now.

[–] vxx 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

And yet we have

To open the rear doors, pull back the carpet below the back seats to expose the emergency door release cable, the manual says, adding that you then need to pull the cable "toward the center" of the car.

vs

Pull the door handle twice

[–] [email protected] 7 points 5 days ago (1 children)

You should be able to operate car doors without a battery and silly workarounds, period. Tesla or not, it doesn't make a difference.

What happens if you get into an accident on a highway, your car stays in the middle of the road and your battery decides that it's not going to work?

[–] halcyoncmdr -3 points 5 days ago (2 children)

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.

[–] vxx 5 points 5 days ago

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 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.

You're full of shit.

Just sell your tesla stock when it is bleeding you dry. Telling lies won't save your money.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago) (1 children)

I'll concede that my example was bad because of the manual overrides, that's true. Someone with more info about how those cars work can probably come up with a better one.

That said, the firefighters should not know about the battery jumping tricks. This should not be a thing, because it's absolutely ridiculous. And the idea that they should be trained to learn about something so futile because some smartasses decided they wanted to "disrupt the personal transportation space" is frankly revolting. Sorry nerds, you are not that special that the world should stop its course and start revolving around you.

And yes, as others have said, other brands are just as braindead if they do the same thing the shitty Teslas do.

[–] halcyoncmdr 0 points 5 days ago (2 children)

Sorry that I expect first responders to actually learn new things as technology moves forwards, especially when there are millions of vehicles on the road.

Tesla is not the only manufacturer where this would be a thing. Any vehicle with electronic actuated handles/doors would be affected. With a quick search I found the Hyundai Ioniq 5, Ford Mustang Mach-E, and Range Rover Velar all look likely to have this same issue if locked outside with a dead 12V battery since they all use electronically-activated doors or handles to open the vehicle from outside.

Just like firefighters now learn how to fight lithium battery vehicle fires, and where the high voltage disconnects are for safety. Unlike those disconnects, which would be in different places for every vehicle model, the fact that a simple 12V jump like a normal car would let you open basically any vehicle with electronic doors or handles seems like a pretty small thing to learn.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

This is a move backward, not forward. Form over function. Nobody should be forced to keep up with that lunacy. This is not a fucking iPhone.

[–] asmoranomar 1 points 4 days ago* (last edited 4 days ago)

Nothing stopped the person from calling road service to wire the car up, save for the fact that a child was involved.

But there was. And ensuring the kid is safe takes top priority, and the last thing anyone wants to hear is another case of emergency responders dragging their feet while another kid dies. Smash your way safely into that car, THAT is what they are trained to do.

Firefighters deal with a lot of shit and receive lots of training. I would argue that most firefighters know about the issues being laid out, and policy, not lack of knowledge, dictates a process to be carried out. I really don't think this is a situation they should be vilified over if it saves lives.

Edit: If it wasn't clear, nobody is complaining about getting off work and finding out their car is dead, and having to call the fire department to show up with the jaws of life.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 5 days ago

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.