Tesla has earned a reputation for itself as a maker of a technologically advanced electric vehicles. However, sometimes futuristic technology conflicts with current understandings of how vehicles work. Such has been the case recently with its EVs’ doors.
With flush, retracting door handles on the outside, simple buttons on the inside, and electrically operated latches, Tesla vehicles feel advanced from the moment you approach them. When the battery on one of its vehicles dies, these systems can stop working, though.
That has led a few drivers to say they became trapped in their Teslas after accidentally allowing the battery to die. Earlier this month, Arizona’s Rick Meggison said he became trapped in hundred-degree heat after he became unable to operate the doors of his Tesla in the normal fashion.
Fortunately, as Insider notes, there are more mechanical means of exiting a Tesla that do not require the battery to be in operation. Here’s how to get out of every vehicle the manufacturer makes without the need for any electricity at all.
Read: Arizona Man Gets “Trapped” In Sweltering Tesla After Battery Dies
Getting out of the front seats will be the simplest in all four vehicles. In addition to the button that provides egress, the Models S, X, 3, and Y also have a more traditional latch in front of the window buttons on the front doors that occupants that can pull up to open the door.
The back door releases for these vehicles differ slightly. In the Model S, there is a cable under the carpeting below the rear seats that occupants can pull towards the center of the car to get out. They will have to pull back the carpeting to do this, though.
In the Model X, the mechanical release is behind the speaker grilles on the rear door. Another cable, this one has to be pulled toward the front of the vehicle to unlatch the rear door. Oddly, the Model 3 has no mechanical release for the rear doors, but there is the one for the front door, so rear seat passengers will have to climb through the vehicle to reach them.
Similarly, some Model Ys have no release for the rear doors. However, if one exists, it will be located in the rear door pocket. To access it, an occupant must remove the mat at the bottom of the pocket, and must pull the release cable forward.
However, people are advised to be careful when opening the doors this way. Several reports have emerged from owners that using the mechanical door openers has led to their windows cracking, so its probably best not to practice this method of door opening before it’s absolutely necessary.
