...okay, looks like there is a way but it's really convoluted and you need to basically jump-start the low voltage system (using either an ICE car or a battery pack). https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-3567D5F... That's really, really dumb.
Here's another example: https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC...
Yes, opening the rear door in some models requires popping an unlabeled access panel in the cargo pocket.
The craziest part to me is that this isn't the evil profit maximizing à la Unsafe at Any Speed. It's simply pure designer insanity.
See the older manual here:
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2017_2023_model3/en_us/GU...
> Only the front doors are equipped with a manual door release.
How was THAT legal? How was that ADA compliant?
So what you're actually saying is, there really isn't a (sane) way after all.
Insanity.
No. Ibelieve lots of things experts believe, often because they believe them, in fields where I have no expertise.
That being said, there are certain institutions and experts that I've found are more trustworthy than others (The Electronic Frontier Foundation for example) so I do usually trust them over the opinions of others. Basically there is a lot of nuance, never blindly trust anything.
Regarding the topic of the Tesla door handles, I've always felt uneasy regarding the safety of them.
You can always find washed up academics, ex-industry, ex-government, etc people who will reliably show up to say stuff in return for money. Lawyers do it too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQxm6n7SdvE
Apparently there is a manual release lever, which this driver did not know about. But really, I think it's a bad design to have to think about a second way to open the door. When people panic, they fall back to training, and that training is just opening the door using the handle they always use.
The Model S did it better where the override is just pulling the door handle all the way out.
They're 20$ on amazon. I will admit I tried kicking the window first but then remembered I had the knife.
Thank you for the reminder. I'm glad you're safe.
Depending on the configuration of the car, if you end up in the back seat with the door closed and the child lock is set on all rear doors, it can be pretty difficult to get out.
https://www.wsj.com/real-estate/angela-chao-death-texas-tesl...
> “The night was chilly and very dark, with no moon, so rather than walk, Chao got in her Tesla Model X SUV for the four-minute trip back to the house.
> The account of what happened to Angela Chao that weekend is based on interviews with people close to Chao and her family, county officials who were briefed on what happened or were there, as well as reviews of law-enforcement documents.
> Within minutes of saying her goodbyes, she called one of her friends in a panic. While making a three-point turn, she had put the car in reverse instead of drive, she said. It is a mistake she had made before with the Tesla gearshift. The car had zipped backward, tipping over an embankment and into a pond. It was sinking fast. Could they help her?
> Over the next several hours, her friends, then the ranch manager and his wife, and then paramedics, and firefighters and sheriff’s deputies rushed around and tried to break the windows, find an escape hatch or any way to get Chao out of the car. Somehow an executive who made her living on the sea was drowning in a stock pond within sight of her home.”
A team of firefighters, paramedics, and police officers couldn't find a way to break the windows on an SUV?
https://nautil.us/the-resulting-fallacy-is-ruining-your-deci...
He was involved in the US government and he shut down, his department shut down, the USAID. And that one shut-down is, according to reports I've read ... which I don't have on hand, hundreds of thousands of dead people.
I understand his argument is, in the future .. things will be better. We will be on Mars, safe from asteroids. We will have cars, safe from reckless drivers. We will have immortal brains, safe from natural degradation. We will have an electric economy, avoiding the toxic dependence on oil and gas.
Pulling back -- I wonder if there is a correlation between empowered individuals and deaths, and their whether there is a need (for humanity's sake) for group thinking and decision-making when it comes to situations that could create mass death? (To avoid mass death.)
We have a US president who (and apparently for decades past have had a vulnerable political system, regardless of Trump) is essentially destroying law and order through the unilateral illegal or provably corrupt directions that he's giving, and through his followers (Supreme Court, Congress, Senate, Executive, appointed Agency heads) who align their organizations with his retribution campaign. This is on my mind today.
So in this US presidency I see situation there is a group of people who are making these decisions. This counter-proves my hypothesis.
However, this group are following the leader and, I suppose like in Nazi Germany, where there were tons of people who were following the leadership and the ideology that made the holocaust happen and 6 million people plus dead, they aren't really thinking for themselves, it doesn't seem to me. They aren't thinking as a group. They are following.
Designers effectively said: "Lets save 0.03 on our Coefficient of Drag, add unnecessary weight of extra motors and control complexity, and make sure whenever the 12V supply is cut or a bit of ice is in the mechanism, everyone inside is trapped —— it'll look cool".
China is already looking at banning them [0] because of the difficulty they present to emergency crews trying to rescue passengers.
And while I used to admire Musk and defend him here, this now seems like just another "innovation" by a sociopath who cares only about how cool it might make him look, and nevermind the people burned to death trapped inside his cars. At least the Ford Pinto exploding gas tank debacle was for profit [1], this is just one man's ego.
[0] https://www.roadandtrack.com/news/a66052483/china-possible-b...
Since you're attributing the design of all Tesla features to Musk, would you compliment him on the Tesla Model 3 being reported as the "safest new car on the market," acheiving an overall EuroNCAP score of 359/400?
https://www.whatcar.com/news/the-safest-cars-on-sale-today/n...
... or would that go against the narrative?
FWIW, and for balance - I think the retracting handle design on the Model S is dangerous. I own the car and it's a nagging concern in my mind.
yes, as I mentioned, I have posted similar strong compliments/defenses of Musk in the past, including on here.
I'd also point out that while one person can drive design of the most salient features (such as a noticeably different door-handle), the entire design of a modern automobile and its systems are obviously not from only one person. I also attribute the overall requirement for high crash-test results to Musk, but this sort of anti-safety feature shows his drive is not for safety, but notoriety.
If I were in your position, I'd also actively practice with family using the alternate handles from inside so it is ingrained in your mind sufficiently to recall in an emergency; I hope no one ever needs it, but...
It's really too bad what he's changed into or shown himself to be; I used to really want to own a Tesla, now I would take or keep a free one.
And if Tesla does something good it was "obviously not from only one person"
I don't think the fancy electronic door handles are an improvement, and am unhappy to see that other brands are following suit.
If there are electronic processes that you want to trigger as the door opens, I think the better solution would be a two-stage handle that initially sends an electrical signal and then engages the mechanical latch if you continue pulling.
From just a convenience perspective having to explain both the interior and exterior doorhandles to anyone riding in your car is a pain, but in the case of an accident, being submerged in water, driver incapacitation, or any other reason you need to exit the car, there should be zero ambiguity of how to do so even if the car has lost power.
Obvious, intuitive, failsafe handles on the inside and outside of car doors should be industry standard.
I'm pretty sure my 2009 Prius has this feature; it will unlock the doors when I lightly touch the inside of the handle, and then pulling it will engage the door mechanism.
This is how Mercedes handles work, for what it's worth. A motor pushes them out or retracts them, but they're held in only with a spring, so you can always physically force them out, at which point pulling on them directly pulls on the release lever.
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2012_2020_models/en_ie/GU...
> To open a rear door in the unlikely situation when Model S has no power, fold back the edge of the carpet below the rear seats to expose the mechanical release cable. Pull the mechanical release cable toward the center of the vehicle.
I have mentioned this to my family but I don't think there's any way my kids could operate these manual releases on their own, and certainly not in the heat of the moment.
It gives me chills to imagine the consequences of this for my family in an accident.
So.. get another car. Safety first.
"Cognitive dissonance" and "cult behavior" is what comes to my mind when I read this.
https://www.whatcar.com/news/the-safest-cars-on-sale-today/n...
> Out of the 20 models tested so far in 2025, just two scored high enough marks to be included in our top 10. Most impressively, the Tesla Model 3 is now the safest new car on the market thanks to its overall score of 359 out of 400.
---
> you're keeping the car...
Actually I'm planning to upgrade my Model S to a Model Y. Thanks for asking!
My door in the back was blocked, but my brother wasn't able to open his, as it was damaged. I had to kick it while pulling the handle.
Good luck doing that in a Tesla.
I'm a bit lost in that ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anton_Yelchin#Lawsuit_and_reca...
Alas, “build the best car you can” wasn’t compatible with long-term viability. Something engineering-driven companies seem to keep encountering.
The whole brochure is an neat time capsule to browse through: http://oudemercedesbrochures.nl/W126_USA1990.html
It was kind of shocking because he was just going full zealot, in a class in Oregon United States.
The attitude was really toxic to the class. The student was trying to drum up philosophical support for all or nothing thinking, as I look back. A way to kind of circumvent a more nuanced judgment, which I think the teacher intended to convey as the whole point of the class.
And the teacher did not like it at all, and she kicked him out. It was an educational moment for me, to see clashing philosophies and power all mixed in the same adult circumstance.
Is it actually incompatible with long term viability? Or does it just create an unstable state where the temptation to gut the reputation for immediate profit grows as the size of that profit grows?
But I agree that this is madness!
I'm not too concerned with opening from the outside, but opening from the inside has to be a simple thing that works in all situations, even for first time passengers!
https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-tesla-dangerous-door...
Unpaywalled: https://archive.ph/QCuQJ
Screenshots of instructions: https://imgur.com/a/96ckdjv
honeycrispy•2h ago