How to exit the tram if the door does not open?

In recent days, the incident of a Tesla Model Y caught fire on a street in North Vancouver, is causing a stir in public opinion. The vehicle’s owner told a local CTV News station that the Model Y suddenly lost power and smoked, and its electrically operated doors wouldn’t open, trapping him inside. The person told the news agency that in a panic. Notably, he couldn’t figure out how to operate the exit door. The Vancouver Fire Brigade is currently investigating the incident.

In fact, the driver and passenger in some cars now have to press an electronic button, or handle, or release the “electric door” to signal the electric motor to open the latch.

Automakers using these systems have said that such systems promise to save weight and add additional features such as auto-unlocking in the event of a crash. But if the power door release fails because the car loses power or for some other reason, the driver may need to use the manual emergency door release. However, these parts may not be easy for the driver to find or operate during an emergency

The scene of the recent Tesla car fire in Canada.

Last year, an attorney representing the owner of a Tesla Model S Plaid that caught fire said that the owner of the vehicle had to try to get out of the car because its doors wouldn’t open.

Four years ago, the 75-year-old owner of a 2006 Cadillac XLR was trapped inside his car for 14 hours after a battery problem prevented the electronic doors from working. The problem can be solved if he knows the position of the manual door opener.

“It’s rare, but in some car crashes, the internal electronic door latches may not work. So if you have a car that doesn’t have a conventional door opener, you need it. learn how to operate the emergency exit system,” said Jake Fisher, senior director of automotive testing at Consumer Reports. “Automakers should make it easy and clear to assist users in exiting their vehicle in an emergency, but unfortunately that’s not always the case. Although the manual of the owner will tell you where to find the mechanical lever and how to use it. Try it once because in a real emergency is not the time to find it.”

Other vehicles including the Audi E-Tron, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang Mach-E, Lexus NX and discontinued Lincoln Continental also use electronic doors. They all also have some sort of manual mechanism that may not be immediately obvious.

For example, the driver of a Tesla that caught fire in Vancouver may not have known how to use the manual door opener located right in front of the electronic door opener.

Do you need tools?

In fact, for the driver, EVs of brands such as Audi E-Tron, Chevrolet Corvette, Ford Mustang Mach-E, 2022 Lexus NX, Lincoln Continental or Tesla all have instructions on how to unlock the electric door manually. when there is a problem.

However, not everyone pays attention to this. Especially when panicking is a big problem. That’s why many auto supply stores sell “escape tools” that allow car owners to break a car window from the inside to provide the driver with another way out in the event of an emergency.

But another problem is that some of these tools become useless. Laminated glass, can definitely help the occupants of the car not to be thrown out of the car in the event of a collision, laminated glass is harder to break than traditional tempered glass.

In 2019, AAA tested six exit tools on vehicles with laminated glass and found none of them could break it.

Therefore, it is best that the user before using the vehicle should carefully learn how to escape in the vehicle manual. In addition, users should look at the labels printed on the corners of the glass on the windows, sunroof and windshield of their car to determine what the glass is made of so that the right tool breaks properly.