Tesla's Dangerous Doors (electronic door latches) - Can Rivian please not follow this trend?

[docwhiz]

What boggles my mind is what EMS is supposed to do in a scenario where they are trying to extract the occupants in the event of an accident and the occupants are non responsive.

Break the window.
EMS people are experts at this.

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[docwhiz]

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-tesla-dangerous-doors/?srnd=homepage-americas

EDIT: Non-paywalled link: https://archive.ph/lccr7

The article is paywalled, but somehow I got through the first time. I really don't want this to be anti-Tesla (or even anti-Rivian) rage-bait. I'm hoping for productive commentary so those at Rivian can legitimately see an alternative path to a design decision that will lead to dead customers.

Tesla made a fundamentally unsafe design decision with electronic door latches. They're bad for safety, bad for PR, and fundamentally dumb. I understand there's some cost savings involved, but it's hard to see how the price differential is worth this much of a safety differential.

While the accidents where electronic door latches cause bad outcomes are rare, those bad outcomes can be absolutely catastrophic. For those who haven't been around these catastrophic outcomes, you are lucky. I hope it remains that way, because these are the things that stay with you for the rest of your life. The few I've been adjacent to (war related and not automotive related) will be with me for the rest of my days.

I love my Gen 1 R1T. It's the best vehicle I've owned in my life. I would be the model of a repeat Rivian buyer. There's part of me that's already eying a Gen 2, but I can't financially justify it for a few more years. However, it's these electronic door latches that I'm really hung up on. I just can't buy something this fundamentally flawed.

I do own a Model Y. It's the first and last vehicle I will own with electronic door locks. It didn't even cross my mind that it would be an issue when I bought the car. But seeing the options my kids have to escape the backseat make me wish I never owned the thing.

To whatever Rivian employees are reading this: Please find a way back to mechanic door latches. Some future customers will thank you.

What about standard door locks in an accident where people inside are disabled and unable to unlock the door?

 

[SwampNut]

In gen2, there's the button, but there's a physical lever on the door to pull that is cabled to the latch. That can be used to escape when there's a total electrical failure.

Just like a Tesla. I had to tell people not to use it in my Tesla because it’s more obvious and easy than the button. The article is bullshit.

 

[jeeden]

I am glad the OP posted this and it is being discussed, I hope that Rivian has considered this issues. I am really worried about there being an incident when R2 comes out and the next thing you know Rivian is known for the vehicles that trap people.

All of the EMS, breaking windows,etc talk aside... we could go on about finding window breakers in the console that has been tossed from the crash while suffering from a concussion with airbag smoke in their eyes, etc, but this is about opening the door ssuming it is mechanically able to open and not jammed, not about getting out of the car other ways.

The simpliest use case is the one that should determine the requirement. This is Human Systems Interaction 101 and is studied CONSTANTLY in factory/plane/equipment/school bus/public transit and just about the design of everything. The use case for a consumer automobile should be:

There is a serious crash and for whatever reason (fire, water, electrical lines, etc) someone needs to get out of the car immediately and fast. That person an average person (perhaps child) that you can imagine being seated in a standard belt with an average level of strength, average level of intellect, and most importantly, an average ability to stay calm in the situation (and that average is LOW). It needs to be obvious and almost instinctive on how to open the door. In this case, it needs to be one step and that is it. They need to be able to put their hand on the door and when they find a level and pull it that is what opens the door. If they pull on it and nothing happens, what are they going to do? They are going to pull on it 2, 3, 10 times until it does.

I am as bleeding edge as anyone on the tech, but even if you prooved in a lab environment that this design doesn't make a difference it won't matter when someone is trapped and they didn't open the door and the headline has Rivian on it.

 

[jeeden]

What about standard door locks in an accident where people inside are disabled and unable to unlock the door?

Aren't most standard door locks overridden when the level inside is pulled more than once? The only exception I can think of is when the child safety locks are enabled

 

[iowa_don]

Carry a device to break glass. If you are in an accident and need to escape, grab it, shatter the door glass, get out. I have one in every car. Most double as a blade to cut seatbelts.

No way I’m going to spend time trying to unlatch a door.

With the laminated side window glass (two pieces of glass with plastic between) in the Tesla and the Rivian, breaking the glass doesn't work. Even "broken" it is still a barrier to getting out. Check out the DAErik YT video "BREAKING: Putting Tesla's New Laminated Glass to the Test" from four years ago. Especially read the second comment from a firefighter.

 

[Deleted member 26425]

https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-tesla-dangerous-doors/?srnd=homepage-americas

EDIT: Non-paywalled link: https://archive.ph/lccr7

The article is paywalled, but somehow I got through the first time. I really don't want this to be anti-Tesla (or even anti-Rivian) rage-bait. I'm hoping for productive commentary so those at Rivian can legitimately see an alternative path to a design decision that will lead to dead customers.

Tesla made a fundamentally unsafe design decision with electronic door latches. They're bad for safety, bad for PR, and fundamentally dumb. I understand there's some cost savings involved, but it's hard to see how the price differential is worth this much of a safety differential.

While the accidents where electronic door latches cause bad outcomes are rare, those bad outcomes can be absolutely catastrophic. For those who haven't been around these catastrophic outcomes, you are lucky. I hope it remains that way, because these are the things that stay with you for the rest of your life. The few I've been adjacent to (war related and not automotive related) will be with me for the rest of my days.

I love my Gen 1 R1T. It's the best vehicle I've owned in my life. I would be the model of a repeat Rivian buyer. There's part of me that's already eying a Gen 2, but I can't financially justify it for a few more years. However, it's these electronic door latches that I'm really hung up on. I just can't buy something this fundamentally flawed.

I do own a Model Y. It's the first and last vehicle I will own with electronic door locks. It didn't even cross my mind that it would be an issue when I bought the car. But seeing the options my kids have to escape the backseat make me wish I never owned the thing.

To whatever Rivian employees are reading this: Please find a way back to mechanic door latches. Some future customers will thank you.

Rivian has a feedback function in the app. Perhaps if every Rivian owner (GEN 1 included) messaged them to express what a terrible safety hazard and impediment to purchasing a new Rivian this flaw is, they would redesign. I have expressed my refusal to purchase a new vehicle without clears marked emergency manual actuators for ALL doors.

 

[ndmiller]

The OP's Bloomberg article cites numerous examples (and lawsuits) where this mattered and also quotes a source at NHTSA that says they are looking into it so it is not accurate to dismiss this as "emotional what if's with zero facts." [Aside, to my surprise I happen to know the young couple described in the story whose baby was stuck inside their Tesla for two hours.]

I think well-marked emergency cables are a good solution, but this is not just an emotional response to a hypothetical situation.

Nonsense. Bloomberg has been looking into and hyping all kinds of things that drive clicks and revenue.

People have been getting trapped in cars as soon as cars were capable of reaching speeds to bend body/frame of said vehicles. It's unfortunate, but this is why the "Jaws of Life" type of hydraulic tools were invented to facilitate extracting people trapped in vehicles. Bad crashes cause bad results sometimes trapping and/or killing occupants.

Better off discussing distracted driving to prevent crashes than hyper focusing on the type of door opening latch. Or mandate reducing maximum speeds to speed limit on all vehicles in the US. Or make vehicles not function when driver is impaired. Or a lot of things more important than a door latch to save lives in automobile accidents.

 

[BigSkies]

https://cleantechnica.com/2025/09/10/couple-sues-tesla-over-faulty-door-handles/

Tesla was just sued by a woman who suffered third degree burns and lasting lung damage because it took too long to get her out of the vehicle.

I just keep thinking about the cost benefit analysis on these door latches.

I see PR risk, reputational risk, litigation risk, lost sales, and potential forced NHSTA redesigns as the downsides.

The upsides are potentially lower costs and a more techy feel.

I just don't see the cost/benefit analysis penciling out.

@jeeden Thank you for your response above. You said exactly what I was trying to convey in a more elegant way.

 

[eRacer]

Here's an interesting perspective about the evolution of door handles. https://newatlas.com/automotive/evolution-car-door-handle/

China seems to be dealing with this problem with their EVs as well.
https://chinaevhome.com/2025/05/14/...ze-china-pushes-for-safety-first-redesigns-2/

 

[Singletracker]

When the time comes for me to buy a new car and I’m makiing a list of all the pros and cons of a particular vehicle (hopefully another Rivian), not having an intuitive, easy, mechanical way (commonly known as a door handle) to exit the vehicle in an emergency, OR any other time, will be near the top of my cons list. We’re not bitching about not having manual HVAC vents or whatever. This is way more important than that!

 

[azbill]

I sort of see the rationale for Tesla because they use the frameless windows, and the windows move up and down slightly when the door latch is triggered. That window movement would be easier and cheaper to do with software than with a mechanical latch.

I don't see the rationale for Rivian because of the door frame.

My Hummer has frameless windows that move when opening the door and it also has mechanical latches. Yes the indexing is via software, but does not require an electronic latch.

 

[JohnB R1T]

Break the window.
EMS people are experts at this.

this would make the assumption that they are standing at every intersection just waiting. We don't all live in NYC

 

[TexasBob]

Nonsense. Bloomberg has been looking into and hyping all kinds of things that drive clicks and revenue.

People have been getting trapped in cars as soon as cars were capable of reaching speeds to bend body/frame of said vehicles. It's unfortunate, but this is why the "Jaws of Life" type of hydraulic tools were invented to facilitate extracting people trapped in vehicles. Bad crashes cause bad results sometimes trapping and/or killing occupants.

Better off discussing distracted driving to prevent crashes than hyper focusing on the type of door opening latch. Or mandate reducing maximum speeds to speed limit on all vehicles in the US. Or make vehicles not function when driver is impaired. Or a lot of things more important than a door latch to save lives in automobile accidents.

Right. So you made a completely FOS comment when you said "This is another case of feelings and emotional what if's with zero facts. Show me an actual case when this mattered" because you did not read the article the OP posted.

Now you want to say, the several cases that Bloomberg cited do not matter because they want to drive clicks? (Do you really think a news outlet that sells its service for $30,000 a seat per year and puts even its small number of consumer articles behind a minimum $40 a month paywall is trying to drive clicks?) Then you engage in some irrelevant whataboutism by bringing up drunk driving.

I think it is you who is spewing "feelings and emotional what if's with zero facts."

 

[slillie]

When the time comes for me to buy a new car and I’m makiing a list of all the pros and cons of a particular vehicle (hopefully another Rivian), not having an intuitive, easy, mechanical way (commonly known as a door handle) to exit the vehicle in an emergency, OR any other time, will be near the top of my cons list. We’re not bitching about not having manual HVAC vents or whatever. This is way more important than that!

You might want to stay away from Boeing airplanes. They require electricity to depressurize the cabin. If the cabin can’t depressurize there is no way to open any of the exits because they are all plug doors.

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