Tesla redesigns door handles after 'trapped inside Tesla' accident



Elon Musk's electric car maker,

Tesla , is working on redesigning its door handles, Bloomberg reports.

Tesla Is Redesigning Door Handles That Drew Scrutiny Over Safety - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-09-17/tesla-is-redesigning-door-handles-that-drew-scrutiny-over-safety



Tesla is redesigning its door handles following safety probe, Bloomberg investigation | TechCrunch
https://techcrunch.com/2025/09/17/tesla-is-redesigning-its-door-handles-following-safety-probe-bloomberg-investigation/

At the time of writing, Tesla's door handles have come under fire after an incident in which a passenger was trapped inside a vehicle.

One of the incidents that sparked concern about Tesla car door handles was when a Tesla owner was trapped inside a hot car due to a dead battery. Tesla cars are equipped with a lever that allows the door to be opened even when the battery is dead, but this lever is difficult to recognize as a lever at first glance, so it has been pointed out that many drivers are unaware of the existence of the manual lever.

Tesla owner claims he was trapped in a hot car after the battery died - GIGAZINE



In fact, one of Tesla's vehicles, the Model Y, has a latch at the bottom of the front door handle on the driver's side for manually opening the door, but it's very difficult to find where the latch is.


For the rear door handles, you'll need to move the mat at the bottom of the pocket and pull the red tab.


According to Tesla's longtime design chief, Franz von Holzhausen, the company is exploring merging the electronic and manual door releases, which are currently separate.

'The idea of combining both the electronic and manual (door opening mechanisms) into one button, I think, makes a lot of sense,' Holzhausen said in an interview on Bloomberg's podcast ' Hot Pursuit! ' 'That's something we're working on right now.'

According to a Bloomberg investigation, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received more than 140 complaints about Tesla doors getting stuck or stuck after a dead battery was discovered, following incidents in which passengers were injured or killed when their doors couldn't be opened.



In the third week of September 2025, NHTSA began an investigation into possible defects in certain Tesla door locks. The investigation was triggered by a case in which an exterior door handle failed, trapping a child inside the vehicle. The investigation covers 174,290 2021 Model Y vehicles, and NHTSA will also evaluate the power supply and reliability of Tesla's door locks.

Holzhausen did not clarify the specific reasons why Tesla decided to redesign the door handles, and Tesla did not respond to a request for comment on the door handle redesign at the time of writing.

Holzhausen has been at Tesla for 17 years, responsible for vehicle design, and also led the design of the Tesla Diner, which Tesla opened in Los Angeles, California.




Tesla vehicles are equipped with manual door openers inside the vehicle, but their location varies by model and year, and the rear door openers in particular can be quite confusing. The exterior door handles can also stop working if the vehicle's battery dies.

This type of door handle design is not unique to Tesla. Tesla has popularized unique designs, such as ' flush handles with the door surface.' However, the design has also been criticized for sometimes hindering rescue operations and forcing passengers to search for unfamiliar manual levers.

While Tesla vehicles have received high marks in government crash safety tests, these tests primarily evaluate safety during a crash, not whether occupants can safely escape from the vehicle after an accident. China is moving to ban designs that completely hide door handles, and Europe is taking steps to improve rescue systems after accidents.

Tesla's Cybertruck receives the highest five-star rating in the crash safety evaluation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration - GIGAZINE



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