Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

VIDEO: FALCON WING doors explained by Mark Templeton

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.

Mark Templeton, who's got the 3rd Model X ever made (Elon Musk got the 1st one!), explains to a very curious young lady how the Falcon wing doors work. The sensors detects when a person is nearby ... so Mark is not hit by the door, even if he's very close ... except his glasses!


Very good explanation of the difference between GULL WING doors and the FALCON WING doors!


VIDEO: MODEL X FALCON WING DOORS EXPLAINED BY MARK TEMPLETON

Mark-ModelX-Falcon-Wing.jpeg
 
Wonderful, thanks for posting this link. I guess I'm not the only person who wanted to scream "just hush, we want to hear Mark!" at that first woman.
Second videographer was much better at listening and recording. Did anyone else just want to laugh when the other driver had to physically lock and unlock his car?
 
He's wrong about gullwing doors. The Delorean gullwing doors, with just one hinge, open with less than 11" of space on each side.

Delorean gullwing door clearance - GIF on Imgur

also: DeLorean Door Myth - YouTube


Though the DeLorean video you presented is compelling, he's not wrong about a gullwing door and the additional space it would require. Imagine that DeLorean being the same height has the Model X (i.e. 66 inches tall instead of 45 inches). That would make that gullwing door significantly larger, especially the portion of the door that is on the side of the vehicle. The increased length of that portion of the door would make opening in an 11 inch space impossible, because every additional inch in door length would increase the arc of the door as it moves up to the open position.

So maybe a gullwing door would work for the Model X if it were only 45 inches tall like the DeLorean, but it's an SUV and physics wins every time :wink:
 
He's still wrong the way he portrays gull wing door as flying way out on both sides of the car. While the FaWD provide a slight advantage with the middle hinge, it's minor. Properly hinged GWDs in the centerline of the roof won't swing out the way he portrays it would. The GWD still angle down and not out. So for that, he's still wrong, that's just not how gull wing doors work.

Besides, he's not comparing the MX to other MX sized gullwing doors (because none exist). He's comparing it to existing GWD cars like the Delorean, MB 300SL, Bricklin.