This is a failure of regulation.
Companies come and go. The idea is that we have simple, efficient, long lasting gov orgs that can make sure each new company doesn’t repeat moronic mistakes like this in the name of design.
Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
11–20 of 113 posts
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#12> The Bloomberg investigation found numerous instances of passengers who were killed or severely burned by post-crash fires when rescuers on the scene were unable to open the doors.
Have any of these incidents result in major law suits? Seems pretty likely they would and should sue.
Honeslt yI hate modern automotive designs. My one wish for the Chinese EV makers was that one of them just makes a friggin normal car that's an EV without stupid gimmicks abut no, doesn't seem like the industry has the ability to design a reliable car.
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#13You would think the therac-25 was enough of an engineering lesson on designing safety-critical systems in software that lack hardware redundancy. Maybe they didn't consider the door handles "safety critical".
I don't know about hardware redundancy, but yes for at least "easily verifiable limiters". What is "hardware" anyway? Does a microcontroller-based integrator or debouncer count? Depending on how you define that, it can become a serious roadblocker. But anyway, I guess that point is moot for a door handle, you can fix it with stuff that is unambiguously hardware.
> What is "hardware" anyway? Does a microcontroller-based integrator or debouncer count?
Hmm, good question. In this context, I guess "continues to work after the EMP"?
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#14> The Bloomberg investigation found numerous instances of passengers who were killed or severely burned by post-crash fires when rescuers on the scene were unable to open the doors. Have any of these incidents result in major law suits? Seems pretty likely they would and should sue. Honeslt yI hate modern automotive designs. My one wish for the Chinese EV makers was that one of them just makes a friggin normal car th…
Why did Bloomberg write numerous instead of specifying the number?
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#15Electric retractable door handles is such a stupid gimmick. I once pulled over to help a stranded Model S driver with a flat tire in the Mojave desert. Every door handle had a zip tie hanging off it because they _all_ had failed present mechanisms. Junk
Apparently non-retractable door handles have only a very minor impact on drag/efficiency: https://arstechnica.com/cars/2025/09/flush-door-handles-are-...
So, yes, I think you're right that they are largely just a gimmick.
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#16> The Bloomberg investigation found numerous instances of passengers who were killed or severely burned by post-crash fires when rescuers on the scene were unable to open the doors. Have any of these incidents result in major law suits? Seems pretty likely they would and should sue. Honeslt yI hate modern automotive designs. My one wish for the Chinese EV makers was that one of them just makes a friggin normal car th…
Why did Bloomberg write numerous instead of specifying the number?
That quote is from the linked article/CNN, it is a summary, you can read the original reporting from Bloomberg if you wish to learn more about what they found.
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#17I see a lot of questioning as to why this isn't required by regulation around this topic. I have no idea, but my intuition would be that it simply never occurred to regulators to require that door handles work? That door handles be accessible? Could it be that simple?
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
Why did Bloomberg write numerous instead of specifying the number?
That quote is from the linked article/CNN, it is a summary, you can read the original reporting from Bloomberg if you wish to learn more about what they found.
> An investigation by Bloomberg found 140 incidents of people being trapped in their Teslas due to problems with the door handles, including several that resulted in horrific injuries.
The above is from CNN, but in the original bloomberg article, I don’t see any specifics. If I was a writer, and the number of incidents was high, I would want to specify it to maximize engagement.
So I prone to assume when they don’t share data and instead use vague descriptions, it is probably because the data is not compelling enough to present.
> Complaints about Tesla’s electrically powered doors also pervade NHTSA’s database that the agency uses to identify potential defects. Bloomberg identified more than 140 consumer complaints related to Tesla’s doors getting stuck, not opening or otherwise malfunctioning since 2018. While it’s difficult to assess how that compares with other models with similar doors, the regulator has taken notice.
https://archive.is/2025.09.18-161757/https://www.bloomberg.c...
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#19I am deep in tech, but still struggle to open a tesla door. Hiding the handles, both inside and outside, will never make sense to me.
Re: Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report
#20> The Bloomberg investigation found numerous instances of passengers who were killed or severely burned by post-crash fires when rescuers on the scene were unable to open the doors. Have any of these incidents result in major law suits? Seems pretty likely they would and should sue. Honeslt yI hate modern automotive designs. My one wish for the Chinese EV makers was that one of them just makes a friggin normal car th…
Why did Bloomberg write numerous instead of specifying the number?
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