Stuart Gordon

Review of Deschutes County 9-1-1

Today (July 23), I had a pretty traumatic experien...

Today (July 23), I had a pretty traumatic experience when I got into my Tesla Model X after taking my daughter to her doctor s appointment at The Center in Bend. The moment I looked at the blank dashboard I knew something was wrong. The car was dead as a doornail. No sign of power. So I attempted to open the door and exit the car, only to discover that I was trapped inside. I tried all the doors. No luck. It was hot outside, an 80 degree day, and it was late morning. It was already hot inside the vehicle. I realized I was trapped. Fortunately, I had my cell phone. I called my wife. She came out of The Center, where she was with our daughter, and I told her what was up. She had me try a couple of procedures to reset the vehicles computer programming. The car did not respond in the slightest. It was getting hotter, and I kept thinking of infants and dogs that have died from overheating trapped inside parked cars. My wife tried calling Tesla Service Center in Portland. She wasn t getting through. I started getting a bit panicky and told her to call 911. I realized I had nothing in the car that I could use to break the windows if I had to, but I knew an officer would carry a tool to do just that. My wife called 911 and told the dispatcher the situation. The dispatcher had the clarity and calmness to look up the Tesla manual for some indication about what to do in this situation. She discovered that if I removed the back seat speaker cover, I could reach inside and pull a cable toward the front of the car, releasing the falcon door manually. I followed those procedures, relayed to me by my wife, and voila. The falcon door released and I was able to get out. Had I been an infant or a dog, I hate to think how this might have ended. My car ended up having to be towed to Portland for service, on Tesla s dime. I couldn t be more grateful to the dispatcher for her clear and quick thinking. I don t know her name, but she was my hero on that particular summer day. Thank you, thank you, thank you.