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15 People Have Died in Crashes Where Tesla Doors Wouldn’t Open | There are no official statistics on the dangers of electric handles. So Bloomberg did its own analysis. (www.bloomberg.com)
submitted 8 months ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] 14 points 8 months ago (1 child)

There are layers to this.

No exterior door handles is a massive danger in the event of a crash that incapacitates those inside. No interoir door handles is a massive danger to those inside in the event of a crash that takes out the electrical system.

That said. Plenty of crashes will "disable" the doors just from the type of impact and so forth. And those tend to be the really bad ones.

Which is why EVERYONE should have, preferably a pair, of those car window breakers. Keep one handy to the driver and one either in the box between the driver and passenger or somewhere very visible in the back seat area.

In the event of a really bad crash? That is how you cut your seatbelt if it is jammed or you are otherwise unable to easily access it. And that is how you smash the glass to get out. And if you pull up to the side of an accident? That is how you get the injured driver out (keeping in mind all safety related concerns with moving someone who might have a spinal injury).

Just... also be aware that it has become increasingly popular (and not just among swasticars) to laminate many of the occupant windows. This DOES prevent shards of glass from flying into your face in the event a pickup truck tried to run you over. This ALSO makes escape a LOT harder. It is good to actually read your manual (or at least the labels on the windows) to know which ones you can escape from in the event of a crash.

But yeah., There is no fucking reason to remove mechanical door handles. But it is not THAT much of a danger in the event of a crash. Whereas it IS very much a deeply annoying hazard in the event of accidentally starting a firmware update with the door closed...

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  • [–] 9 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    15 deaths directly as a result of doors failing to unlock, not because the door was smashed but because of electronic failure, is not THAT much of a danger?

    Some of these incidents aren't even crashes. It's just battery malfunction, causing a fire and trapping the passengers.

    And for nothing. Teslas do have a mechanical emergency release latch. It's just hidden.

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  • [–] 2 points 8 months ago* (1 child)

    People vastly underestimate the importance of having a window breaking tool. Many people who die when they go into a lake could very much be alive if they had just unbuckled, smashed, and swam/floated away. One of the best Mythbusters episodes was about specifically this. Opening a door when you are underwater but there is still air in the cabin is REALLY REALLY hard and the vast majority of people do not have the training/calm to take a last gasp of air, wait for pressure to equalize, and get going.

    Same with burning vehicles. People very much underestimate how rapidly it is just not possible for all but the most adrenaline filled of mothers to get into that car to pull out someone who is unconscious or panicking because they can't get their seatbelt off.

    People who can't get out of a burning vehicle because the electrical system has failed catastrophically but there is no meaningful damage to the doors is not nothing. But... 15 people IS nothing. Especially when you realize they might fall under a different category as well.

    As per https://www.nfpa.org/education-and-research/research/nfpa-research/fire-statistical-reports/vehicle-fires the NFPA estimated an annual of 215k vehicle fires in the US during the 2018-2022 timeframe with 643 deaths per year (I think. Kinda ambiguous). Assuming those deaths were within a single calendar year (too lazy to find an archive link or see if reader mode works), that is 2%. If it is spread out, that is even less.

    The swasticar doors are fundamentally stupid and dangerous and have no reason to exist. But in terms of ways to prevent loss of life? They are REALLY low on the totem pole.

    Whereas normalizing both drivers and good samaritans having tools to actually get into a car goes a long way. Because maybe that fire is because of the battery and the entire car is intact otherwise. More often you rae dealing with a jammed door because they got t-boned or rolled in a bad way. And the answer in both cases is to smashy-smashy.

    A good way to think of it (that will remind us this is still essentially reddit and people hate metaphors) is like if Toyota decided every single car needed a dorsal fin... made out of sharpened steel. Yes, someone would inevitably get killed by it and that would lead to statistics. But it would have no meaningful impact on the lethality of a vehicle because so much else about cars is already so insanely dangerous.

    But also... why the fuck would you duct tape a sword to a car? Don't fucking do that.

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  • [–] 3 points 8 months ago (1 child)

    Alright, you've convinced me that a window breaking tool in the glove box might not be the worst idea. Got any recommendations for good ones or is this just a generic item?

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  • [–] 4 points 8 months ago

    Check wirecutter or even amazon. Tempered glass is actually ridiculously easy to break even with just a spark plug in your hand, so anything with a hammer shape and the right tip is gonna do it. Just make sure there is also a seatbelt cutter on the tool.

    That said, it is probably worth spending some more money to get the spring loaded type. It doesn't take THAT much effort to smash a tempered glass window, but it is a lot easier to just push a device against it instead.

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