I came across this third-party Tesla accessory for my Model Y while I was browsing the internet and I happen to find this inexpensive $10 accessory that could potentially save the life of my second row passengers in an event of an accident. As well as being cheap, this is also very easy to install so it’s a no-brainer - I just went ahead and installed it.
There are some recent study regarding Tesla cars catching fire in Canada and all its electronics malfunctioned - including the power door release button on all doors!. You can read the article in this link: https://www.consumerreports.org/car-safety/how-to-escape-your-car-if-the-electronic-door-release-fails-a8152892189/
So, if if there is one accessory you have to install on your Tesla, this is it guys.
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No, it’s not the mini instrument cluster
And it’s not PPF on the rear doors either. Hmm, maybe on second thought, you should also probably get PPF for the rear doors to minimise rocks chips on your new Model Y.
But in all seriousness, THE most important accessory you need to have for your Tesla Model Y right now is this emergency manual door release pull cord for the second row seat passengers and I’m gonna show you how to install this
Underneath the carpet trim of the rear door bin is a small removable panel and behind it is the manual door release cable for the Model Y. I’m sure you will agree but I find this cover impossible to remove with bare hands and you definitely need a screw driver or something similar to pry the cover off. And since in most cases, kids will be seating here, there is very little chance they will be able to open this door in an emergency.
And then in contrast, the manual door release on the front doors of the Model Y looks more conventional. There is a lever that is hidden or flush in front of the power window control buttons. All you need to open the door is to pull this lever up. The lock will disengage the and door opens.
Not that this will matter during an emergency, but the computer will warn you that the door was opened using the manual door release so before you close the door, make sure the window has slightly retracted a bit so it doesn’t slam against the top door frame because it might cause the glass to break.
So for the second row seats without having this emergency door release pull cable and in an event of an emergency and your Tesla suffers a total power failure, the second row passengers wont be able to open the door using this button and they will have to dig in really hard because underneath the trim here is the manual door release cable to open the door.
Now what this third party accessory allows you to do is make it easy for the second row passengers to open the door.
So to install this accessory, I’ve outlined a simple and easy to follow procedure in this article so all passengers on your Model Y can exit the car during an emergency. Let’s get atarted!
Step 1:
So to get started with this installation, the very first thing you need to do is buy this product using the link in the description box below. If you have purchased this product, then thumbs up! But in this box are two emergency door release pull cord for the Model Y. There is an equivalent product for the Model 3 so make sure you select the correct option when you purchase.
By the way, I have already installed one of the pull cord in the car so I only have one left here to show you. But you should get two sets of these in the box and let me show you what it looks like and explain why we need this rotary tool later on.
So what you get in the box are two sets of pull cords. And you have the actual pull cord mechanism and this plastic piece to cover the hole that will be left on the door bin since we are no longer going to use the existing cover thats on the Model Y. You will also get this carpet material to stick on top of the plastic piece so it can blend in and cover those tiny holes. So this fits over the top but you only stick this at the end because we need access to this hole in the middle.
At the back of this plastic piece which acts as a cover and a leverage mechanism are two clamps that has an inexplicable grip to the carpet trim. This makes pulling the cord very difficult as you can see here.
So to reduce the grip of this cover, what I’m going to do is flatten the lip located on the narrow end of these two tabs. If you notice there are two sets of bulges and the bulge on the wider end should be sufficient to keep this cover in place. And since the pull cord is attached on the narrow end, you wouldn’t have to fight against that extra grip so pulling this cord should be 50% easier.
And that is where the rotary tool, gloves and eye protection comes in because we need to flatten that lip. If you don’t have one of these, a box cutter or scissors might also do the trick but it might be a bit harder. So use whatever tool is handy just make sure to preserve the lips on the wider end, otherwise this will be too loose and you dont want that because it will flop around.
So with this particular job, I chose to us this small stone grinder attachment. This is probably the most difficult part of the installation so once this is done, it is smooth sailing from here.
After grinding for about five minutes, I’ve flatten those two lips on either side of this clip and I’m happy with the result. As you can see here, those leading lips are completely gone. I did the best I could so I think that is acceptable workmanship for an amateur grinder.
So for the guys over at #Yonzee, please fix this. This clip design is way too strong for its intended purpose.
Step 2:
Remove any items you have on the side door bin as you don’t want any small item falling inside the access hole once we remove the cover.
Step 3:
Once the side door bin is all clear, pry the trapezoidal trim cover off. Now both trims covers on either doors pivot (or hinge) to the left. So to pry them out, you need to insert a screwdriver on the right edge, push it firmly down (make sure it’s deep enough) and leverage it out like this. Once you remove the cover, the manual door release cable should just be peaking out and it should look something like this:
And this is what the trim cover pieces look like for both doors. Notice there is a pronounced lip on the left side which acts as a hinge whereas the right side is more flatter.
Step 4:
Step 4, Next we need to trim the foam handle to expose the loop that we will attach to the emergency pull cord.
Seriously, this is the solution Tesla has added to the rear doors of the Model Y. I mean this kind of emergency door release is something you see in the boot of a car. Because after all, you will never need to use it since we don’t usually put people inside the boot of a car right? Right?
But we are talking about the main cabin here. I don’t consider this usable in the best of circumstance let alone during an emergency. So please #Tesla, fix this!
So let’s cut the foam so we can wrap this loop around the hook on the pull tab. Somewhere around 3/4 of the way through, you need to cut a slit around the foam to remove the top part and expose the little loop there. We need this for the next step.
You can probably use scissors here but the objective here is to save as much foam as you can so in case this accessory fail or break, I can still use the pull cable by itself.
Step 5:
Then, grab one of the emergency pull cord that we prepared earlier. There is a hook in the middle of the plastic cover so its not just a plastic cover, it forms part of the actual emergency pull cord mechanism.
So what we need to do is to insert the loop on the Tesla emergency door release cable through the hook on the plastic cover. You might wanna use a small pick tool like this to help you loop it over in place.
Step 6:
So now that we have the cable firmly attached to the hook, we can now push this cover firmly in place to cover the hole. And as you can see here, it is now easier to pull this cord than it was before.
So lets push that firmly back in place again and stick the pull cord on the side for easy access.
Step 7:
And finally, let’s go right ahead and attach this carpet sticker to cover the bare plastic so it blends well in the door bin. The material is not a 100% match but it gets the job done. So peel away the adhesive backing cover then line it up. The adhesive on this is very sticky so take your time to align it as perfect as you can, then rub it firmly down.
Then that is done!
Summary
So there it is guys, an accessory to make it easier for the second row passengers on your Model Y to get out of the car in case of a total power failure following an accident.
Stay safe!