[EV NXT]

A 5 day old Tesla model Y asked the owner to pull over to the side, then shut down the car locking him inside. Fortunately there was a mechanical override which enabled the owner to break the glass and get out. The car was on full charge at the time.

A Tesla owner said his car ordered him to pull over before it suddenly shut down and trapped him inside.
Tom Exton, a British YouTuber who collects cars, was driving to London Thursday night when his 5-day-old Model Y asked him to pull over because it was "shutting down," he said.
He did so, and within minutes, "all power to the car was gone," Exton told Insider, adding that he felt trapped, as doors on Teslas need power to open and close.
"I couldn't open the door by conventional means," he said, "so I had to use the emergency manual-override latch on the door."
Exton said he'd been driving only for 15 minutes and the car was showing an almost full charge.

Source: Business Insider

[V.Narayan]

The hazards of over automation! Automation is a tool for improved safety and convenience it is not an end in itself.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by EV NXT

Fortunately there was a mechanical override which enabled the owner to break the glass and get out. The car was on full charge at the time.

He used the mechanical override latch. Then why did he have to break the glass and get out?

[EV NXT]

The mechanical override only breaks the glass. Doors need power to open and close and do not work even with a mechanical override.

[revvharder]

Originally Posted by DicKy

He used the mechanical override latch. Then why did he have to break the glass and get out?

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have frameless doors and the window needs to come down a bit before the door can be opened but i guess in case of mechanical override the window does not lower which results in breaking of glass in the process of opening the door.

[StarrySky]

In this video, the door is opened using the manual override, without breaking the window glass (from around 2:55). The car displayed a warning that the glass may be damaged, but nothing happened.

https://youtu.be/HJ1tofzX6Bk

But the video is a couple of years old and Tesla could've changed something since then. I think the Model Y now has double glazed windows, which I am not sure this car has. Maybe that makes a difference.

[extreme_torque]

Originally Posted by revvharder

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have frameless doors and the window needs to come down a bit before the door can be opened but i guess in case of mechanical override the window does not lower which results in breaking of glass in the process of opening the door.

Why would it break when opening the door? It might if the window wasnt down and the glass strikes the the frame while closing the door.

As for the article, it is needlessly sensationalised. Yes this is a potential serious fault with the car but trapped? Really?

[Cresterk]

Originally Posted by DicKy

He used the mechanical override latch. Then why did he have to break the glass and get out?

Originally Posted by revvharder

Tesla Model 3 and Model Y have frameless doors and the window needs to come down a bit before the door can be opened but i guess in case of mechanical override the window does not lower which results in breaking of glass in the process of opening the door.

Originally Posted by StarrySky

In this video, the door is opened using the manual override, without breaking the window glass (from around 2:55). The car displayed a warning that the glass may be damaged, but nothing happened.
https://Youtu.be/HJ1tofzX6Bk
But the video is a couple of years old and Tesla could've changed something since then. I think the Model Y now has double glazed windows, which I am not sure this car has. Maybe that makes a difference.

Originally Posted by extreme_torque

Why would it break when opening the door? It might if the window wasnt down and the glass strikes the the frame while closing the door.

As for the article, it is needlessly sensationalised. Yes this is a potential serious fault with the car but trapped? Really?

Here is a video where you can see this mechanism in person. Skip to the timestamp of 4:15

https://youtu.be/0uMOv5gwBJs?t=256

Basically, cars with frameless doors will have their window very quickly roll down a bit when you open the doors. And they will roll back up when you close them to create a tight seal. This is controlled by the ECU and needs electrical power to work. In case of disconnected battery or the car's computers screwing up, manually forcing the door open will lead to the window breaking since the computer isn't rolling it down.


This not exclusive to a tesla, all cars with frameless doors like the Mercedes CLS, bmw 2 series etc all have this same feature.

[kadanaJ]

He was trapped because even though there was a manual override, using it would have broken the frameless windows.

I can understand why he was hesitant to use the override, hence "trapped"

Poor design IMO. Manual override should also have a way to drop the windows down an inch.