In the past, laminated glass was usually installed in the windshield, with side and rear windows being tempered only.
The difference is that tempered glass is per-stressed so that when it cracks, it shatters into many tiny and dull pieces. Laminated is the same thing, but with layers of plastic sandwiched with layers of tempered glass. Laminated glass will still shatter, but will be held together by the plastic layers.
In an emergency, small improvised, or purpose built tools meant to shatter tempered glass will be useless if the glass is laminated.
The problem wasn’t the glass.
The problem was using wtf touchscreen controls to shift between drive and reverse. Mrs. Chao confused the two then died.
Shitty UI kills another person. Tesla fucking up basic UI design is the real villain here.
I still blame Jeep for thinking a rotating selector was a good idea for a gear shifter. RIP Anton Yelchin.
I thought his jeep issue was that P on the dial didn’t actually guarantee the parking pawl was engaged to stop it from rolling. Separate from the lack of positive engagement with the P position, more about the physical disconnect between the two. Unless that was just the non-offensive language version of “user didn’t turn the dial all the way and our polite warning chime was too polite”
she could have not floored it into a lake, but maybe I’m the only person that doesn’t go balls out when they’re backing out of a spot.
Accidents happen, and people panic. Maybe she thought she was pressing the breaks and made the problem worse. I highly doubt anyone would do it intentionally.
One pedal braking makes this a bit tricky for people who are not used to it and/or panicking. You spend decades of your life having a seperate “go” and “stop” pedal, and then suddenly they’re the same one. You have your foot over the accelerator, lift a bit and feel the deceleration as if you’re pressing the brake.
Suddenly, something darts behind you, and your brain says “I’m feeling deceleration, so your foot is on the pedal that stops things” and you slam on it like you would the brake pedal. I’ve done it with the clutch/brake after hopping back and forth between a manual and automatic a few dozen times after a very long day of vehicle testing. Muscle memory is a powerful thing and your brain’s mental model of the world is not always correct.
No, I don’t see this at all. I suppose everyone is different but I fail to see how muscle memory if taking your foot off the pedal makes you press the same pedal. Those are opposite actions.
I definitely see the thing where you think you’re pressing the brake and don’t realize you’re on the wrong pedal so you press harder. That can happen on any car
You seem to have very detailed information on how the accident happened. Care to share?
Within minutes of saying her goodbyes, she called one of her friends in a panic. While making a three-point turn, she had put the car in reverse instead of drive, she said. It is a mistake she had made before with the Tesla gearshift. The car had zipped backward, tipping over an embankment and into a pond. It was sinking fast. Could they help her?
Probably doesn’t help that Teslas guess which direction you want to go in and you have to change it if it’s wrong. https://www.autoblog.com/2021/01/28/tesla-new-gear-shifter-guesses-direction-you-want/
I’m more inclined to blame Tesla’s electronic locks and confusing manual override before blaming the windows though
Quick, do you know which panel to remove to find the non-electronic manual override in a Tesla? Car is sinking fast and the electronics just shorted out from the lake.
But sure, tons of bad design decisions here. It’s hard to blame any one of them as the singular cause. If Tesla had easier to use manual override doors instead of electronic locks, if the windows could be broken, if the screen wasn’t a confusing touchscreen mess, etc. Etc. Lots of factors and all are the cause.
Imagine if water spilled or leaked from the window onto the touchscreen, try using a wet smartphone… Could be touchscreen device malfunction or misclick causing the Tesla fatality
I guess those vehicles’ drivers should always roll down their windows when near bodies of water in case they go in
Tempered glass windows offer better theft protection which is why they are increasingly used.
Laminated*
They’re used for noise insulation not theft. In theft it’s just a minor inconvenience. Shatter the window with a rock, then punch the floppy laminated shards in.
it shatters into many tiny and dull pieces
Those pieces are not dull. They’re just not jagged and shaped like knives like normal glass. I accidentally broke the rear window on my truck and, thinking it was dull like you described, started to pick it up with my hands. Big mistake.
You just unlocked a very unpleasant memory of picking up small glass pieces with my hand. Like you said, big mistake and the worst was that I didn’t notice it was cutting at first…
One time I was climbing a rock in a park in Illinois, and reached up into a pile of finely-ground glass.
I managed to pick all but one little piece out of my fingers. That one piece was so far in I couldn’t get it.
Later on, I couldn’t find it. So I figured it had come out.
But a few weeks later my palm itched and that fucking piece of glass poked its way out of my palm.
Unsafe back seat passenger exit starts earlier than that, my 2005 Saturn had a set of horrible doors. I avoided carrying more than one passenger as often as possible.
Your 2005 Saturn didn’t have electronic locks that failed when the 800Volt battery pack touches water.
The number of Tesla drivers getting locked in and dying is disturbing. Who puts a safety critical electronic only lock tied to the main battery pack? Tesla, that’s who.
Fire? Your electronic locks fail and you die. Water? Same same. Etc. Etc.
Is there a separate 12v battery, or are the 12v bits run from a dc-dc converter powered by the high voltage system?
