# Teslas really are not great cars **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2025, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339 "2025-03-30T09:18:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/181 "2025-04-13T13:20:41Z")
That was always one of favorites! “Sweet mother of pearl!” is in my normal lexicon. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/182 "2025-04-13T13:26:51Z")
Would that work include the _percentage_ of people that use FSD vs. the percentage of people that don’t, just to get a true picture? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/183 "2025-04-13T14:46:19Z")
Of course. And since I’m feeling generous I’ll even start the analysis. 106 people died in car accidents per _day_ last year. So far there have been 19 deaths linked to FSD ever in its history. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/184 "2025-04-13T14:54:20Z")
According to this cite, [Only 2% of Tesla Full Self-Driving trial users end up buying it, credit card data show | Electrek](https://electrek.co/2024/05/14/tesla-full-self-driving-trial-users-take-rate-credit-card-data/) only 2% of Tesla owners that opted for FSD decided to keep it after the initial trial run. “According to YipitData’s latest figures, nearly 3,500 Tesla owners trialed the company’s Full Self-Driving (FSD) service over the past month. However, only about 50 of these trials converted into FSD subscriptions or purchases, translating to a conversion rate of just under 2% as of May 5th. The data reveals a cautious approach among Tesla drivers towards paying for subscriptions to its autonomous driving technology.” When you factor that in, “only” 19 deaths attributed to FSD is a bit high. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/185 "2025-04-13T14:59:17Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > So far there have been 19 deaths linked to FSD ever in its history. How long is that history, and for how long was that in a very limited beta mode? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/186 "2025-04-13T15:04:45Z")
That’s not quite it. It’s really difficult to get numbers out of Tesla. They did trial that got 2% _more_ divers to get FSD. A significant number of drivers already had it. I’ve seen anywhere from 15% to 50%. It’s complicated. People who have it don’t use it all the time. Some people only subscribe for one or two months per year like when they’re taking a road trip. Remember that that 19 happened over a few years but that number could be understated. As you indicated there’s a relatively very small number of overall drivers with it so it gets tough to get good relative statistics. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/187 "2025-04-13T15:07:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > How long is that history, and for how long was that in a very limited beta mode? It looks like the full FSD launch was in 2020 as an upgrade to the “enhanced” autopilot. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/188 "2025-04-13T15:21:54Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > So far there have been 19 deaths linked to FSD ever in its history. Any idea how many times people have been trapped in a Tesla after an accident and were unable to escape because of issues with the doors / door handles? I see a number of these incidents as I look around the internet, but hard to determine how many were separate occurrences. Which is to say… what other useless, dangerous features on these cars have also killed people? Which is also to say… nobody is looking past the fact that around 40k people get killed in cars each year. But Tesla seems to have added to that tally needlessly. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/189 "2025-04-13T15:22:11Z")
I just did another search that says 29 FSD deaths in 2024 which makes more sense. The impossible thing to suss out is how many more (or fewer) deaths would there have been if all of those FSD miles weren’t done with FSD. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/190 "2025-04-13T15:25:55Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > Any idea how many times people have been trapped in a Tesla after an accident and were unable to escape because of issues with the doors / door handles Is that unique to Tesla, or all modern cars? ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/191 "2025-04-13T15:27:53Z")
Tesla has these weird buttons to open doors which are confusing to an unfamiliar person. They also have a regular mechanical door opener in the usual expected place. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/192 "2025-04-13T15:28:21Z")
Are there other cars with this problem? ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/193 "2025-04-13T15:28:35Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > And since I’m feeling generous I’ll even start the analysis. 106 people died in car accidents per _day_ last year. So far there have been 19 deaths linked to FSD ever in its history. There are already 19 deaths? I don’t have the numbers to analyze that fairly, but that feels really high, given the small number of people using it. ---
**Author:** ![Llama\_Llogophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@Llama\_Llogophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Llama_Llogophile)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/194 "2025-04-13T15:29:08Z")
> [@Procrustus](#): > > Is that unique to Tesla, or all modern cars? I don’t know, but I’d like to. I’ve heard about this mostly with regard to Teslas, including from a firefighter friend of mine who said they must be treated quite differently in various emergency situations. Wouldn’t surprise me to learn to that the industry as a whole has made needless changes to door locks that makes them less safe than purely mechanical devices. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/195 "2025-04-13T15:30:17Z")
I corrected that number. It’s actually more than that. A few hundred thousand use FSD ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/196 "2025-04-13T15:31:04Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Are there other cars with this problem? To be honest, I’m not sure what the problem is. The door handles on my wife’s Tesla are not really any different than those on my Jaguar iPace. I did have a client almost drown in his Suburban because the first responders were unable to open the door under water. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/197 "2025-04-13T15:31:05Z")
> [@hajario](#): > > They also have a regular mechanical door opener in the usual expected place. They do? I’ve been a passenger in a lot of Teslas, and I’ve gotten used to the doors. But i didn’t see any alternative way to open it. And I’ve watched a lot of fellow passengers struggle to exit. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/198 "2025-04-13T15:32:12Z")
> [@puzzlegal](#): > > And I’ve watched a lot of fellow passengers struggle to exit. Okay, now I think I get it. I was in a Model 3 once (Uber) and I did have trouble figuring out how to open the door. So, _some_ Teslas have unusual door handles. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/199 "2025-04-13T15:32:38Z")
They absolutely do. [https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en\_us/GUID-A7A60DC7-E476-4A86-9C9C-10F4A276AB8B.html](https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/model3/en_us/GUID-A7A60DC7-E476-4A86-9C9C-10F4A276AB8B.html) ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2025, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339/200 "2025-04-13T15:34:50Z")
> [@Llama\_Llogophile](#): > > I don’t know, but I’d like to. I’ve heard about this mostly with regard to Teslas, including from a firefighter friend of mine who said they must be treated quite differently in various emergency situations. Could they have been talking about the battery issues with regards to fires which is a thing for all EVs? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/teslas-really-are-not-great-cars/1016339.md?page=11)