Trapped!  The alternate plans of escape rush through my mind.  Push out on the door.  Break the window.  Crawl into the front seat and out then the driver’s or passenger’s doors.  Or sit there trapped until someone rescues me.  

Assuredly this is a momentary problem and the doors will ultimately open, I thought to myself.  I had pressed the open buttons on both sides of the car.  Both doors either did not respond or opened a couple inches and stalled, immoveable only to close again.  Ajar, I tried pushing on the door on my side but it did not budge and I did not want to push too hard and maybe break it.  The driver did the same with his immense control panel that had all the solutions to driving but failed to open the doors.  Flummoxed for a few moments and after trying several times to open the door he turned the car off and then on again which ultimately allowed the door buttons to respond to our pleas.  Finally, we could get out.

This is the big Tesla, the $100,000 Tesla X, an immense all-electric SUV.  The doors for the front seats, driver and passenger, are normal—like any car on the highway today.  However, the doors for the back two rows of seats are “gull-wing” doors that open up like flapping wings.  They are only operable by electrical motors controlled by buttons to open and to close. 

Ted, the youthful agent at the local Tesla showroom, was flummoxed.  He had never heard of this happening.  He admitted that there was no emergency latch that could override a non-operating gull-wing door.  His first answer, “climb into the front seats and go out the front doors.”  Another solution he admitted was to “reset the computer.”

Sounds like my PC-when the little “circle of death” keeps going ‘round and ‘round and some software is not responding: shut the computer off.   The age-old problem with computers.

WARNING! Job status: FAILED!  

One or more messages were not sent.

Device could not transfer messages to the sending mail server (SMPT).  

See your System Administrator. 

So gull-wing doors do not open and you are are stuck in the back seats with the car batteries smoking or with no power whatever, don’t worry, contact your System Administrator or climb into the front seats and go out the front doors.