Tesla has added emergency rear door release functions to the Model 3 Highland, which can be used to open the back doors in case the vehicle runs out of power.
According to Model 3 owner’s manuals in countries where the Highland redesign is available, Tesla has added the manual door releases at the bottom of the rear door storage pockets. Each manual door release includes a plastic cover that should be removed in case a vehicle has no power. After removing the cover, users will see a mechanical release cable that can be pulled to open the door.
Below is what Tesla says about the rear door manual release cables, as written in the refreshed Model 3 owner’s manuals. You can find it by navigating to Opening and Closing > Doors and scrolling down:
You can open a rear door manually in the unlikely situation in which Model 3 has no power:
Credit: Tesla | Model 3 Owner’s Manual
- Remove the cover from the bottom of the rear door pocket.
- Pull the mechanical release cable forward.
These new rear-door releases come in addition to similar latches in the front seats, located just in front of the window switches. Unlike the rear manual door release, the front release latches do not include a cover. Tesla may have included a cover in the back to help prevent children or other rear passengers from opening the doors while the car is being driven.
It’s not entirely clear if the manual rear door releases will be included in North American versions of the new Model 3, but they’re definitely not included in manuals for older versions of the sedan. For example, they aren’t included in Model 3 manuals for the pre-Highland model in either the U.S. or the United Kingdom.
The safety feature comes alongside a number of design changes made to the updated sedan, which is set to begin delivering by October in some markets. Tesla’s North American order configurators don’t yet show the Highland Model 3, though some think it will become available in early 2024.
Last week, Tesla produced its 5 millionth vehicle, which was a Highland Model 3 built at its Gigafactory in Shanghai, China.
NEWS: Tesla has announced on Weibo that their 5 millionth car was a refreshed Model 3 in Pearl White, which rolled off the production line at Giga Shanghai. pic.twitter.com/o2xL9GZjvd
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