Tesla Cybertruck fire and alleged design flaw. . .

[Brian Malone]

This story says a lawsuit has been filed against Tesla on behalf of the family of a man who crashed his CT and was unable to open the electrically operated doors after the electrical system became damaged by the crash, and he perished in the vehicle fire created by the battery in a thermal runaway condition.

Tesla Cybertruck burned so hot in crash, driver’s bones literally disintegrated: suit

Exclusive: “There’s my challenge to Elon,” attorney S. Scott West told The Independent. “Make these vehicles so safe that I don’t have to do this anymore.”

www.independent.co.uk

I am not familiar with the Tesla door releases - I have ridden in Model 3 and a Y with Uber rides but did not pay attention to the door mechanisms. My cars are 2005, 2009, and 2021 models by Toyota, Nissan, and Buick and they all have a mechanical linkage to actuate their door releases ( electrical locks /remotes move the mechanical linkages).

Those of you familiar with the Tesla doors - is the setup a design flaw for emergency exit? Does this lawsuit have merit for a major safety issue or is this a heart-broken family reacting to a tragic loss. Have other auto manufacturers gone to purely electrically actuated door releases?

 

[TugboatEng]

What happens in a crash if the mechanical release inadvertently opens the door or releases the latch?

How long does the kinetic portion of a crash last? A time delay of 5 seconds before releasing doors may cover 99.9% of situations.

In our heavily litigated society it seems like we have to protect from the exceedingly rare before we can protect from the mostly likely causes. It's funny watching a political spectrum fight for exceedingly rare in the name of protecting the people.

 

[BrianPetersen]

How long does the kinetic portion of a crash last? A time delay of 5 seconds before releasing doors may cover 99.9% of situations.

In our heavily litigated society it seems like we have to protect from the exceedingly rare before we can protect from the mostly likely causes. It's funny watching a political spectrum fight for exceedingly rare in the name of protecting the people.

Any sort of time delay beyond milliseconds requires an assumption that the vehicle's electrical and control systems remain sufficiently integral through the crash to allow the timer to count down and the action to be taken.

What actually happens is that once the various crash sensors and the airbag control module determine that a collision is in progress, the appropriate actions are taken immediately: Fire the seatbelt pretensioners, fire the airbags, command fuel pump off and engine off, command doors to unlock, command 4-way flashers on. All this is done within milliseconds. At 50 km/h (normal frontal-impact crash speed) that is 14 millimetres per second, 10 milliseconds would be not more than 140mm of frontal crash intrusion (a little less due to the deceleration), this is probably the upper bound for an assumption that the vehicle's electrical and control systems remain intact, but it's lots of time for modern electronic systems. The process of firing seatbelt pretensioners and airbags, and for that matter of removing fuel pump "on" command, is unstoppable once started, and these processes absolutely must happen for compliant crash-test performance (cutting the fuel pump is a fire-risk reduction measure). Unlocking the doors may or may not be successful and doors may or may not be blocked from opening by collision deformation, but this one is a risk-reduction "take it if you can get it". Likewise with turning the 4-way flashers on. If there's power in the vehicle and the 4-way flashers can be on, great. If not, oh well.

In a normal car with normal door latches, if the doors are unlocked and not mechanically jammed, there is nothing stopping an external rescuer from opening the door, even if the vehicle occupant is unconscious. (Modern crash structures are designed to minimise deformation of the door frame to reduce the risk of the door being jammed closed in a frontal impact.)

In a cybertruck with no exterior door handles, what is that external rescuer to do?? Unlocking the door doesn't open it. Commanding the latch to open - or using a "power-to-latch" default-open latch design - is asking for occupant ejection mid-crash (and is a test failure). Delaying any more than a few milliseconds into the crash sequence risks the electrical system becoming compromised so that the latch cannot be released.

The whole situation is dumb. It wasn't anticipated by the motor vehicle safety standards, and Tesla doesn't seem to do FMEA's (or, at least, doesn't respect their outcome, or doesn't do them properly). Now it's up to the lawyers.