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Comment by asdasdsddd | Hacker News Reader

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Reread the story. The child wasn’t left in the car for an extended period (by a grandparent, not parent). The child had just been buckled into a car seat and the driver closed the door, walked around to the drivers side, and couldn’t get in.

Absolutely no indication of improper adult behavior.

It literally explains it in the article.

> The car’s owner, Renee Sanchez, was taking her granddaughter to the zoo, but after loading the child in the Model Y, she closed the door and wasn’t able to open it again. “My phone key wouldn’t open it,” Sanchez said in an interview with Arizona’s Family. “My car key wouldn’t open it.” She called emergency services, and firefighters were dispatched to help.

From the article:

> the issue raises concerns about why there isn’t an easy way to open the car from the outside when its 12-volt battery — the one that powers things like its door locks and windows — loses power.

Its a design problem. Not sure whether its unique to Teslas, but it would seem to affect this particular model.

Using mechanical locks and keys would do it. Even just on one door.

Regular cars have the same problem if you accidentally lock your keys in the car with the kid though.

How is it possible to lock the car without the keys? Maybe if you press the 'stick' down accidently?

Unless the kid press the 'lock doors button' by the driver seat.

I've accidentally dropped the key at the same time as slamming down the trunk. The key happened to fall into the groove that the trunk goes in, and the close button got pressed by the closing trunk. This was a fun one to explain to the AAA guy. I'm sure lots of other ways are possible too.

>I'm sure lots of other ways are possible too.

There actually aren't! Modern cars are surprisingly good at avoiding this. You can't even lock the doors while they are open. The trunk is the only opportunity for that accident.

Or you give the kid the key to hold for a while, strap him in the seat, close the door to go to the driver seat, kid presses the lock button and throws the key away. That was a horror scene while in holidays with another couple. Fortunately somebody arrived to help without having to break the glass.

> Isn't the problem here that the parent left the kid in the car. What does this have to do with Tesla.

Grandparent, and she put the kid in the carseat before trying to get in herself.

And if you read the article (yeah, yeah, against the rules, but you clearly didn't read it) it has to do with Tesla because the only way to open the door with a dead 12-volt battery is from the inside. The exterior mechanisms don't work. And a 20-month-old in a carseat isn't in a great position to help out the adults stuck on the outside.

please read the article before commenting.

Put kid in back seat. Close door. Open front door. Get in.

What do you do?

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