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 have said they’ve been stuck inside their EVs after the cars suddenly lost power.

YouTuber Tom Exton claimed that his Tesla Model Y ordered him to pull over before it suddenly lost power and left him unable to exit.

Exton followed the instructions for the manual release to open the door, but he said this “somehow broke the driver’s window.”

  • xkforce@lemmy.worldEnglish
    153·
    1 year ago

    I doubt that door handle contribites anything measurable to the aerodynamics of the car. The truth is that musk thinks it looks cool regardless of how annoying it is if anything goes wrong.

    • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works
      44·
      1 year ago

      I found a 12% figure. Aerodynamics are a primary driver of range, which is a major ev selling point. A 12% drag decrease is huge, because you can carry less battery which means you can have a smaller motor, lighter frame, leading to even more range. So it would be very important if that is true.

      The retractable door handle design allows radical aerodynamic designing for the side body panel. Retractable door handles are invisible handles that contribute by about 12% to reduce the drag coefficient of vehicles. Retractable door handles eliminate the issue of airflow bulge creation, air flow turbulence generation, and air flow pressure conservation. The decreased drag coefficient will also contribute to increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles as there will be low drag generation resisting the movement of vehicles through the airflow. Amey Vikram, a lead analyst at Technavio for automotive components research

      https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180105005468/en/Top-3-Drivers-of-the-Global-Automotive-Retractable-Door-Handle-System-Market-Technavio

      • kalleboo@lemmy.worldEnglish
        5·
        1 year ago

        You can still have protrutionless handles without making them electronically retractable. Just have a spring-loaded metal flap that you push in with your hand

        • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          You’ll still get the icing issues, where you need to be able to get in even with a thick layer of ice over the handle. But that does sound like a really good solution otherwise.

      • Gee2oo40@lemmy.worldEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        I find it hard to believe that 4 door handles (being made flush with the door), reduces drag by 12% . Are there other articles you can share?

        • JohnDClay@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          1·
          1 year ago

          That’s just what Google came up with, sorry. I don’t have time to research more right now. I do know a rear view mirror on an f350 has more drag than an entire Tesla, so aerodynamics are not always intuitive.