"Always connect to an external, low voltage power supply before opening a door when the vehicle has no power," Tesla says, "to avoid breaking a window."

How is this a real sentence?

@mekkaokereke Frameless doors are lighter, there’s a lot of cars that do the same thing. Most modern convertibles. Mercedes CLA (that I happen to be driving as a rental this week), older Subaru’s etc. It’s harder to get a good seal to keep rain out and wind noise down so many of them do the drop window when they open the door trick. For Teslas, there’s a 12V battery that opens the windows and gets the car started, not related to the main drive battery. The 12V sometimes fails.

@mekkaokereke 🤣

@mekkaokereke

It's a Monty Python joke.

@mekkaokereke wat

@mekkaokereke
Well, the windows don't have frame around them, they roll up into the car's frame instead... so the windows have to roll down a little bit so the door can open. This is much like many convertibles but the only convertible Tesla makes is the Roadster (and I'm not even sure if they make that anymore). Not sure why their car doors don't have framing around the windows, it's certainly a choice (weight savings maybe?), but it leads to dumb stuff like this.

@mekkaokereke to be fair, have you tried reading it while taking too much ketamine? I hear disassociation puts a lot of the decisions into perspective. 😅🤣

@mekkaokereke tesla designed their frameless door windows to fit tightly into the pillar and roof molding when closed.. so to open the door you need to first roll down the window slightly to free the door and window from the frame. Of course, this could *never* be a problem, because the car's software auto-rolls-down the electric window when you pull the door handle. There is no conceivable situation in which this design will not work....

@mekkaokereke @noondlyt 🤣🤣🤣

@mekkaokereke Aside from all else grammatically speaking it barely qualifies.

@mekkaokereke just imagine that in -25C and ice between the glass and the sealant. Options are break the glass or fetch a hair dryer.

@mekkaokereke We couldn’t get in my wife’s model 3 because the windows were frozen in the frames. It was an expensive lump until we could thaw them.

@mekkaokereke This weather is really putting EVs to the test. I wonder how other brands are doing?

Edit: same charging issues, at the least. https://www.axios.com/2024/01/16/tesla-charge-cold-weather-electric-vehicles

@mekkaokereke Move slowly and break windows, I guess.

@mekkaokereke Translation: "If the 12volt battery is dead, you need a jumpstart, just like a Toyota."

@mekkaokereke Tesla has some AMAZINGLY unsafe engineering especially when it comes to having to get out in an emergency when you are without power. In most cases, the doors are electronically actuated, so if things have gone to shit, you're left with some extremely hacky ways to get out, particularly if you are in the back seats of most vehicles.

One model - no joke - requires you to remove a speaker grill to push on a particular piece of the door frame.

@dannotdaniel @mekkaokereke watt

@CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke Because it looks good. Bonus: it’s cheaper to manufacture frameless doors. Framed doors need two seals: between the glass and the door frame, and the door frame and the body. Frameless doors need only one.

@CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke frameless windows are a thing several manufactures do on various models for style reasons. For other cars it can be a concern if the battery is dead, as well.

@CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke I had to read that several times before I finally realized what it implies. Good grief. I suppose it's handy if your self-driving car drives you into a lake or the ocean and you're submerged and all the electrical systems short out. Just push the door and the window breaks. But wait, that doesn't work because you're under water and you simply don't have the strength to open the door. Hopefully you can find an escape hammer in time...

@earthshine @mekkaokereke

ah, the "software never works incorrectly so what could ever go wrong" QA question they didn't ask... oops...

@earthshine @mekkaokereke
I usually have my (full-frame door) driver's side window ope a crack, because it can be harder to open if the window is all the way closed. Some kind of pressure difference, even with vents open, I think.

@nemeciii @mekkaokereke
Hair dryer is a good option. My father had one in the shop for dealing with condensation in places in the engine compartment of his cars.

@CStamp @mekkaokereke Volvo doing fine here. Yes, much shorter range, and some charging points not working. And the hassle of having to use an app in 15 degrees frost... RFID tags are worth gold then. And thawing the windscreen remotely before driving off in the morning (I think Tesla has that too).

The Axios article has good recommendations.

@noondlyt @mekkaokereke you win faraday

@mekkaokereke Another requires you to reach between you legs and find a cut flap in the carpet and find a tab connected to a cable to release the rear doors. If you are seated, it isn't apparent that it is there, nor can you read the little marking on the tab. Remember, this might be an emergency situation and you may be a passenger in a vehicle and not an owner who has read the manual.

@drahardja @mekkaokereke
I know that people love Teslas and they are appealing from a style POV. However, I've never seen a car and been turned off because of whether it had door frames or not. Honestly didn't realize Tesla didn't have them until i got in an Uber.

Now, the embedded door handles are a choice I don't think I like; both for style and practical reasons. Seen too many videos of them frozen shut, plus they just look like scratch magnets. Not for me but, to each their own.

@noondlyt @dannotdaniel

🤣 Underrated post!

@enmodo @mekkaokereke
Wait... are you talking about what I said or the OP?

@drahardja @CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke there are gobs of cars with frameless windows that can be opened without rolling them down.

@enmodo @CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke The Tesla manual door release systems are at least the same for all the front doors, but the rear doors… The 3s and some Ys don't have rear manual door releases, while the Xs have it hidden behind a speaker grille that you need to pull off.

Also, the use of laminated glass means that the hammer may not be able to break the window.

@dannotdaniel @mekkaokereke shocking

@CaptBobbers @drahardja @mekkaokereke I hate the handles because they don't feel good and they are undersized. It's like opening something hefty with a paperclip that pokes out of the side.

Couldn't they have had a larger handle with a proximity sensor that pops the handle out of the door when unlocked and you're close to it? And yeah an auto defrost feature if it finds a low temperature and the handle doesn't pop out due to ice?

@mekkaokereke @dannotdaniel 😃

@CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke what you said. I don't think I've ever paid attention to what a Tesla door looks like when open so when you said "into the car frame" it took a while to get it. Frameless windows are kind of an alien concept to me even though I used to have a convertible.

@mekkaokereke Think I'm joking? Check out Youtube for any number of videos on the absurdity that is emergency vehicle egress in a Tesla.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01lXcD_Uz74

@e_nomem @CaptBobbers @mekkaokereke so instead of business up front, party in the rear its escape up front, panic in the rear.

I wonder how many Teslas have met a watery grave at this point?

@adrianco @mekkaokereke Side note: and if you’re *in* the car and can’t go plug in a 12V power supply?

@erik @mekkaokereke It complains when the 12V battery is starting to fail and runs until you turn it off. It’s only needed to start the car from completely off. We had this happen on our Model 3 after a couple of years. We’ve had it for 4 years now. I think they changed the design to avoid the problem since then.

@adrianco @mekkaokereke I love playing "spot the Tesla owner" in this thread. So much apology for such a stupid car.

@dave @mekkaokereke Stupid in what way?

@Infoseepage @mekkaokereke i am literally studying aircraft emergency checklists right now and you are giving me a heart attack

That is not how safety works…. There’s supposed to be procedures and engineering for that…*kermitflail*

@thatandromeda @mekkaokereke It's just horrifically bad engineering considerations which equally should have never been allowed into a production vehicle. It is a failure by both Tesla and the regulatory authorities who have allowed it.

@thatandromeda @mekkaokereke And this is completely aside from all the self-driving and other whizbang features which have proven to be hazards. This could have been implemented properly, without respect to electric car futurism. It wasn't. It is just plain old bad engineering.

@Infoseepage @mekkaokereke When we were considering the Tesla 3 we stumbled across the fact that, if the car loses power, people in the back seat are stuck there until somebody helps them from outside. That was one of the primary reasons (certainly not the only one) why we bought a Bolt instead; that has been a regret-free decision.

(OK, the battery recall was not great fun, but other than that...)