So I’ll just throw out my personal anecdote, as a Model 3 owner. Every single person who’s ever gotten into my car for the first time cannot find the electronic button that opens the door, to the point that I got little vinyl decals with a door open symbol on them to indicate that button opens the door. Usually what happens for first-time passengers is one of two things:
Someone can’t find the button to open the door and immediately grabs the mechanical manual release and opens the door just fine (as long as they’re in the passenger seat, as the rear seats do not have one. I agree that is dumb.)
Someone finds the button and presses it, then the window rolls down slightly (about half an inch) and the door unlatches and partially opens. The person then thinks they just rolled down the window and doesn’t just push the now-opened door, so the latch re-engages after a moment. I then tell them “push the button and then open the door” and then it’s fine.
I agree that the way to open the door, even from the outside, is not intuitive when compared to what most people are accustomed to. Any time someone gets in for the first time I have to explain “press the big part with your thumb and then grab the handle”. But it takes no more than half a second to figure out if you’re the least bit observant. Hell, when I first got the car I drove my friend around for a few weeks before realizing the beeping when the passenger’s door opened was because he used the manual mechanical door release instead of the button every time. He literally found the manual release more easily than the intended button for opening the door, and just thought that was the right way to open it until I told him otherwise.