My family has owned Camaros my entire life. I was brought home from the hospital as a newborn in an '83 Camaro, took my driver’s test in a '96 Camaro. Both had mechanical door latches, both had frameless, manual windows. Both survived nearly 20 years of service without having to wind the windows down slightly every time you open and close the door. If Chevy could do it for decades, why can’t Tesla?
I’ve also been in cars that had mechanical door latches that slightly lowered the windows when the door handle was pulled. I’m guessing that’s still not fancy enough for an idiot like Musk, so we get the above system.
This whole thing of engineering problems that we have to half-assedly solve just shouldn’t be legal. The DOT should not have approved this design. The electronic door latch is too prone to failure, and the mechanical backup release is too obscure. This would require training. "The front edge of the window switch group is also the backup latch for the door. It isn’t labeled as such and doesn’t resemble any door handle or lever a typical driver would recognize in an emergency, but that’s what it is."
Most EVs I’m aware of have a 12V lead acid battery that runs all the body systems; the lights, radio etc. because regulating the propulsion batteries down to a noiseless 12 volts for the computers and radios and such is a bit of a pain. This should also prevent body systems such as radios, lights and door locks from failing should the driver fail to recharge the car and run out of range; sure you can’t move but you can put on the hazard lights, raise/lower the windows or indeed open the silly electronic doors. You’re telling me Teslas don’t have this feature?