US safety regulators to develop new car door rules after at least 15 deaths linked to electronic door handles

NHTSA Targets Electronic Door Handles After 15 Deaths

At least 15 people have died trapped inside vehicles whose electronic door handles would not open in emergencies 1. Now US auto safety regulators are responding.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced this week that it will begin developing new requirements to ensure vehicle occupants can safely exit their cars. The decision came in response to a petition asking the agency to open a safety defect investigation into the emergency mechanical door release design on 2022 Tesla Model 3 vehicles, which the petition argued did not comply with federal motor vehicle standards 2.

NHTSA declined to open a defect investigation. Instead, it said the issue would be better addressed through rulemaking that would apply to every automaker, not just Tesla 2. The agency cautioned that beginning rulemaking does not guarantee new standards will be finalized 2.

But the regulatory push has company on Capitol Hill. The SAFE Exit Act would require clearly marked manual door releases on new vehicles 1. If passed, the law would do what NHTSA's rulemaking process could take years to accomplish: force every automaker to build a manual escape route into every new car.

The problem is mechanical, and it is not unique to one brand. Many modern electric vehicles use flush, electronically operated door handles that retract into the body for aerodynamics and aesthetics. Tesla vehicles do include manual door releases, but they are located only inside the car 2. NHTSA investigators found that these manual releases may not function if the electronic door locks do not receive enough voltage from the vehicle's battery system 2. In a crash that disables the battery, the backup designed to save your life can fail.

The scrutiny of Tesla's doors is not new. Less than a year ago, NHTSA opened a separate probe after receiving nine reports from owners who were unable to get into their cars, in some cases with children still inside 2. That investigation followed reporting by Bloomberg into incidents in which Tesla drivers and passengers became trapped inside their vehicles following a crash 2.

What makes this an industry story rather than a Tesla story is that the design choices behind these handles have spread. Automakers across the EV sector have adopted flush, electronically dependent door systems to chase the same clean look. Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen said last year that the company was working on a redesign of its door handles 2. Rivian said last year it was changing the interior door handle design on its R2 SUV to move the manual release to a more visible location, closer to the electrically powered handles 2.

For buyers, the practical question is immediate. If the car you are sitting in loses power, can you find and operate a manual release in the dark, underwater, or after a collision? Right now the answer depends entirely on which model you own and whether you know where the lever is hidden.

For automakers, the stakes are design and cost. Door architecture is integrated into a vehicle's structure, wiring, and crash safety systems. Redesigning it across model lines is expensive, and the rulemaking will draw debate over how specific the requirements should be. But with deaths documented and legislation already moving through Congress, the argument that the current approach is adequate is getting harder to make.

The underlying tension is one the auto industry has navigated before. Every time a mechanical system gets replaced with a software-dependent one, a new failure mode emerges that engineers did not fully anticipate. Electronic door handles reduce drag and look sharp. They also depend on a battery that can drain in a crash, at the exact moment a person needs to escape a vehicle.

Whether it produces binding rules, or whether Congress gets there first, may determine how the next generation of car doors works for everyone.