NHTSA is investigating Tesla over its electronic door handles

Who says journalism is dead? Less than a week after Bloomberg published a damning report about Tesla’s “dangerous doors,” the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is now looking into it. On Tuesday, the regulator said it opened an investigation into the automaker’s electrically powered doors. The problem: They stop working if the vehicle’s low-voltage battery fails.

The NHTSA’s probe will cover the 2021 Model Y, which covers an estimated 174,290 vehicles. But the agency suggested in a document that it could expand its investigation. That makes sense: Every Tesla ever made uses electrically powered door handles. So, this could potentially get very expensive for the otherwise perfectly lovable company.

Tesla uses a flush door handle design for its vehicles. A 12-volt battery powers the door’s ability to pop the handle and release the latch. It’s one of the Apple-like design details that helped the automaker become a household name. But cars aren’t iPhones, and sleekness can’t take a backseat to safety in the auto space.

Tesla vehicles have a mechanical backup system in the cabin that enables the doors to be opened manually in case of a power loss. But the manual release location varies by model and is often hard to find. And even if you do know where it is, that won’t help if a small child or pet is trapped inside.

“Although Tesla vehicles have manual door releases inside of the cabin, in these situations, a child may not be able to access or operate the releases even if the vehicle’s driver is aware of them,” the NHTSA wrote in its public summary document.

Bloomberg‘s original report recounted some heinous stories of Tesla owners dealing with electronic door failures. There was an off-duty firefighter who struggled to break into a burning Model Y in 2023. The occupant was trapped in the passenger seat by airbags and couldn’t reach the manual release. Losing precious seconds due to the door design, she suffered third-degree facial burns and had lasting lung damage from smoke inhalation.

There are reportedly more. Last November in California, three college students died trapped inside a Cybertruck after it caught fire. The same month, five people in Wisconsin died inside a Model S. The cluster of bodies in the front seat suggested to the detective they may have struggled to escape.

Then, this spring in LA, a star college basketball recruit managed to escape only after kicking out a Cybertruck window when it caught fire. “I try to open the door, and the door’s not opening,” Alijah Arenas said. He was placed in a medically induced coma due to extensive smoke inhalation.

Bloomberg discovered that the NHTSA has received over 140 complaints about stuck Tesla doors since 2018. The regulator cited nine “failure reports” that led it to probe the company. In four cases, the people resorted to breaking the window. “Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergency situations, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle,” NHTSA said.