IdiotsInCars

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This ~~subreddit~~ community is devoted to the lovable idiots who do hilarious, idiot things in their idiot cars (or trucks, motorcycles, tractors, or other vehicle). We honor them with gifs, videos, images, and laughter.

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Man Gets “Trapped” In Hot Tesla After Battery Dies As He Wasn’t Aware Of Manual Release (www.carscoops.com)

submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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From the article:

The man is blaming the automaker even though the manual door opener was under his left hand the whole time.

A man in Arizona says that he was recently trapped in his Tesla after getting in, closing the door, and then realizing that his battery was dead. What he didn’t know is that the manual release for the door was under his left hand the whole time. Now, he’s blaming the automaker and raising awareness.

Rick Meggison, 73, says that Tesla needs to address what he calls a “safety concern” involving how to exit the car when the battery dies. The main door latch actuator on all Tesla models is electronic so if the 12-volt battery dies it won’t work. To ensure safe exit of the vehicle Tesla includes a manual release. Meggison didn’t know about that and ended up trapped in his car for 20 minutes on a hot day.

“I couldn’t open the doors. I couldn’t lower the windows. The computer was dead, so I couldn’t open the glove box. I couldn’t open anything,” he told ABC7. Of course, he could’ve opened the door in about two seconds had he known that the manual release was just ahead of his window switches. His situation has many wondering who’s to blame in situations like this.

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[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (2 children)

So imagine for a moment that this is a child and not a senior. You gonna scream at little Timmy for not RTFM?

Car doors have been pretty standard and self explanatory for 100 years, until now. There was no good reason to make such a huge design change for the sake of looking cool, especially when the override is hidden behind a piece of trim.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Exactly. People on here claiming read the manual to find out how to open a door must be missing /s because they sound insane.

Standards exist for a reason and your product should be intuitive or BETTER, a shitty button with a picture is not better than a handle like literally everywhere else.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

If there even is a paper manual, it's probably in the electronically opened glovebox, which obviously won't open anymore...

[–] [email protected] -5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Don't get me wrong, I don't like the change, I dislike Tesla's and see no reason for Tesla to change what is standard.

But I still believe a grown adult buying a giant metal death machine should read the manual before driving off in one, especially when if you do just calmly look around for more than 5 seconds you can find the door open latch.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

Normally, I'd agree with you, but in a matter of life or death, like baking in a hot car, the means of exit should be obvious for anyone, including children and the elderly. Just like in public buildings with proper exit signage, there should be no questioning how to get the fuck out in an emergency.