Tesla Owners ~ WARNING! ~ If you are involved in a collision that damages the battery in your car, your doors will automatically LOCK.....

@swirlie exactly!

@swirlie This guy in Norway does pretty comprehensive testing of Teslas (and other electric cars)
[media=https://youtu.be/RHAZQfiLLm0]

In this video he gets a range of 241 miles at about -21°C. He does have some problems charging. Anyone interestied in part 2 can see he goes on to sleep in the car

@AfternoonWine
That information was already available in Canada the first year that Tesla exported their electric cars to Canada, where in fact it was Canadian owners who were reporting the same results on public forums about Tesla's range being reduced by upwards of 25% in temps below -20*C.

What 241 miles represents in this guy's test is precisely a 25% decrease in range starting from a fully charged new battery, because Tesla only advertised a 300 mile range (524km) in the first place using a fully charged battery in a new car at an ambient outside air temperature of 15*C which is 59*F. This temp is the test range that Tesla certified their batteries for in their advertised range.

Additionally, Canadian owners have been discovering that even without the winter range reduction factor, the Tesla batteries lose 12% of their charging ability with each passing year of it's age, regardless of the car being driven or not in winter conditions. That is why a Tesla battery only has a warranty period of 8 years maximum at which point the battery must be replaced because it's charging capability is diminished by 96% by year #8.

That means that an 8 year old Tesla will only have a maximum range of between 12 and 20 miles on a fully charged 8 year old battery, which is actually proving statistically true in Canada as these batteries are aging.

@AfternoonWine

Here is an interior image of the driver's door. The top circle is the electronic button door release which requires battery power to operate.

The lower circle is where the manual door release handle is located which is used in the event of a total battery power loss.

@swirlie Thanks. You never know when that could be very useful to know.

@AfternoonWine
I felt the same way when I discovered this last week following a Tesla auto collision in Toronto. Four people were in a Tesla on a stretch of road within the city when the driver lost control at low speed, hit a guard rail head-on and the car instantly burst into flames. Why did it do that? Because the main battery was damaged, then shorted-circuited and caught fire which apparently has happened many times in the past few years with lawsuits pending in the USA.

The only person around was a FedEx delivery guy who was right behind the Tesla, but quickly realized the car's doors couldn't be opened from the outside because they were locked... and the doors couldn't be opened electrically from the inside because the battery isolated itself an then auto-disconnected itself from the system when it detected a short-circuit was happening which of course caused the fire.

The FedEx driver couldn't break into the car because any hard object he had in his truck wouldn't break a side window, so his only hope was to tell the occupant at the passenger door to pull on the door handle, which she did though not knowing where the manual door release latch was actually located because it isn't typically used if the electric system is working.

As she released her door latch after finding it in the smoke-filled environment, the car became completely engulfed in flames as the FedEx driver pulled her out of the car, but he was unable to get the others out because they couldn't find the manual door release latch to open their respective doors.

@Pisciatto1
There are already about a dozen lawsuits going on in Canada and the USA for battery fires following a collision where people couldn't get out of the car when the battery detected a fault and locked the doors of the car. The car was designed that way so the car couldn't be stolen if the battery was run dead and the car abandoned on the side of the road. But how do you steal a Tesla if the battery is dead anyway?

@Shybutwilling2bfriends
Were you previously aware that the doors would lock if the battery failed or automatically shutdown following a collision?

@swirlie no but i dont have a tesla

@Shybutwilling2bfriends
If you ever witness one in a collision under the circumstances given, you'd have to break a side window, then reach in and lift the manual door release handle to get the persons out, FYI.

@pripyatamusementpark
I hear you! I would never ride in one!