An ongoing controversy about an alleged Tesla door design flaw got two new wrinkles this week, as troubling, who-knew-what-and-when questions about vehicle door handles began to swirl, along with a fresh federal investigation triggered by a harrowing complaint letter.
As part of a months-long investigation by Bloomberg, a project timed to coincide with high profile inquiries from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the news outlet reported on Monday that Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk not only knew about the design flaw of the electronic door releases on the company’s vehicles, but advocated that they continued to be used.
And on Tuesday, the NHTSA announced a new investigation specifically into the Model 3.
According to Bloomberg‘s sources, engineers warned Musk against the electronic releases for the interior door handles during Tesla Model 3 development. The setup demands power from a 12-volt battery to operate the door with an electronic button. However, to address engineer concerns and meet federal motor vehicle safety standards, a manual release was also installed for passengers to use in an emergency or if the 12-volt battery was depleted.
The problem that’s supposedly resulted in 15 deaths and many other incidents in popular models like the Model 3 and Model Y is that the 12-volt battery, separate from the propulsion battery pack, can fail in a crash. And many occupants were unaware of the unmarked manual release far away from the normal button.
Tuesday’s investigation was prompted by a November letter to NHTSA by a 2022 Model 3 owner from Georgia who claimed he was, “forced to crawl into the rear seat and repeatedly kick the rear passenger window until it shattered,” when he was involved in a head-on collision that resulted in the vehicle catching fire and losing power to electrical accessories.
Kevin Clouse said he sustained injuries that required three surgeries including a full hip replacement. Clouse cites a federal vehicle law requiring exit latches be marked and readily accessible.
This news also comes at the end of a wild year for Musk that included a doomed stint at the White House and DOGE and an $878 million-pay package in November even with a quarter of shareholders not supporting him, while Tesla sales went into a global freefall over politics, unfavorable EV conditions, and increased competition.
Tesla wasn’t the first automaker to pursue electric door handles, but not long after the Model S further popularized them, companies like Audi started using them. It’s also not the first company to face a person allegedly being trapped in one of their vehicles with electronic door handles. A man and his dog died in 2015, apparently after the electronic door release failed on a 2007 Chevy Corvette, resulting in a 2016 lawsuit by the victim’s family. The man, it appears, was unaware of a manual override to open the door when the battery fails.
These mechanisms have been the source of reliability complaints and frustrations from owners and reviewers. Outlets such as Consumer Reports noted issues and even began ranking vehicles lower for usability problems—so much so that the magazine started a petition to automakers asking for safer doors.
Tesla’s problems will persist next year as the NHTSA continues to investigate the millions of models on U.S. roads. The company has made some changes on new models and, in September, Tesla’s designer proposed a redesign of the releases on future cars.
