Wow, he referenced her death in his retirement statement, but I just assumed it was age related because… well… look at them.
Always remember, if your car goes in the water, you CAN’T open your door until the pressure equalizes. You have pounds of water pushing against the door, keeping it closed.
Mythbusters went over this… Undo your seat belt and let the water IN. When there’s enough water inside, open the door.
This is a Tesla right? Those door handles are electric, so you need to hope the cars electrics hold and not short. Or you can find the emergency release in the door pocket.
you can find the emergency release in the door pocket.
Not without some training first. They are inexplicably hidden. I imagine Elon laughing aloud when he reads of people drowning in Teslas, frantically trying to figure out how to escape.
I’ve heard they have some manual door latch backups? do you know if they’d be affected as well?
Ah I was confusing the front and rear doors. From this video it looks like it’s in the door arm rests, while the rear door is burred in the rear door pocket under a flap. Both appear to operate the latch manually so no electricity required.
There’s no way kids will be able to get out of the car if their parent is unconscious in the front seat…
Stop saying it out loud. Elon can only get so hard.
If the backups aren’t the door handles themselves, where are they located, and how many owners and passengers know about them?
They’re mechanical and hidden behind a panel
Perfect for the emergency situation where you would need them!
Luckily there’s reinforced windows that can’t easily be broken either. I wonder if the EU models are the same because I have a hard time believing that this isn’t breaking several safety regulations. This whole thing is such an ironic and frankly idiotic freak accident.
They’re completely manual. There’s a manual door latch literally right below the button you’d press inside to open it.
Pull that up & the door unlatches to open.
They’re literally designed in for emergencies.
It’s the same in the model 3, Y, & S.
I just watched the video above. I’d say it’s a criminally bad design, because the emergency open is completely hidden from the casual observer and completely blending in with the other colors and shapes of the armrest. This makes it useless in an emergency.
There is a reason why Fire extinguishers, seatbelt release buttons, emergency exit signs, emergency brakes in trains etc. are all designed in bright, red stand-out colors with big letters on them.
Top gear also did this and their results were pretty much just get out of the car as soon as you know you’re going in the water.
Yes. There are three phases to going into the water. Getting out before pressure builds, waiting for pressure equalization or creating it, and getting out after pressure equalizes.
There’s a lot of situations where you will not have time to get the door open, like busting a turn rail and flying into the water. Obviously if you’re going in slowly and can’t stop it, (Like a slick boat ramp pulling a truck in.), just get out early.
Shortly after Mythbusters did that bit. They were directly credited with saving a trucker’s life. He crashed into a lake. His window didn’t work but he had a manual roof vent, which he was able to open to equalize the pressure. He said he would have never done that if he had seen the episode because of how scary it was to watch the water pour into his cab.
Adam Savage has said that that was the most terrifying myth they’ve tested, and I’m pretty sure even with all of their divers and support crew he thought he was going to die.
I think part of it was the fact that they used an old smoker’s car. I remember him talking about the nicotine burning his eyes and all the smoke and nicotine clouded up the water making seeing anything even more difficult.
Helicopter Egress Training they actually have you keep your seat belt(s) on until the cabin is filled with water, pressure equalized, AND door/window opened. The reason is, to push a door or window open you need a solid “foundation” and if you’re unstrapped floating in water you may only push your body away.
A road vehicle has a smaller cabin and more hand/foot holds, but I thought it worth mentioning.I think the reason they mention it is, in a car full of water, it would be an easy thing to forget, then if you get the door open, you panic because you still can’t get out.
Better yet, smash the front wind shield (after seatbelt is off or cut) to get out sooner
The windshield won’t break like that. Only the passenger windows would break and come apart
And sometimes (Tesla) not even the passenger windows.
Smash anything but a windshield. I’ve needed to violently remove a windshield when replacing it (time was running out and tool shops were closed). Wearing protective glasses and pushing with both legs is what it took to somewhat loosen it, but not immediately remove it. Windshields are a multilayer structure of plastic and glass. Side windows are just glass.
I find it hard to talk badly of anyone who had just died, whether or not they were related to Mitch McConnell. That was a horrible way to go.
But, if it turns out the Tesla design was at fault, then we may be watching one of the few families who have enough resources to challenge Elon Musk get medieval on his ass. Which would be fun to watch, even if did take a tragedy to start all off.
Their family is not a “loving family” that normal people would imagine. These are conservatives who lack the capacity for empathy and do not show kindness or love for one another. Their relationships are transactional.
If they sue, it will only be because they see an opportunity for profit. Not because they want to prevent this from happening to anyone else.
I disagree, it’s important to note that Conservatives love their families, too. They are not inhuman.
And their love of their family can, for some, feed into their racism. Their families are successful and they may attribute that to genetics. People with inferior genetics can’t really help themselves, can they? They need a ruling class to make the important decisions for them.
You’re right though, if they sue it won’t be to prevent this from happening to anyone else. It will be for revenge and punishment. Profit is a side motive here. They might pour an excessive amount into any lawsuit just for revenge.
That paragraph about genetics and needing a ruling class because the poor can’t help themselves feels so wrong, immoral and like a completely degenerate thing to say that I am tempted to turn the argument around and say that these people need help. Who in there right mind would, seriously, consider something that’s not even the closest thing to being backed by science and logic.
Who in there right mind would, seriously, consider something that’s not even the closest thing to being backed by science and logic.
They’re not interested in science, logic, or anything that goes against their pre-concieved world view, though. They are right because they have the courage of their convictions, and if there are facts or logic that get in the way, well the facts and logic must be wrong!
That’s how we get to almost half the country believing in “alternative facts”, which makes governing this country so hard.
My family and most people I know are poor, and this is also how they function. Even the “side” pieces.
If it’s about money for them, they may see a payday incoming. At the very least, the insurance company that had a life insurance policy out on her might have a thing or two to say to Muskrat. I cannot imagine how much money they are going to be paying out.
I’m really torn between hoping the lawsuit payout is very high vs. not wanting the McConnell crime family to become even richer.
You could make the argument that because this societal parasite is now dead that overall their net worth will be less than if she spent the rest of her life accumulating.
The level of glee here over a death is kind of appalling. Yeah, she was a billionaire, so was Steve Jobs. Related by marriage to Mitch does not make her responsible for Mitch’s garbage decisions. I’m sure she has family and friends who are devastated. I had not heard anything about her existence before this, but even if she’s a bad person she’s still a human and drowning is an awful way to die.
A Republican billionaire ghoul killed in a Tesla, that’s just perfect. What sucks about being an atheist is realizing there’s no hell for them to burn in for all time.
The horror of someone who believes deeply in eternity realizing in the very last moment of existence that there is no eternity, no nothing in fact, after this moment isn’t a fitting punishment for a villain?
I dunno, don’t knock it til you try it.
IDK. Annihilation is not frightening. I will not be awake to experience it. The only frightening thing is that it’s hard to conceptualize not existing so you default to the nearest thing you can imagine which is a black void or being trapped in a coffin.
I cross many lines people consider ethical out of my hatred for them. There is no good and evil naturally, just what we create, and I have an admittedly unhealthy bottomless wellspring of hatred for the billionaire class. There’s no “enough”, not by any means, to satisfy the totality of the ill intent I wish upon them.
There is no good and evil naturally, just what we create
Which is love, which may wear scary forms, but it is always what gives us the power to sustain as beings through the fucking constant pain of suffering and injustice both within and without.
Billionaires should not exist.
Eh, an eternity of torment is too much no matter how many sins are committed in a single lifetime anyway.
I think god downvoted you.
I’m curious whether it was believers who are mad on behalf of their god, or non-believers who are as vindictive as the god they don’t believe in.
Fear mechanisms sure are effective. It took a real long time to get to where people don’t put all their trust into the imaginary extradimensional space wizard. The comfort is that we’re mortal, and those fuckheads WILL DIE eventually.
When your Tesla is on fire, or sinking, you can play a fun little game called “Find the manual door release”
Wait…
…there isn’t one?
There is, you just have to find it while the car sinks or the flames spread. It’s not the normal button that a user might be accustomed to pushing to get out so they might not know where it is and finding it in time might be the difference between life and death. For front doors it’s usually a lever somewhere but in some model Ys and the cybertruck the rear door release is hidden. under a mat in the door recess.
Shout out to water.
Water: Killing more billionaires than anything else in recent memory.
I mean one less billionaire is probably a benefit to society but I’m sure the vast majority of her wealth stayed within the family. Likely it just made some rich people even richer.
So you’re saying the whole family needs to go? Got it.
Im begining to think that billionares are just weak to water.
It’s their magnetism.
So anyway, let’s say you have a story and one minute of the story the character is driving peacefully to get to Walmart, but 60 seconds later she is in her Tesla completely submerged making a phone call. Maybe searching what to do via Goo… duck duck go. Wouldn’t it be interesting for the reader to know a little bit more about the story?
For example, what was she wearing? Was her mechanic’s name Frank or Dave? Was the water cold? What did she need at Walmart anyway?
Forget about the part of how the car actually made it into the water. What about the part where it started sinking? Did it sink slowly? Nose first? Did she know that the sand on your shoes could fracture the glass if it had hard enough material? Again, let’s not even talk about how the Tesla went from the road to underwater… pretty obvious…a gigantic alien picked it up and tossed it in the water.
Annnnnd I’m becoming a worse person cuz this put a smile on my face. Honestly it’s partially her fault for trusting Elon’s company.
Would you say that if they died in a Ford? Chevy? Honda?
I would still smile but I would not blame her for choosing a Honda. Tesla is special because Elon is special.
So…Tesla are the new way to kill persons now?
This is horrifying. A manual window breaking device that is part of the interior of the car should be standard by now. It wouldn’t be that difficult to design. This is not a Tesla exclusive problem.
I never actually thought about this, but you’re right. Wtf isn’t this a standard, and part of saftey scores?
For some cars you can remove the head rest and use the metal prongs, but it’s still probably not as good as an actual purpose built punch.
Doesn’t seem there’s a tool available for breaking laminated glass. Which is also terrifying but I do understand why the DOT mandated the switch.
In most cars I would say use the headrest, but my assumption on that the trasla.did something dumb to make those not useful either.
Oh no
Anyways
Mitch’s sister in law died in a Tesla.
Mitch Endorses Trump.
Trump meets with Elon Musk.
Do I have the timeline correct?
theoretically it should be possible to remotely control a tesla. I’m not saying its murder, but did anyone check?
This is one of the reasons I am hesitant to get any “digital car”. I’ve read that government has backdoors to turn off engine or otherwise control cars.
The real threat is foreign bad actors. There’s a global database that maps all VINs.
How many Americans have connected cars? How many are in garages? How many will not smell the exhaust before it kills them when every car in the country is started one night?
That’s WMD
Source: I used to meet with the CISOs of all the global auto manufacturers annually. If you’re a light sleeper, don’t work in infosec.
interesting idea for what really amounts to a terrorist attack. any others? i figure you may have some other cool ones
personally, i’m more scared of our government in most cases. of course, foreign bad actors can and will do damage but over the long term the government, should it morph into something a bit more authoritarian than it is today, would have much more incentive and capability to do harmful things
i remember there was some leak nearly a decade ago already that showed NSA can access all smart TVs. some TVs even have microphones so that they can listen to what’s going on in your living room. Makes you wonder if Orwell was a time traveler
The great thing about software is it can be programmed to leave no evidence.
“The log says self driving was off”
“The log says the computer controlled doors were unlocked”
Who wrote that log? Yeah.
It was cold out, so she decided to take her Tesla Model X SUV for the four-minute drive rather than walk.
It says everything.
A four-minute drive is like a 20-minute walk. If it was really that cold, I may have done the same thing.
The way you portray it, “it says everything,” is not fair - and yes, I know we’re talking about a billionaire. Like, she deserved to die because she didn’t want to walk in the cold.
Her death shouldn’t have happened the way it did. And again, yes, I know she’s a billionaire, fuck billionaires, etc etc. But her mistake was not being careful while driving, and potentially the car not being safe enough (e.g. doors jam-locked?)
I agree with the sentiment that we shouldn’t be praising people’s deaths, but I want to point out the cold part
Texas Hill Country loosely covers an area around Fredricksburg Texas with San Antonio and Austin being just on the outskirts. Looking back at the weather reports, and not knowing the exact location, the temperature on 2/10 was a low of 45-65 degrees F. Considering the lows typically come in in the late hours of the night the more realistic temperature was somewhere between 50-75 degrees F.
Also, you can see the picture of the ranch in the article which also says it’s a 900 acre ranch. 900 acres is only 1.4 sq miles. It’s one thing to say a 4 min drive at 35 mph vs walking, but realistically it’s a lot slower speed and thus a lot shorter walk.
Point taken, but regardless, it still doesn’t merit some rando say “Driving instead of walking because it’s cold? It says everything - NO WONDER she died!!!” It’s a silly thing to conclude.
Absolutely agree
Cold, in Texas? I mean, I’m sure it gets cold, but it’s not Canada and people go on 20min walks in the dead of winter with their dogs there. Awful way to die, no question.
Oh I understand. But it’s all about perspective.
Someone living in Siberia may say “cold in Canada? Silly geese.”
I come from a tropical climate in which people wear jackets when it’s 21 C (31 C being the average all year round.) In my mind, 21 degrees Celsius (about 68 F I think) was damn cold.
Of course, I now laugh about that.
But I won’t judge her for not wanting to be cold and using a maybe seemingly reasonable way to do that.
My first trip to Florida from Ohio I was on a tour at Kennedy Space Center. When I got there I noticed all the people in jackets, it was 65F, I was perplexed. Now the opposite is also true, I hate weather over 80F, too dang hot.
See that’s why living in Arizona is so much fun. There’s some park ranger in Death Valley but what’s the odds on running into them online?
Lol! That was funny :)
But anyway, Arizona can have cold snaps, right? Like 32 F at night in January? I know New Mexico and Texas do.
But that rarely happens at sea level in an actual tropical region, near the equator.
You should look at Northern Arizona. Southern Arizona is really hot and then Northern Arizona is high plains that can rival Canada for snow every few years. (Fun fact, when they were wondering where all the snow was for the Vancouver Olympics? It was in Arizona, we stole it fair and square!)
…I have places that are 5 minute drives from my house. Do you think I take 40 minute strolls each time I want to visit one?
It’s 100% Tesla’s fault. Mechanical way to open doors is not obvious and hidden, sometimes all together missing. And car relies on power to open the door, which runs out when submerged. Shit car with shit ideas. There’s a reason why windows easily shatter on cars and Musk and his cult followers seem to think getting out of car in case of emergency is less important than sounding cool.
I bet her car didn’t have a shifting stalk. New Model X makes you shift using the touchscreen. I knew that idea sounded unsafe but holy moly.
What?
Swiping up to drive is the same direction as tap up to reverse from a previous model Tesla. Kind of like how trackpads and mouse scroll wheels work in opposite directions. I can see how it’s not so intuitive if the direction contradicts 35 years of muscle memory.
The pressure of the water against the door would’ve prevented her from opening it regardless of the door’s mechanical features or power supply issues.
The windows not shattering is absolutely a Tesla design flaw, but there’s no way that woman was ever going to open a door from inside a submerged car.
True, but there’s some more.
Over here, ice roads are opened on typical winters on several smaller bays. The instruction to drivers is:
- don’t wear a seatbelt
- if ice breaks, open your door swiftly (get out first, then think about calling people)
- if you can’t open the door, lower your window swiftly
- if you can’t lower the window, break it (the side window, not the windshield - a windshield is multilayer laminate, too strong to break quickly)
Typically, if a car sinks on an ice road, people are likely to get out. A crank-operated window is handy in such a case. But regardless of instruction, sometimes folks do die. :(
In general, I would not like to experience any sort of extreme incident in an over-engineered car. I’d prefer something from the 1970-ties, but with airbags.
Okay but a door that just works is going to be easier to get open before water pressure makes that impossible. Also, once there’s enough water in the car, a mechanical door will open just fine. At which point you swim for it in the opposite direction the car is moving.
That’s wouldn’t be a factor once the water entered the car. The pressure equalises if there water is on both side of the door.
Pressure takes a while to build up and you generally can open the door before car sinks enough, it’s been tested. But even if you had to wait for car to fill with water, pressure would equalize then and you’d have no issues opening the door. Of course, you need to keep calm to use all of those tricks but car taking them away from you just increases risk of something like that happening.
Yes, if it’s cold, I will often make a 4-minute drive instead of walking 20 minutes from my guest house to my main house on my own property. It’s so relatable to most Americans!
You just want to bash billionaires, and I’ve already addressed that in my original comment. If you don’t want to understand my point, that’s on you. Stop with the strawman arguments.
Ooh, we got ourselves a mind reader, folks!
