Posted on 06/27/2024 7:14:33 PM PDT by simpson96
PHOENIX (AZFamily) — A Valley woman has a warning for her fellow Tesla drivers after getting trapped in her car.
When its power went out, she had no idea how to get out of her car, and she was far from alone.
Diane has owned her Model Y for about three years without serious complaints.
“Pretty happy,” she said. “It’s a fun car to drive.”
But that changed last month when she tried to go for a drive.
“It was fully charged,” she said. “I unplugged the car, went to get in my car, shut the door, and everything just shut down. I couldn’t open the windows. I couldn’t unlock the doors. I was trapped.”
Diane was stuck inside her car. She wanted to check the owner’s manual to try to figure out what was going on, but that was impossible: the glove box wouldn’t open either.
“I called a friend of mine in the neighborhood and said, you know, can you please come over right away. I’m trapped in the car. He came over he couldn’t figure it out. He says there’s no way to open the car from the outside.”
Diane got on the Tesla app and requested Emergency Roadside Assistance. Eventually they let her know through a text that there’s a secret latch to open the door.
Once she located it, Diane was finally able to get out. “It’s scary,” she said. “It’s very unnerving to say the least.”
Diane’s not alone.
Numerous reports have been made of Tesla drivers being trapped in their cars when the battery dies and all the electronics shut down.
Here’s the problem: like most electric vehicles, Tesla vehicles have a main battery that powers the car and a smaller battery that powers the onboard electronics. That includes the door release and the power windows.
When that battery dies, the doors and windows won’t work.
“There is no warning when it’s low or about to go out,” she said. “So it just shuts down.”
So, where’s that secret latch? You’ll find it on the armrest but on the underside, and it’s completely unmarked.
Diane had no idea it was there. She says she’s talked with several Tesla owners over the past few weeks and they didn’t know about it either.
she forgot to put a gas powered generator in her trunk so she can ‘recharge’ the car using it.
Moral of the story. Be sure you have your phone with you. Don’t leave home without it, she might still be sitting there, dead.
Poor Diane
If only she had paid attention - as this is one of the more common problems with Teslas.
If only Dianne had read the Owners Manual.
If only Diane wasn’t a dunce.....
Yet the most common EV on the roads in Phoenix is Tesla.
✅✅BRAVO !!!✅✅✅
open the door with the mechanical latch.
If it was a ladder, the Consumer Product Safety Commission would have mandated a 3 page warning sticker be plastered all over the windows by now.
I’ve got a Kia with keyless entry and start via the fob. But there is a key hidden in the fob. And a hidden keyhole in the door handle when you pry off the cover. And there’s a place you can put your fob to start the car if the fob battery is dead.
But you have to read the manual fairly closely to find any of that (except the key - although the button to release the key from the fob is unmarked, I did find that on my own.)
Biggest fault of the car is that there is no place to secure anything in the car - if you valet park, the glovebox and the trunk can’t be secured. No place to put a gun if you have to valet park at a no-gun venue like a courthouse or hospital.
This will hurt sales to claustrophobics.
The person that hid the secret latch is the dunce.
Well, at least the battery dying kept her from backing into a pond and drowning.
My Chevy HHR did the exact same thing to me. I took the old battery out to replace it. The battery in HHR is located in the rear trunk. As soon as old battery was removed, I was locked inside trunk of car. That trunk door opens only with battery.
Well that’s fun. It’s 107• in Arizona, which will turn you into a Hot Pocket in no time while locked in your douchey bougie car.
Similar case in Atlanta about 5 years ago. Corvette door latches are electric, it if the battery dies there is a manual override along the door sill. It’s marked in red. Some old guy probably younger than I am bought one and the battery died in the summer and he didn’t know about the manual override. He died of heat exhaustion. First thing I asked when I took delivery of mine was how do you get out of the car if the battery dies.
Death Traps in more ways then One!
"Open the driver side door, Hal."
"I'm sorry, Dave. But I can't do that."
Corvette similar. If you have a dead battery there is a keyhole hidden above the rear license plate and a key hidden in the fob. Open the trunk. If you want you can pry up the right side rear floor of the trunk and replace the battery there or you can pull an inconspicuous ring on the driver’s side of the trunk which opens the driver’s door and then pull the hood release and jump the car.
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