Ralph Nader made a name for himself writing a book about car companies selling death-traps.
This is how the industry changes — Tesla is not the first.
Or maybe their owners, paying $100K or so a car, feel a little more entitled to receive a safe car for all that dosh?
Does liability law sometimes cause bad collateral damage (like you mentioned here https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14187563 with general aviation)? Yes. But that doesn't mean that every lawsuit over a vehicle is inappropriate.
Tesla vehicles are safer than most other vehicles but that isn't an excuse for sub-par design around emergency egress. This story have been "my Tesla crashed and has battery fire but the conveniently-located door override nevertheless let me get out fast" -- I'm disappointed because Tesla could have done better.