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Comment by Shivetya | Hacker News Reader

I do not understand how there is no manual mechanism for opening the rear doors from the inside, how does that even happen?

His comments about the outside door handles were at least prefaced with his own physical limitation but the state of that car is mind boggling. This is on top of the known promised features and oversight with regards to the programming of the display. I did notice on reddit there is a story of a III having cratered its engine. http://teslaweekly.com/first-model-3-motor-failure-reported-...

All in all 2017 wasn't their best year so hopefully 2018 will see a turn around but even max projections are well under 200k cars this year

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>manual mechanism for opening the rear doors from the inside

Brother of my close friend literally burned to death in a Hyundai with no manual override for unlocking/opening doors. Granted he had modified the car's stereo system with custom speakers and the roadside mechanic did not do a good job with it which caused short circuit/fire. But had he been able to manually open the doors he would still be alive today. And to think Tesla is all batteries that have strong chance of starting a fire - ugh.

If car body construction tech was new you could cut Tesla some slack but given all of these issues have been fixed by pretty much all manufacturers years ago - I have no sympathy for Tesla there.

That's horrible. I have an enduring fear due to the lack of manual window winders. Harder to open a door in water than wind down a window.

Related - a woman was stuck in her Audi Q3 in 41C (106F) heat. (Australia, 2003)

Yeah window winders too - they should have a knob that drops the window down someplace not accidentally accessible. That should be easy enough to do without adding any significant bulk.

You can buy window breaking hammers (like they have in public buses) if you're concerned about not being able to get out of your car in a crash.

They're extremely cheap and some of them also come with a blade for cutting seatbelts (inside a notch so you won't accidentally cut yourself with it). Definitely a life-saving tool worth keeping in your car.

And there's even a small spring loaded version, that can be carried with the keys. Look for resqme.

You can also take a headrest of the front seat and use its prongs to break a window.

Not a bad idea, but are those prongs hard enough? I thought window-breaking tools have a ceramic or tungsten (?) point on them to start the glass fracture.

I'm not going to test it, but I imagine myself desperately bouncing the metal prongs off the inside of a window.

You have to hit the edges of the side windows, they are the weak spot.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0i5rycLJ3D8&feature=youtu.be...

Thanks. I always thought that you had to hit on the actual edge of tempered glass, which is impossible on a rolled-up car window.

Looks like near the edge is good enough.

https://www.snopes.com/car-headrests-emergency-escape/

They're not designed for that, but some can be used in a pinch. Best not to rely on them!

> And to think Tesla is all batteries that have strong chance of starting a fire - ugh.

A gasoline car has plenty of flammable material as well.

Right, but the batteries are more vulnerable to starting a fire in collisions than gasoline. I think there were cases of Tesla car batteries starting fire on impact.

I hate to be "that guy" but... Do you have a citation for that, by any chance?

AFAIK, Teslas just use huge arrays of 18650s. And it's well known that lithium cells can catch fire if they are crushed or pierced.

> AFAIK, Teslas just use huge arrays of 18650s. And it's well known that lithium cells can catch fire if they are crushed or pierced.

Ah. So it's like gasoline then?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISJdZD8POi8

Gasoline still requires an ignition source to catch fire. Lithium cells can spontaneously ignite when they experience physical damage.

I'm not saying electric cars are safer or more dangerous in the event of a crash (because I don't know the answer to that), just that batteries can and will catch fire.

No, but it's fairly common knowledge that li-ion batteries are at fire risk on overheating and collision/impact(ref: Tesla fires). That's not to say Tesla didn't firewall the car enough to prevent fires from reaching in the cabin but it's still not a good idea to be locked in there when batteries are burning below.

It's pretty well known that gasoline is a fire risk... that's kind of how ICE engines work. Lithium-ion batteries come in a variety of different chemistries and some, e.g. LiFePo4, are not much of a fire risk at all.

So, yes, if you puncture the lithium cells you may put yourself at risk. You're also at risk if you puncture a gasoline tank (worse if you're talking something like hydrogen).

Note: Tesla does not, AFAIK, use LiFePo4 cells. Additionally one of the big challenges is that LiFePo4 cells are less energy dense than other lithium chemistries.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMARDvMz62A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p21iZVFHEZk

Here's footage of the burning Rimac Concept One when Grand Tour's Hammond crashed it [1].

A Tesla burned down after a crash in Austria last year [2]

1: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=T4sDy-zdV2o

2: https://www.golem.de/news/elektroauto-tesla-model-s-brennt-a...

In what way is that more vulnerable to fire than a gasoline powered car in a wreck? Cars catch on fire all the time.

I agree, but if you are really safety minded you should have a metal pick/club to break the windows anyway. Can't rely on doors being operational during accident and can't wait for emergency response. Of course I don't have one :]

I keep one in the pocket of my driver's side door and one in the glove box. The ones I have also have a razor for cutting through the seatbelt.

> in the pocket of my driver's side door

After a roll-over, it won't be there and you may not be able to reach the glove box. If you have a center console, I recommend keeping it there (that's where I keep mine).

If you're reading this and you don't have one in your car, buy one now. Here is a link for 2 for $10 (give the other one to your spouse/parent/kid/someone): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01CQN0DDC/

Either place will find the tool potentially flying thru the cabin upon an accident. Strap it down. Same goes for fire extinguishers, jacks, and tools kept in the cabin. If your escape tool knovks you unconscious in the wreck, it does you no good.

Mine has velcro to keep it in place. Will it work in a roll-over? No idea, but yeah, definitely need it to be with in hand's reach for it to be effective.

At Volvo we had ISO 26262

http://safety.addalot.se/upload/2016/PDF/1-3%20Automotive%20...

Regarding that engine problem, crib death of complicated to manufacture systems is an expected phenomenon, though I'm not sure how car manufacturers have mostly sorted it out

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