Comment by sgentle
2 days ago
Sure, but you can open the door, pull the handbrake, or turn the wheel so hard you lose control of the vehicle. These are all similarly preventable, but maybe not worth the risk of being unable to open the door, brake or steer if the safety mechanism fails closed, or if your situation is outside the foresight of its designer.
Also, you don't need multiple certifications and 1500 hours of experience to drive a car.
On a Tesla (and presumably other cars) opening the door engages Park.
There's no handbrake to pull, and turning the wheel so hard to lose control is next to impossible. Maybe on an oily wet or loose surface.
On my Tesla Model Y there's a hand brake on the push button of the right lever. On the left hand lever there's another push button, the windshield wiper liquid. Guess what have I mistakenly, and scarely, done twice already when driving at highway speeds when my windshield was a little dusty?
New designs are prone to ill decision-making from engineers, drivers and pilots alike. Every pathway of let's do it differently is the beginning of a journey of fine-tuning loops until stability.
There are very few failure scenarios that are life threatening in a car.