Four dead in fire as Tesla doors fail to open after crash

Another similar incident happened around a week after that one: https://www.channel3000.com/news/dane-county-sheriffs-office... .

One thing to note is that the car doors in Teslas are electrically controlled and a different failsafe method of opening the doors is required when the electrical system isn't working. Here's the steps for manually opening the Model Y's rear doors (car in the story the post links to): https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modely/en_us/GUID-AAD769C... and here's the steps for manually opening the Model S's rear doors (car in the story I linked to): https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/models/en_us/GUID-AAD769C... . Note that this involves removing the rear carpet in the Model S and the door pocket mat in the Model Y, and that the Model Y instructions note that some cars aren't even equipped with manual rear door releases. It seems like Tesla didn't account at all for what happens if passengers who aren't familiar with the car need to quickly exit in an emergency, especially if the driver's incapacitated and can't give them directions.

why are the doors electronically controlled to start with? is it cost savings?

It is more cyber that way. Also, yes, electromechanical systems are easier to design.

There’s still a second mechanical release so this is strictly more complicated than simply having a mechanical system to begin with.

Routing the mechanical linkage to a place in the door that would make sense for a door handle to be is the difficult and expensive part.

Bowden cables are dirt cheap.

The cables are cheap, designing a door latch system to be easy to install/cheap to manufacture is not. Why do you think all parking brakes on all ICE vehicles have turned electric now?