Tesla driver stuck in car during software update. Warns others to avoid in-car updates and highlights the importance of knowing manual release features.
The one time I rode in a tesla, the car showed an angry message on the center screen because I opened the door with the door handle and that was wrong somehow. Apparently there’s a secret second door handle that doesn’t damage the weatherstripping.
Most car manufacturers have this figured out, they quite cleverly make the normal door handle and the manual release be the same handle.
It’s not a secret door handle, it’s a button with a picture of an open car door on it . The problem is that the emergency latch is closer to where a normal door handle is, so people looking down for the handle see it first. The button is just a little further forward and a little higher than people expect, so they always miss it.
Different design philosophies. Fewer moving parts, fewer things to break.
One thing I’ve heard is that Tesla has plans to detect oncoming hazards and not allow the door to open if, say, a car or bicycle is approaching nearby. More difficult if there’s always a physical link between the handle and door latch.
Until like 2022, Tesla door handles cost 600 dollars and had 9 contact sensors, 4 motors, and a controller board, all exposed to moisture. They had a very high failure rate.
Today, they have 2 magnetic sensors, 2 motors, and a control board, with less exposure to moisture. They still have a high failure rate, they still cost 600 dollars.
There could be a sensor that detects the handle being pulled before the handle starts to engage the mechanical release. As soon as the handle has moved the minimum distance (or had the minimum force applied), the windows could move down and the actuator moves the door mechanism before the handle even engages with it.
Solenoids have been a thing for actuating door latches since the 50s. As it turns out in the last 70 years most manufacturers realized they were less reliable than the basic mechanical latches used on almost every car.
The one time I rode in a tesla, the car showed an angry message on the center screen because I opened the door with the door handle and that was wrong somehow. Apparently there’s a secret second door handle that doesn’t damage the weatherstripping.
Most car manufacturers have this figured out, they quite cleverly make the normal door handle and the manual release be the same handle.
It’s not a secret door handle, it’s a button with a picture of an open car door on it . The problem is that the emergency latch is closer to where a normal door handle is, so people looking down for the handle see it first. The button is just a little further forward and a little higher than people expect, so they always miss it.
It’s still a bad design.
Different design philosophies. Fewer moving parts, fewer things to break.
One thing I’ve heard is that Tesla has plans to detect oncoming hazards and not allow the door to open if, say, a car or bicycle is approaching nearby. More difficult if there’s always a physical link between the handle and door latch.
You are talking about a regular door handle, which tends to last for many, many decades without failing, right?
Electronics are far, far more likely to fail than physical links.
Until like 2022, Tesla door handles cost 600 dollars and had 9 contact sensors, 4 motors, and a controller board, all exposed to moisture. They had a very high failure rate.
Today, they have 2 magnetic sensors, 2 motors, and a control board, with less exposure to moisture. They still have a high failure rate, they still cost 600 dollars.
I think you’re talking about the Model S. The Model 3/Y don’t have motorized handles.
My 1998 Toyota Corolla where the inside and outside driver-side door handles broke begs to differ.
I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news but 1998 was 26 years ago.
And a 1998 Corolla cost $27,500 new (in today’s dollars). A 2024 Corolla is now $22,000. Actually a good deal comparatively.
It broke in 2006
Having one handle to open the door is a better implementation of that philosophy than two entirely separate door opening systems.
How does it work exactly? If you pull normally, it opens electrically, if you pull harder and further then it opens mechanically?
There could be a sensor that detects the handle being pulled before the handle starts to engage the mechanical release. As soon as the handle has moved the minimum distance (or had the minimum force applied), the windows could move down and the actuator moves the door mechanism before the handle even engages with it.
That sounds less like a different design philosophy and more like a death trap.
How does having a lever you pull to leave the car in an emergency make it a death trap?
Tesla bad, haven’t you gotten the news?
Solenoids have been a thing for actuating door latches since the 50s. As it turns out in the last 70 years most manufacturers realized they were less reliable than the basic mechanical latches used on almost every car.