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Tesla design flaws caused fiery crash that killed woman, severely injured husband, lawsuit alleges (www.cbsnews.com)
submitted 11 months ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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Design flaws caused a Tesla Model 3 to suddenly accelerate out of control before it crashed into a utility pole and burst into flames, killing a woman and severely injuring her husband, a lawsuit filed in federal court alleges.

Another defect, with the door handle design, thwarted bystanders who were trying to rescue the driver, Jeff Dennis, and his wife, Wendy, from the car, according to the lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington.

Wendy Dennis died in the Jan. 7, 2023, crash in Tacoma, Washington. Jeff Dennis suffered severe leg burns and other injuries, according to the lawsuit.

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[–] 2 points 11 months ago (13 children)

There’s also no reason that it’s a software handle.

There is a reason. It would be easy to argue its not worth it though.

When you pull the door handle the glass window retracts below the rubber weather stripping, then the door latch unlocks and you open the door. When you close the door and it latches, the window moves back up into the weather stripping creating a tight seal.

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  • [–] 11 points 11 months ago

    Mustangs have been using a window-retract feature with mechanical handles since at least 2015 (S550 generation). I've had to open them with dead batteries and they opened fine without the retraction, though I'm sure it wears the rubber strip faster. I believe the Audi A5/A7 family has done the same for years. While frameless doors have been around for decades, the seal IS different on auto-drop doors to improve sealing. Regardless, as you said, "removing the mechanical handle" has a reason, and it's incredibly easy to argue against. Like many other Tesla design decisions, it's a cost-saving measure disguised as a functional necessity.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago* (3 children)

    BMW has been doing this with mechanical handles for 30 years just fine.

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  • [–] 4 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    GM killed a few Boomers in Corvettes. Roasted to death because they could not figure out how to get out of the car when the battery died. No one reads the fucking manual.

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    People built this into the Smart Fortwo with a couple chips and wires. I can’t find a reference because it was about 15 years ago they did it, but it wasn’t complicated and the door latch remained entirely mechanical. I think that it was, in turn, a replication of another car’s feature which did this back in the 80s.

    I think it’s 99% cost savings.

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  • [–] 1 point 11 months ago (4 children)

    That is not a good reason, that is software built to compensate for a stupid hardware design

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  • [–] 2 points 11 months ago (2 children)

    You said there was no reason. There is a reason. You didn't ask for a good reason. It's also by absolutely no means unique to Tesla, despite how it is portrayed in articles like this.

    Tesla isn't the first manufacturer to use frameless windows by any means. Audi, Toyota, Honda, Mercedes, Volkswagen, Mini, and Subaru just to name a few, have all used them in various "luxury" or higher end models over the years. It's perceived as luxury vehicle design, so it gets used quite a bit.

    The handle not physically manipulating a latch also isn't unique. Corvette's have done this for years. Many recent vehicles from Lexus, Audi, Ferrari, Fiat, Lincoln, and Dodge again to name a few also use them, regardless of the flush exterior handle design. The handle design itself isn't the issue with these deaths, it's the electrical system failing. The flush handles causes issues with things like ice build-up, not being unable to open the door after a crash.

    Articles like this always point to these issues, and act like they're unique to Tesla, but they're not. It's the same as it's always been, Tesla headlines get clicks, which drives interaction and sharing exactly like here, which all lead to increased advertising revenue.

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