Tesla Model 3 Faces US Safety Probe Over Emergency Door Release

• The investigation from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration raises concerns over the visibility of the car’s mechanical door releases. 
• The petition alleges that the mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive to locate in an emergency. 
• Tesla’s emergency car handles are also under scrutiny in Europe, while China is reportedly considering banning fully-retractable handles by mid-2027.

Tesla Inc. (TSLA) is facing a safety investigation from the Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) into the emergency door release controls of its Model 3 sedans.

The petition cites that the mechanical door release is hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive to locate during an emergency, as per a release from the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The probe is considering about 179,071 model year 2022 vehicles, as per the release.

Shares of TSLA are up about 0.15% in Wednesday’s pre-market trade at the time of writing.

Prior Probes

In October this year, Dutch safety authority RDW said its regulators will strengthen rules to address concerns about Tesla’s door handle design, ensuring people can safely exit the vehicle in emergencies, as per a Bloomberg report.  China is also reportedly considering banning fully-retractable handles by mid-2027.

Tesla’s 2021 Model Y cars are already under scrutiny by the NHTSA for their electronic door handles, based on nine incidents in which customers were unable to open doors during an emergency.

According to a report from Bloomberg, 15 people have died in car crashes in the US that involved Tesla’s door functionality malfunctioning over the past decade.

Design Ethos

The emergency door designs are allegedly a consequence of Elon Musk’s strong preference for electrically operated doors over mechanical handles, according to an earlier Bloomberg report citing people familiar with the matter.

Musk was inspired by Apple’s minimalist design ethos and insisted that everything in the cars, including doors, must be controlled electrically with a button or smart screen, despite concerns from some engineers about the potential safety hazards of electric systems, as per Bloomberg.  “The best part is no part,” Musk had reportedly said.

However, the decision to skip traditional handles in the cars also meant fewer parts, thereby reducing costs and contributing to the final design, according to the people cited in the report.

Tesla is working on a redesign of its door handles that will look to combine its electronic and manual door-release systems to make it more intuitive, as per the company’s design chief, Franz von Holzhausen.

How Did Stocktwits Users React?

On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around TSLA stock remained in the ‘neutral’ territory over the past day, and message volume stayed at ‘high’ levels at the time of writing.

Shares of TSLA have risen by more than 28% this year.

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