Yeah, no. Tesla announced last year that they’re in the process of a redesign. They have until the end of 2028 to comply.
Yeah, I knew a guy who worked for IBM in White Plains, and he was telling me about always having to carry a cigarette lighter with him in winter. Even though he wasn’t a smoker. He needed it to melt the ice around his door handles.
As a native of SoCal, I always got a kick out of these kinds of horror stories. 
Of course not, but that’s also no reason to let the perfect become the enemy of the good.
I use Uber/Lyft a fair amount. Once in a while the car is a Tesla. I always struggle to figure out how to open the door.
An Uber was the first time I ever rode in a Tesla.
Yep. I mean, it is just another way to limit foreign imports.
Tesla has 1 whole year to change… door handles! …
The Chinese pump out a whole new car in this period.
And quite a few Chinese cars also have them.
Yep, also that unnatural/non-intuitive electric trunk-hatch-botton-thingy
One cannot climb out the window?
Two years and they supposedly have been working on it since last year.
It’s incredible that any automobile manufacturer would have designed them any other way. I mean, it’s fine to have electrically operated door locks, but there must also be key access from the outside, and, crucially, a very obvious and visible handle on the inside that unlocks and opens the door even if it’s locked.
My previous car had a pushbutton trunk release in the dash. In the current car, which is much newer, the trunk release is a mechanical pull handle at the floor level beside the driver’s seat. Why? Because despite the car being loaded with fancy electronics, the manufacturer felt that a mechanical control for critical functions would be more reliable. Indeed, in one of my previous cars, both the electrically operated trunk lock and one of the electric door locks both eventually failed.
Of course. But there have been so many stories about frozen Tesla door handles that I have the strong impression that the problem can be caused simply by cold weather. Whereas problems with conventional door handles will usually be the result of some extreme condition like freezing rain. In all my many years of living in this cold clime, I can’t remember if or when I’ve ever had a door handle freeze up on me. Even after freezing rain, you just give it a firm tug, and the ice breaks off.
I makes sense that people designing door handles in Detroit would have a better idea of these situations than people in the SF Bay and Austin.
White Plains, America’s Arctic tundra. 
Or if they left with any doubt they could call up their colleagues at Volvo.
Tesla has that; however, it’s hidden & non-intuitive, rendering it somewhat less than ideal in an emergency (& panicked) situation.
If the electric doors won’t open due to lack of power why do you think the electric windows would go down w/o power?
I’m a first responder; I’m trained in how to & have used the ‘Jaws of Life’. I have (spring-loaded) window punches in our vehicles & in my gear; mostly so I can help others but to save myself if necessary. They can be purchased, with a recessed seat belt cutter for < $10. My life & family member’s life is worth that! You can probably find videos on Youtube on how to use them if they don’t come with decent instructions. If not, DM me & I’ll tell you how to use them.
Supposedly the Tesla style door handles are more aerodynamic, thus improving the vehicle’s range.
I’m sure car designers would love to get rid of side mirrors, too (they really mess up the aerodynamics), if it weren’t for the fact that they’re legally required to have them.
Obviously they are more aerodynamic. Removing anything that reduces drag - handles, antennas, mirrors - would improve fuel economy. But those darned safety considerations and all…
And yes, side mirrors are less aerodynamic as well. There have been tests to replace them with camera systems. They haven’t been approved for use in the US. Tesla tried to get that approved too but didn’t get anywhere. But other manufacturers (Audi and Toyota are effectively there on some models already) are hopping on that bandwagon, so they may start appearing in other countries and may, after sufficient real world use, get some traction in the US as well.
Teslas have three different style of exterior door handles:
- Model S, flush mounted door handles that use a motor to appear when a key comes near the car
- Model 3 & Y, flush mounted door handles that are just levers; one end of the handle is pressed, and the other comes out to be pulled
- Model X & Cybertruck, outside buttons that are pressed to open the doors
All of them are electric poppers, not mechanical releases.
I do not see how flush handles like on the 3 and Y would be a problem if they were connected to a mechanical release.
The electric poppers, on Teslas and all other cars, are a problem. The motorized door handles on the S are a problem. The buttons are only a problem because they requires the electric poppers.
Here’s a video of why doors should have mechanical levers.
It’s a 1 minute clip of an accident, in which an electric car skids off the road and bursts into flames.
It seems to be real, not AI.(though I’m not sure who was filming).
.
One of my coworkers has one. When he drove to lunch one day, he had to give a safety briefing on how to open the rear doors in an emergency. Whoever designed that should be locked in a tesla and dropped in a lake.
The front doors aren’t so bad. The emergency door handle is so intuitive in the front that I used it instead of the proper electric release. I was informed I could have broke his windows doing that!