Friday, November 23, 2018
NO. For the million(+2)th time, it's NOT NEW.
Tesla has yet again reinvented an old idea and found a way to fuck it up. The Model 3 has frameless windows which simply don't work. The door can't be opened until the window is lowered an inch, so the software workaround uses an electric motor to lower the window as soon as you pull the doorhandle.
In winter you can't pull the doorhandle at all. After you've used your remote control to preheat the interior for a minute, you might be able to move the handle. But the motor that lowers the window still isn't strong enough to break the ice, so the door can't be opened.
Frameless windows on convertibles date back to the '30s. On hardtops, GM started the trend in '49, and everyone followed until the mid '70s when Federal safety rules forced a return to pillars. Two-door coupes, four-door sedans, and station wagons were all available in pillarless form.
Frameless windows don't seal quite as well as windows sliding inside a slot that's part of the door, but they NEVER had trouble opening. Detroit solved that problem instantly and permanently. It's just a matter of shaping the rubber properly. Tesla unsolved it.
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Broader thought: The design equivalent of moral hazard. When you're accustomed to having a software workaround for every hardware problem, you get lazy on the hardware design. This is okay when EVERYTHING is working up to spec, but it fails completely when even one piece is constrained by weather or power loss or Github bug-injection updates. When you're NOT expecting to have a software workaround, you HAVE TO get the hardware right, which means the system WILL work in unusual conditions.
¶ 6:05 AM 
