Here’s how Rivian changed the rear door manual release on the R2

There’s been a lot of pushback on electronic door handles lately, as multiple carmakers — especially Tesla — have been accused of making manual door releases too hard to find and access during an emergency. Rivian is one of the companies that reportedly decided to change this on its upcoming R2 SUV, and a spate of first-look videos released Tuesday finally give us a look at what the company has changed.

First off, the front doors open from the inside in the same way as in the existing R1 vehicles. There is an electronic button that opens the door, and there’s a manual door-release latch tucked into the front part of the interior handle.

The rear doors also have an electronic button, as well as a change to the rear manual release.

On R1 vehicles, passengers have to first pull a panel off the door to access a “release cord” that operates the manual latch. On the new R2 SUV, Rivian moved this release cord to that same front-of-the-handle position as the front seat manual releases — though it’s still tucked behind a piece of plastic that must be popped out, making it slightly harder to access than the front door manual releases.

The R2 SUV isn’t set to go into production for another few months, so the company has not put out proper instructions on how to access this release. But here’s an image from a new video published by JerryRigEverything’s Zack Nelson:

He doesn’t pull out the actual cord, but it’s the best illustration I’ve seen so far of what passengers will need to do if they are in an R2 that has lost power for whatever reason, limiting the vehicle’s electronic door release.

The manual release is still behind a piece of plastic, and it’s not the most obvious or accessible way to open a door from the inside. But it’s at least in a more logical spot than just being hidden behind a panel.

These kinds of situations don’t happen often. But when they do, it’s typically during a major crash. That means every moment can be the difference between life and death.

Rivian is not alone in reworking how hard it is to access the manual releases. The most high profile example is Tesla. Bloomberg News found at least 15 deaths in crashes where there is evidence that occupants (or rescuers) were unable to open the doors. The company has said it will change how it designs its handles in order to address the problem.

And electronic door latches can present other issues. Last year, Ford had to issue a recall to fix a power-delivery problem for the electronic latches on the Mustang Mach-E.