2nd gen manual door opening from the outside?

[Davethadog]

In the event of power loss or other electronic failure can the doors be opened in any way from the outside that doesn’t rely on the electronic actuator?

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[Scottski]

You'll have to jump the 12V battery to allow the doors to open from the outside.

 

[Davethadog]

You'll have to jump the 12V battery to allow the doors to open from the outside.

I don’t like that at all. Thank you for the confirmation.

 

[godfodder0901]

In the event of power loss or other electronic failure can the doors be opened in any way from the outside that doesn’t rely on the electronic actuator?

 

[Dark-Fx]

I don’t like that at all. Thank you for the confirmation.

Not sure of a single vehicle that allows the exterior doors to be opened when locked when the 12V battery dies. If it's a big deal for you, do the research and get back with us.

 

[Davethadog]

Not sure of a single vehicle that allows the exterior doors to be opened when locked when the 12V battery dies. If it's a big deal for you, do the research and get back with us.

This is true but most vehicles have doors that can be opened when unlocked without electronic intervention.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

 

[portdirect]

Not sure of a single vehicle that allows the exterior doors to be opened when locked when the 12V battery dies. If it's a big deal for you, do the research and get back with us.

I can think of hundreds:

 

[Dark-Fx]

I can think of hundreds:

When locked?

 

[portdirect]

When locked?

Think my humor was lost there (or perhaps just not funny): but yeah you can 100% open (and unlock if required) a 1968 beetle when the 12V is totally dead from the outside.

 

[Seano]

Most of the cars we owned prior to about 2020 had a hidden key in the fob (thinking BMW & Range Rover) that would allow door to open after removing part of the handle. Don’t know for sure if it worked with dead battery, but guessing it did.

2020 onward I only remember key fobs, but don’t know if there was a key in them. Touch capacitance to unlock or key fob. Don’t know if there was another method.

 

[Donald Stanfield]

When locked?

Those cars had a key that you could insert into the door and unlock mechanically. They are also insanely easy to break into so I’m not sure that it’s better.

 

[emoore]

Why do you want access to the charging port if the truck is dead? Odds are it won’t charge anyway because something is wrong.

 

[skyguyscott]

Those cars had a key that you could insert into the door and unlock mechanically.

wow, are we that old that people don’t remember that this was the standard way you would routinely unlock your car?

There was also the wire coat hanger trick, or if you were desperate because you locked your keys in your car, you could sometimes call the police and they would come out with a kit that included what looked like rubber door stoppers (tell me you don’t know what those are). And a metal blade type device that would hook onto the door lock mechanism and unlock it that way.

 

[Davethadog]

Bringing this back up because the doors on gen 2s are still fucking stupid.

https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2025/10/13...tal-ev-crash-raises-door-safety-concerns.html

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