In my car (not a Tesla) the handle opens the door through a mechanism that relies on a relatively thin steel cable. I've had this cable snap under normal circum

In my car (not a Tesla) the handle opens the door through a mechanism that relies on a relatively thin steel cable. I've had this cable snap under normal circumstances (which is how I found out about this mechanism). I would not be surprised if this mechanism failed in a wide variety of circumstances. If my life depends on the door handle working properly, I'm a dead man. Mechanical mechanisms are fragile - anything strong enough to survive impacts at highway speeds at an arbitrary angle is going to be too bulky to move manually without the assistance of yet another fragile mechanism. You can't design unsinkable ships, at some point you need life boats.