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A toddler was trapped inside a Tesla at a boiling Scottsdale, Arizona, temperature after the car's battery died.
Renee Sanchez was taking her granddaughter to the Phoenix Zoo when she strapped the girl into the back seat and shut the door, at which point the battery that opens the car's door died without warning.
"I closed the door, went around the car, get in the front seat, and my car was dead," Sanchez told AZFamily.com. "I could not get in. My phone key wouldn't open it. My card key wouldn't open it."
Tesla vehicles have a hidden latch on the driver's side armrest that will manually unlock the door on a vehicle with a dead battery, however, the toddler was buckled into the car seat and unable to get herself out. Sanchez said she called 911 and Scottsdale firefighters arrived quickly, but had issues getting into the electric vehicle.
“And when they got here, the first thing they said was, ‘Uggh, it’s a Tesla. We can’t get in these cars,’” she said. “And I said, ‘I don’t care if you have to cut my car in half. Just get her out.’”
Firefighters broke a window with the axe covered in tape to prevent glass from flying as the toddler sat in the vehicle at increasing temperatures.
“She was OK for the first few minutes,” Sanchez said. “But as soon as the firemen came and all the commotion started and the windows getting broken into, she started crying because she was scared.”
A firefighter climbed through the window and pulled the child, who was given a little fire hat, out of the car. Sanchez claimed the 12-volt battery that powers the car died without warning.
Tesla vehicles are supposed to give drivers three warnings before their battery dies and the Tesla service department confirmed that Sanchez was never notified of her battery suddenly dying.