… with the Model Y in particular, not all vehicles come with manual releases for the rear doors, as Tesla warns in the car's manual. It's unclear if the Model Y involved in the crash was equipped with the emergency feature.
In the 80s we had this little crank. Car didn't need to be on. Crank wasn't electric. Crank was kid-powered. Your dad just yelled at you. "HEY!!!! ROLL THE WINDOW DOWN BACK THERE!!!! YA LITTLE SHIT!!!"
And you knew it was serious, because cars back then didn't have A.C unless you were rich. So it was 90 degrees and the inside of the car was 110. Because YOU said we should put the reflective cover in the winshield, so it wouldn't get so hot in the car, but nooooooooo, dad said you'd only be a minute in the store. Then you come back out 45 minutes later. Which as you know, in kid time is several weeks. So now it's hot in the car. And the seat vynal is burning your legs, because you wore shorts.
And so you ask if you can just open the car doors for a while before you get in, but noooooooo we got places to be.
And so now you're getting yelled at, to crank both windows down because SOMEONE is being an asshole.
But at least you're not burning in a vehicle with no way out!
The last one is: remove the liner in the cargo compartment in the door, pop a flap on the bottom and pull the little tab on the cable that comes out. Even of your know, in a full panic it's going to be hard.
Use the metal part of the seat belt to smash the window is going to be easier in panic mode.
Tesla car doors have manual releases in the front doors but not in the rear doors. Or rather, there are manual releases in the rear doors but they are hidden under a hatch under the rubber matting in the door bins so effectively nobody is going to find them in an emergency. So if your car is on fire and you're injured or panicking & you're unaware about the manual release then you're going to die. Now to be fair, the front manual release in the Tesla model 3/Y is fairly discoverable (it's a handle above the electric windows) but it's not so obvious in older models. The Cybertruck has similar manual releases as the 3/Y but with toughened glass I wonder how long before we see someone drown or burn to death and bystanders were unable to rescue them.
Aren't the emergency release in some models behind the speaker grills? And others not present unless you have a higher tier package? (Talking about rear doors)
I hadn't checked all models but I knew that in the model Y there is a rubber mat in the door bin, that you remove, and under that is a hatch and under that is something you can pull. I had a look at the model X manual and it does seem to be under a panel by the speaker. So either way it is basically impossible for rear occupants (or front occupants who retreat to the back) to open those doors in an emergency.
The simple answer would be to put manual releases front, back and on the hatch. I assume that when a Tesla crashes it isolates the power, so it would also be necessary for things like door locks to automatically disengage, or be disengaged by the manual release otherwise that's no good either.