Safety Incident - Accessing Pillar Door Unlock Button - FYI (pinch point = door gap between back and front doors)

[cgladue]

Hi all,

I'm a CyberTruck owner since May and have over 1,500 miles logged. I absolutely love the truck and have really put it through its' paces.

I had a scary incident occur yesterday that I felt compelled to share the experience with other CyberTruck owners. It's a situation where, if I had known about this, I could have hopefully prevented it. I searched the forums and did not find a similar thread.

My father-in-law rode in my Cybertruck for the first time yesterday. As it is for 99% of new riders, I had to explain that he needed to press the button in the pillar where there is small light to open the front door. After a few attempts, he successfully opened the door and got in.

After dinner at a restaurant, we all returned to the truck to go to a soccer game. My father-in-law always sits in the passenger seat up front. My wife and son sit in the back.

My son already had his back, passenger side door open before my father-in-law unlocked his front, passenger door. When my father-in-law reached up to the pillar button to unlock the truck, my son closed his rear passenger door. Whatever circumstance caused it to happen - confusion, looking in the wrong place, distraction - my father in law's finger got closed inside the door gap between back and front doors.

It was a traumatic experience for us all. We are fortunate that my father-in-law "only" received seven stitches and a splint in the emergency room. The fact that the pinch point was on the top joint of his index finger was lucky. This was a very serious laceration. After looking at the pinch point on the truck last night, I was shocked he did not lose the tip of his finger, or break it.

I'm sharing this because I feel Cybertruck owners should be extra aware with multiple people entering and exiting the vehicle on the same side and may not be immediately familiar with where the open button is on the pillar. There is less than an inch between the button and the gap in the door. Someone not paying attention can easily get their finger trapped if the passenger behind the "shotgun" position closes their door at the wrong time.

I posted a picture to make it more clear to folks who might not have a Cybertruck.

Stay safe!

OPINION: I feel like this design can be improved in future trucks. The pillar button needs to be located sufficiently far away from the panel gap, and perhaps, not even on the pillar at all. The fact that the button is mostly obscured, in my opinion, greatly increased the "hunt" for the button and introduces higher chances of sticking your finger where it shouldn't. This is especially prevalent if you are distracted or not paying attention to what is going on.

the button isnt even in the travel of the door .. i fail to see how he got a finger in that area, does he use his palm and all 5 fingers to open the door or something ?

i guess if you palm the entire side of the truck to open the door its possible, could you post a *useful* photo of how exactly this happened ?

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[WheresMyCybertruck]

the button isnt even in the travel of the door .. i fail to see how he got a finger in that area, does he use his palm and all 5 fingers to open the door or something ?

i guess if you palm the entire side of the truck to open the door its possible, could you post a *useful* photo of how exactly this happened ?

The doors don't open in a normal fashion, and it's easy for people who aren't familiar with them to misplace their hand while trying to figure it out. I'm assuming he pressed the button to open the door and put his hand on the side of the door instead of on top of it to open it.

Obviously for the people on the forums like us who've seen 500 videos on the CT by now, we all know exactly how it works and how to open the doors. But everyone who isn't familiar with the CT has had to ask me how to open the doors because it's so different from every other car out there.

 

[Platinumsmith]

Hi all,

I'm a CyberTruck owner since May and have over 1,500 miles logged. I absolutely love the truck and have really put it through its' paces.

I had a scary incident occur yesterday that I felt compelled to share the experience with other CyberTruck owners. It's a situation where, if I had known about this, I could have hopefully prevented it. I searched the forums and did not find a similar thread.

My father-in-law rode in my Cybertruck for the first time yesterday. As it is for 99% of new riders, I had to explain that he needed to press the button in the pillar where there is small light to open the front door. After a few attempts, he successfully opened the door and got in.

After dinner at a restaurant, we all returned to the truck to go to a soccer game. My father-in-law always sits in the passenger seat up front. My wife and son sit in the back.

My son already had his back, passenger side door open before my father-in-law unlocked his front, passenger door. When my father-in-law reached up to the pillar button to unlock the truck, my son closed his rear passenger door. Whatever circumstance caused it to happen - confusion, looking in the wrong place, distraction - my father in law's finger got closed inside the door gap between back and front doors.

It was a traumatic experience for us all. We are fortunate that my father-in-law "only" received seven stitches and a splint in the emergency room. The fact that the pinch point was on the top joint of his index finger was lucky. This was a very serious laceration. After looking at the pinch point on the truck last night, I was shocked he did not lose the tip of his finger, or break it.

I'm sharing this because I feel Cybertruck owners should be extra aware with multiple people entering and exiting the vehicle on the same side and may not be immediately familiar with where the open button is on the pillar. There is less than an inch between the button and the gap in the door. Someone not paying attention can easily get their finger trapped if the passenger behind the "shotgun" position closes their door at the wrong time.

I posted a picture to make it more clear to folks who might not have a Cybertruck.

Stay safe!

OPINION: I feel like this design can be improved in future trucks. The pillar button needs to be located sufficiently far away from the panel gap, and perhaps, not even on the pillar at all. The fact that the button is mostly obscured, in my opinion, greatly increased the "hunt" for the button and introduces higher chances of sticking your finger where it shouldn't. This is especially prevalent if you are distracted or not paying attention to what is going on.

Thank you for sharing

 

[SpykeDaddy]

It has become obvious to me folks are reading the initial post and not quite grasping the seqeunce of events. So, I suggested the following experiment to those of you who DM'd me and it hit the mark, so I'm sharing it here:

1) Go to your truck and open one of the rear doors. Leave it open.
2) Take your finger and hold it over the door open button for the front door.
3) Have a friend close the rear door while your finger is over the pillar button for the front door.

99% of the time, I've watched folks jerk their fingers back instinctively. For the love all things attached to your body, pay attention when doing this. Or just imagine it.

Now, do the same thing all over again, but imagine if you were not a full-sized adult and had to reach up to the pillar door open button.

Seems to make it easier to understand. I'd make a video with a carrot, but I don't need any more flashbacks on what happened.

If you want to chastise or berate me for bringing this up, go ahead and do it via DM and get it off your chest. My motives are to prevent something happening to you or your friends or family. I'm not quite sure why I have to apologize for that.

 

[HaulingAss]

Happened to my daughter years ago in an Expedition, wouldn’t say it’s exclusive to the Cybertruck

Yeah, this happened to me as kid. But only once!

It was pretty painful, it at least bruised my finger bone if not broke it, hurt like hell. What was most disconcerting was the adults, my parents (who were both caring, loving people), didn't make a big deal about it. They told me to "buck up, deal with the pain, and be more careful around car doors".

It never happened again!

 

[HaulingAss]

I'll just quietly observe that there are a bazillion ways for a person to get hurt if they are inattentive or distracted. Vehicle doors have been a source of such minor injuries for a hundred years.

Maybe it's because I spend so much time engaging with stuff that might hurt me - chainsaws, tractors, wood splitters, axes, motorcycles, guns, primers and powder, and on and on - that I long ago embraced the philosophy that I'm the common denominator in all that. I'm the thing that needs to be squared away, not all that other stuff.

Bravo! Well put. More people need to read and understand this.

I'm all for making products safer but you can't nerf everything in the name of safety, at some point people need to use common sense. Doors are one of those things because you can clearly see how they work, there are no surprises there if you put your fingers in the closing area while the door is closing.

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