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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation Tuesday into possible defects in Tesla Model Y door handles after receiving nine reports of electronic handles becoming inoperative, with four cases requiring parents to break windows to free trapped children.
The preliminary probe focuses on 2021 Tesla Model Ys and covers approximately 174,300 vehicles.
The agency said the electronic door handles appear to fail due to insufficient voltage from the vehicle's battery system.
In four of the nine reported incidents, parents had to break vehicle windows to retrieve their children from the back seat after the exterior door handles stopped working.
The most common scenario involved parents stepping out of their vehicles and being unable to open rear doors to access their children.
NHTSA noted that while Tesla has installed manual door releases inside the vehicles, "a child may not be able to reach or know how to operate the releases."
"In these instances, an occupant who remains inside a vehicle in this condition may be unable to be rapidly retrieved by persons outside of the vehicle," the safety regulator stated in its initial review.
"Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergencies, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle," the regulator noted.
NHTSA specified that the current investigation focuses only on the operability of electronic door locks from outside the vehicle, "as that's the only instance in which there is no manual way to open the door." However, the agency said it will continue to monitor reports of people stuck inside vehicles — what it calls "entrapment" — and will take further action as needed.
The preliminary evaluation found that none of the vehicle owners who reported incidents saw a low-voltage battery warning before the exterior door handles became inoperative.
Available repair invoices indicate that batteries were replaced after such incidents occurred.
The investigation will examine the scope and severity of the condition, including associated safety risks. NHTSA will also assess Tesla's approach to supplying power to the door locks and the reliability of the applicable power supplies.
The investigation follows numerous reported incidents in recent years involving problems with opening Tesla doors, which have sometimes trapped drivers in burning vehicles after accidents and power loss.
In April, University of Southern California basketball recruit Alijah Arenas said he was "fighting time" trying to escape his Tesla Cybertruck after it caught fire following a crash into a tree. Arenas, who was induced into a temporary coma after the accident, said he stayed alive by dousing himself with a water bottle as smoke filled the vehicle when he couldn't get the doors open.
According to Tesla's user manuals, powering the electronic door locks externally is possible, but it requires a multi-step process using an external power source.
Manual door release buttons exist only on the interior of vehicles, and some vehicle owners are reportedly unaware of their existence.
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