Driver says he was 'trapped' in hot Tesla after battery died

My father was a huge stalwart of manual window cranks and door locks. We had autos from 1978, 1980, 1986, and 1988. Parents paid cash and never took out auto loans. Anyway, Dad would never ever touch a vehicle with power windows or locks. He was OK with power steering. Once, my 1980 Corolla went in for major engine repairs, and our loaner was a Stanza sedan with "power everything". Dad was nonplussed. In fact, he didn't allow me to drive it.

Dad finally had to give in, of course. I believe it was around 2004, when they needed a new station wagon, and there was just nothing viable on the market that didn't have power windows and power locks. But you can bet your bottom dollar that Dad knows where all the manual releases are, and he probably practices on them on a regular basis.

Dad has also kept a fuel log in the car since at least 1978. Every time you fill the tank, you need to log the date, mileage, gallons pumped, etc. and then you push the odometer reset button. Every time.

Dad ran an auto repair shop with his father, way back in the day. The latter was a test pilot and elevator designer. I come from more than one long, long line of slide-rule-carrying male engineer geeks.

I am surprised it isn't a requirement for all doors to have an obvious, unhidden, mechanical release to meet compliance for road safety.

toggle-able childlock disable/enable levers exist in the doors to prevent doors from being opened as a "tuning", but that does not negate the (to me) requirement for a door to have a mechanical opener, disabled or not.

(this only applies to the "rear doors don't have one" and "its there but non-obvious" cases)

Some SUVs come with a hammer to break a window if the electronics stop working. Something else I’ve heard, which I’m not sure is true, is that the metallic ends of the headrest that go into the seats can also be used for this purpose.

This has been true even before we digitized the entire car experience. For example, even more mechanical systems would not work if a car was drowning.

Which is a good reason the Cybertruck’s “unbreakable” windows are an awful idea.

Human factors is a big part of the UX for vehicles and machines and frequently overlooked in new products. It is especially important for emergency situations where what you assume is logical can be thrown out the window when the user is under pressure.

There’s a mechanical release on the door that you’d have to be pretty oblivious not to find

The odd door handle design is almost enough to trap many.