In the past, laminated glass was usually installed in the windshield, with side and rear windows being tempered only.

The difference is that tempered glass is per-stressed so that when it cracks, it shatters into many tiny and dull pieces. Laminated is the same thing, but with layers of plastic sandwiched with layers of tempered glass. Laminated glass will still shatter, but will be held together by the plastic layers.

In an emergency, small improvised, or purpose built tools meant to shatter tempered glass will be useless if the glass is laminated.

  • arc@lemm.ee
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    7 months ago

    And Tesla, being the helpful sort, also makes it hard to open the doors in an emergency. The front might have manual door release mechanism somewhere - good luck finding it when the car is on fire or sinking. The rear… not so much.

    EuroNCAP is changing its testing regime to negatively score manufacturers who remove critical physical controls and it should probably include door handles in that regime.