The Falcon wing doors were a mistake. Not having a manual way to open the door is also a mistake.
I'm not sure if these people deserve compensation but there should be a way to open the doors manually without relying on hydraulics.
I'm not sure if these people deserve compensation but there should be a way to open the doors manually without relying on hydraulics.
See airplane doors for a comparison: http://c8.alamy.com/comp/DK7AW8/airplane-door-cabin-door-on-...
Of course, there is no need to have such "ugly" or big notices, but certainly a small text "Remove cover here and pull lever to open" is doable.
However, these are not an inherent issue; it's certainly possible to store energy (compressed gas, auxiliary battery, springs, pyrotechnic charge) to provide a redundant opening system in case the main power supply is offline. Using stored energy to activate emergency safety apparatus (hi, airbags) is not a new thing in passenger vehicles. Hell, some cars have pyrotechnic cable-cutters that isolate all non-essential 12V/HV circuits with explosives milliseconds after a severe collision are detected (to avoid post-crash fire/heating and electronics damage).
To solve a eminently predictable post-crash problem with "take off a speaker grill that's on the floor (right next to a battery fire) and pull hard on a Bowden cable" is simply not acceptable and the state of the art in post-crash systems indicates that Tesla could have done much better.
[1]: http://assets.teslastatic.com/2016_Model_X_Emergency_Respons... page 24
It's true that it exists, but its intentionally well-hidden, and if you were in a flaming car you probably wouldn't think to rip off the speakers to try to find a latch.