Might flush door handles the emblem of modern automotive style endanger lives? The question has taken on sharp personal significance for a growing number of Tesla owners. In May, Erin Geter’s 2021 Model Y suffered a power loss that stranded her toddler son inside the vehicle; the emergency glass breaker she had bought for just such eventualities was inaccessible inside the car. After frantic calls to her husband, her father, Tesla support, and finally 911, first responders arrived to smash the windows, whereupon one door mysteriously opened of its own accord. “I just felt so helpless at that moment,” she said. Weeks later, she was at a Honda dealership buying a CR-V with standard mechanical door handles.
Geter’s is not an isolated incident. Since 2018, more than 140 consumer safety filings have been lodged with U.S. regulators related to Tesla doors failing to open, especially after crashes or when the battery is depleted. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a safety probe into select Model Y vehicles for potential defects in the flush mounted, electrically actuated handles. Preliminary review finds nine verified cases of exterior handle non-functionality related specifically to low 12-volt battery voltage, with several incidents involving children inside the vehicle. In four instances, the parents broke the glass to enter the vehicle.
Tesla was a pioneer for electrically controlled doors and flush handles, a design now common throughout the electric vehicle industry. However, when the low-voltage battery that controls the doors and windows runs out, those systems can completely fail. Though physical release mechanisms exist inside the Teslas, they may be unmarked and buried under floor mats or within door pockets, and on some models are only accessible in the front seating positions. That inconsistency has left many owners with no idea of how to use them in an emergency. “Tesla does not educate its consumers about how to fully operate the car,” said David Ward, a Model 3 owner from San Diego. “I had to learn how to operate everything on YouTube.”
The danger goes beyond private ownership. Drivers for rideshare services using Teslas say that passengers regularly ask how to get out in an emergency. Uber driver Chad Lincoln of Tennessee made what he called a “flight attendant’s pitch” to teach riders about the strap pull for a manual release during his two-week rental of a Model 3. Lincoln loved the technology, but he opted not to buy a Tesla because of deep safety concerns about the release mechanism.
In response to increased scrutiny, Tesla’s board chair Robyn Denholm said the company is “continuing to look at, is there a better way?” Chief designer Franz von Holzhausen has suggested combining electronic and manual releases into one button for ease of use in “panic situations.” Rivals like Rivian are reconsidering its flush handle designs while Volkswagen’s chief executive Thomas Schäfer has said customers “don’t even want” them.
The NHTSA probe involves about 174,300 Model Y sport utility vehicles and calls for Tesla to provide documentation on door systems, batteries and software across several model years. Noncompliance can be fined up to $27,874 a violation per day. Regulators previously spurred recalls at Ford and Fisker for faulty electronic handles, and China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has proposed new standards that would require clearly labeled, accessible emergency releases.
To the safety conscious driver, though, the problem highlights the need for preparation. Owners have taken to retrofitting their vehicles with glass breakers, bright colored straps, or aftermarket pull cords for manual releases. But those tools have limitations: laminated glass, which is used in increasing measure for its noise dampening and crash protective qualities, resists breaking. Testing by AAA in 2019 showed that none of six popular escape tools was able to break laminated windows, emphasizing the need to find the locations of tempered glass.
Historical patterns in automobile safety standards reveal some regulatory gaps. While U.S. regulations mandate that doors be able to prevent ejection in crashes, they do not call for mechanical backups for power operated handles. Thus, these omissions place modern electric vehicles at risk of entrapment scenarios. Safety advocates, including Michael Brooks of the Center for Auto Safety, call for new standards that yield more intuitive and visible emergency releases. “They’re not considering, ‘How am I going to escape this vehicle in the event of a crash or battery fire?’” Brooks observed.
From the 2018 case of a Cadillac XLR owner trapped for 14 hours to recent fatalities in Miami and Toronto, the risks extend beyond theoretical concerns. As the NHTSA investigation unfolds, Tesla owners and electric vehicle enthusiasts are facing a sobering reality: in the quest for advanced design, the most basic function that a vehicle should serve exiting it is one that cannot be overlooked.
