00:00Design features on Tesla's electric vehicles, including battery-powered door handles and mechanical releases,
00:07have complicated crashes in emergency situations.
00:09In particular, when Tesla's lose power, crashes can turn into deadly races against time.
00:15Reporting by Bloomberg News has found that regulators have been slow to act
00:19and complaints about Tesla's doors have piled up.
00:23I want to bring in Bloomberg's Dunahol, part of the team that reported this.
00:26What we're talking about in particular is the mechanical override, partly in the rear doors of some Tesla vehicles,
00:34that you need to use in the event that in an accident a Tesla vehicle loses power.
00:40Take us from that point and explain the investigation that Bloomberg News did.
00:44Yeah, so to back up for a second, all Tesla vehicles have two batteries.
00:48There is the battery that powers the car and dictates the range, and then there's a low-voltage battery,
00:54typically 12 volts in the Cybertruck, it's 48 volts, that powers things like the windows, the doors, and the touchscreen.
01:01If you lose power, whether because that low-voltage battery dies or you're in a crash, the doors lock.
01:08And to get out, you have to know where the mechanical release is, and finding that mechanical release can be really challenging.
01:14There have been some events, case studies, examples in recent years where, in fatal crashes,
01:23the role or the function of the mechanical override was a factor.
01:29Can you explain what we learned?
01:31Yeah, so there have been several crashes.
01:33And the trick about crashes is that, unfortunately, a lot of the people are dead, so we can't interview them.
01:38But I found a crash in Virginia where this couple was in a terrible crash.
01:44Scores of people ran to their aid to try to help them, and they could not open the doors from the outside.
01:48They had to break a window in order to finally reach in and use hydraulic cutters to cut the door open.
01:55This is a deeply reported, it's a long-form written piece, so I would say to the audience, go out and read it.
02:02Has Tesla responded to our reporting?
02:04They have not. I mean, they were given an opportunity to respond, but they typically don't engage.
02:09Have any of the relevant regulatory agencies engaged with us on the reporting?
02:14Not really. And I think the thing that's important to note is that there's really a gap in terms of how the regulations around these crashes are currently laid out.
02:23Crash testing in the United States really focuses on how well does a vehicle perform in, like, a rollover crash.
02:30And Tesla has an exemplary safety record. Five stars across all categories in many ways.
02:36But our crash testing doesn't look at what happens to a human being after a crash.
02:41How easy is it to get out of the vehicle? How easy is it for first responders to get in?
02:45And you're seeing more and more cars with electric door handles and very strong glass that's making egress more difficult.
02:52I drive a Tesla vehicle, as you know, and actually the regular viewers of the show know, I've never been in a crash.
02:58And I've never had to be in a situation where I've used the manual override because the battery's lost power.
03:02Do you know where your manual override is?
03:04I do. So it's different between the front, which is basically a latch, and the rear, where you remove a pad and there is a wire mechanism.
03:10What I understood from sources in assisting in the reporting a little bit was that you think about the Cybertruck in particular.
03:17Could you explain why the design or the shape of the vehicle requires such a mechanism in the rear away from battery just very quickly?
03:26Yeah, well, the doors are very flat, so there's not as much room inside the door panel for those electronic releases.
03:35And I think also child safety latches is also a big part of it.
03:39You don't want kids to be able to easily open a door from the back seat.
03:43But then the downside is that it's very difficult to get out.
03:47Bloomberg's done a whole with a Bloomberg big take.
03:48Go and read it.
03:49We asked Tesla for comment.
03:51We invite Tesla to comment if and when they're ready to do so.
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