In yet another incident showing that the so-called EV revolution might not be all it is cracked up to be, a Tesla owner in the Phoenix area had to act quickly to save her granddaughter after her Tesla’s dead batter trapped her toddler in the car, a dire and immediate problem given the stifling heat and how quickly vehicles heat up when baking in the sun.
According to the reports of the incident that have so far emerged, Renee Sanchez, an Arizonian grandma, decided to take her 20-month-old granddaughter to the Phoenix Zoo as something fun to do for a grandma-granddaughter summer activity. Things went less than well, however, after she had strapped the toddler into her car seat.
That is because the Tesla was dead. Unlike a normal, gas-powered car, which can unlock even when out of gas or with a dead battery, the Tesla could not. It’s battery was completely dead and, as Tesla door handles are flush with the door when not in use, wasn’t able to be opened. Nor could the mere toddler, strapped into her car seat as she was, open the door.
So, the young girl was trapped in an unopenable car in the baking Arizona sun. While Tesla and most other cars with electronic doors have manual releases for just such a situation, that manual release is only operative from inside the cabin. Thus, as the toddler was strapped into the back seat and, in any case, too young to figure such things out, the car couldn’t be opened.
The battery was dead, so, other than waiting for it to charge or using the manual release, the doors were unopenable. As a result, Ms. Sanchez had to call the local fire department in the hope that local firemen would be able to get into the tinned can of a car and get her granddaughter out of the baking heat before the worst happened.
Fortunately, they arrived and could get in. Unfortunately, they had no way to do so without breaking through the window, which they did after Ms. Sanchez told them to do whatever they had to do to get the child out as quickly as possible. While there is an alternative procedure to get into a dead Tesla that involves multiple steps and a charger, that was impractical given the dire situation.
Watch a local media report on the stomach-churning incident here:
Tech and entertainment news outlet “The Verge” reported on the incident as well, noting that similar such incidents in which Tesla drivers have gotten trapped in hot and dead cars have occurred. It reported:
Earlier this week, Arizona’s Family reported on an instance of a woman getting trapped in her Model Y, though she was able to get out of the car once she learned of the latch. Last year, an Arizona driver said he was trapped in his Model Y on a hot day and got out thanks to help from his sister.
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