Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery(theverge.com)
theverge.com
Arizona toddler rescued after getting trapped in a Tesla with a dead battery
https://www.theverge.com/2024/6/21/24183439/tesla-model-y-arizona-toddler-trapped-rescued
31 comments
I don’t own a tesla.
So every door opening in teslas (even with the car unlocked) relies on electrical parts and batteries? That’s crazy!
It's even dumber. They rely on the bog-standard lead 12V battery which has a habit of dying in Teslas. So you got a huge battery with enough energy to power your home for a week right there but can't open the door because that part relies on the other battery.
Any idea what the rationale is for this? Seems bizarre. Why even have a 12V lead battery when that weight could be eliminated?
You want to be able to run brake and steering servo if the main battery has to disengage due to faults.
E.g. the ground fault protection has alot of false positives.
The led battery is way more robust to abuse and faults than a lithium battery, too.
E.g. the ground fault protection has alot of false positives.
The led battery is way more robust to abuse and faults than a lithium battery, too.
Why wouldn’t they make the lithium battery a backup for the lead?
New Tesla's have a lithium battery. The reason for the 12V is that the low voltage electrical system can periodically need to deliver and control ~100A @ 12V. To do this with DC to DC conversion from the ~400V main pack is complex and expensive. The legacy auto industry supply chain won't switch from 12V further complicating the economics of a better design.
If your Tesla senses a fault in the low voltage system it will cut the connection to the high voltage pack and send you a message saying "pull over your car may not restart" depending on the fault, this message will stay up for hours or even days. At this point your 12V batter is no longer being recharged. Once the battery gets really low the warning messages get more intense and the car will literally not move. At this point the doors still work, usually for hours. There is a ton of warning before your doors won't open.
This is for the lead acid case of older cars. Newer cars have a 12V lithium ion battery with higher capacity that may behave differently.
Next gen Tesla's (starting with the cybertruck) use 48V low voltage architecture that is 4x lower current. Tesla now has the scale to develop the 48V automotive supply chain internally in spite of the resistance from incumbent OEMs.
Overall I give this story a 3/10. Mostly FUD.
If your Tesla senses a fault in the low voltage system it will cut the connection to the high voltage pack and send you a message saying "pull over your car may not restart" depending on the fault, this message will stay up for hours or even days. At this point your 12V batter is no longer being recharged. Once the battery gets really low the warning messages get more intense and the car will literally not move. At this point the doors still work, usually for hours. There is a ton of warning before your doors won't open.
This is for the lead acid case of older cars. Newer cars have a 12V lithium ion battery with higher capacity that may behave differently.
Next gen Tesla's (starting with the cybertruck) use 48V low voltage architecture that is 4x lower current. Tesla now has the scale to develop the 48V automotive supply chain internally in spite of the resistance from incumbent OEMs.
Overall I give this story a 3/10. Mostly FUD.
All currently produced Tesla vehicles don't have 12V batteries anymore.
Tesla's are becoming the new junked refrigerators:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_death
I did just read an article where the trapped person, on calling tesla support from inside the locked car, was told there is a "secret" mechanical release under the arm rest. I guess they only want those in teh know to be able to escape 8-/
Personally, I just bought a used Nissan Leaf, with the mechanical door handles, and other mechanical buttons and controls as one of the primary reasons. Putting everything in a touchscreen in a car should be illegal. Just like electric door handles.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_death
I did just read an article where the trapped person, on calling tesla support from inside the locked car, was told there is a "secret" mechanical release under the arm rest. I guess they only want those in teh know to be able to escape 8-/
Personally, I just bought a used Nissan Leaf, with the mechanical door handles, and other mechanical buttons and controls as one of the primary reasons. Putting everything in a touchscreen in a car should be illegal. Just like electric door handles.
Unfortunately, youngsters can lock themselves in any car. It's not something unique to electric cars or Tesla.
E.g. https://www.google.com/search?q=child+locked+themselves+in+c...
E.g. https://www.google.com/search?q=child+locked+themselves+in+c...
But most other cars have physical locks that can be unlocked from the outside and a handle that doesn't require a still-charged 12-volt battery. You may need to call a locksmith (for instance, the keys are also inside the car), but you probably don't have to bust open the windows unless it's really urgent and you need to get them out now (instead of 20-30 minutes from now).
People who lock the key in the car with the child. Not remotely the same.
How is it "not remotely the same"?
In both cases the child is in the car and the door cannot be opened.
In my city, the fire department solves the problem by bashing out a window, just as in this case. I know this because that's what happened when a friend locked in her baby.
That seems more like "exactly the same" than "not remotely the same" to me.
I'll bet it happens dozens of times across the country every single day.
In both cases the child is in the car and the door cannot be opened.
In my city, the fire department solves the problem by bashing out a window, just as in this case. I know this because that's what happened when a friend locked in her baby.
That seems more like "exactly the same" than "not remotely the same" to me.
I'll bet it happens dozens of times across the country every single day.
One is due to the carelessness of the driver. The other is due to a failure in the car.
You can't open the door if you don't have the key
You can't open the door if the battery is dead (or, presumably, the battery has removed by a would-be car thief).
I'm not sure why one of these is a "failure of the car" but not the other.
If the Tesla cars defaulted to "doors open" when the battery was dead/removed, people would be complaining about that.
In both cases, the end outcome is exactly the same: the window gets bashed out by the fire department.
You can't open the door if the battery is dead (or, presumably, the battery has removed by a would-be car thief).
I'm not sure why one of these is a "failure of the car" but not the other.
If the Tesla cars defaulted to "doors open" when the battery was dead/removed, people would be complaining about that.
In both cases, the end outcome is exactly the same: the window gets bashed out by the fire department.
It's very hard to give this comment the benefit of the doubt - the obvious critical difference is not buried in the details, and it's disturbing to see it casually ignored, given the context.
The "critical difference" here is that in other cases the car wasn't manufactured by Elon Musk, the currently-designated Emmanuel Goldstein who needs to be the focus of a Two Minutes Hate every time his name is mentioned.
Edit: when a friend of mine locked her kid inside a conventional car a number of years ago, and the fire department broke the window, I assure you the incident did not even make the local news, much less go national.
Edit: when a friend of mine locked her kid inside a conventional car a number of years ago, and the fire department broke the window, I assure you the incident did not even make the local news, much less go national.
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