A Tesla's manual door releases can be tricky to find if you haven't read the owner's manual. Here's how to locate and activate them in the Tesla Model S, 3, X, and Y.
Numerous Tesla owners say they've been trapped inside their EVs after they lost power.::Numerous Tesla owners say they have been trapped inside their EVs after they lost power.Teslas come with manual door releases, but they can be hard to find
Teslas come with manual door releases, but they can be hard to find
This is misleading. The door releases are extremely hidden, and seem to be specifically designed to not be found by anyone who has not received special training to find and use them. Also, they are not the same on every model, and are sometimes not even the same on all versions of the same model.
Some releases are hidden inside of door panel molding, others are hidden inside speaker grills, some are hidden under floor mats and even then must be pulled a specific direction to function.
Tesla seems to be going out of their way to kill people by trapping them. It's fucking bizarre.
This is actually true, I did this last week. The owner had to show me the open button. However, I think I’ve heard the S or X might have an actually difficult to find release, but not sure.
The first time I ever rode in a Model 3, I accidentally used the mechanical door handle instead of the electronic one. It’s exactly where a normal door handle is. The driver said it happens all the time.
I've had a lot more people accidentally open the door with the manual override than the normal door release because it's a lot more obvious than the normal door release. There are a ton of reasons to criticize Tesla, this is not one of them IMO. This article reads like a lot of other anti-EV "news" articles.