From a study by Bloomberg it turns out that the recessed door handles of Teslacars were responsible for the deaths of 15 people after accidents initially deemed non-fatal.
The report states Bloomberg that it has analyzed data from fire-related traffic accidents in the United States since 2012 to estimate how many fatalities were involved with doors that malfunctioned.
Data from 2012 through 2023 was provided to the outlet by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), while Bloomberg conducted an independent analysis of the data for 2024 and 2025.
The research included according to Bloomberg the study of thousands of pages of police, fire brigade and autopsy reports. Where possible, photographs, audio recordings of emergency calls and police bodycam footage were also analyzed.
Although Tesla is not the only car manufacturer to use recessed door handles, the company receives by far the most customer complaints about this type of problem.
The research of Bloomberg revealed about a dozen incidents where occupants or emergency responders were unable to open the doors of Teslamodels that had crashed and caught fire.
Although Bloomberg indicates that the 15 deaths represent only a small fraction of the hundreds of fatalities involving electric vehicles over the past decade, the list of deaths associated with electric door handles is growing.
According to the analysis of Bloomberg more than half of the deaths occurred since November 2024, indicating a worsening trend.
The outlet emphasized that there are no comprehensive and publicly available statistics from state or federal agencies that track how many people have been trapped by car doors that won’t open. This is attributed to the fact that it is often difficult to determine exactly what happens in the moments immediately following an accident.
After the fatal accidents involving doors of Teslavehicles were involved, NHTSA launched an investigation into the recessed door handles of the Model Y.
The electric door handles of Teslacars are powered by a 12-volt battery. However, in crashes where the battery fails or shuts down, the system becomes virtually unusable.
Although the vehicles have manual emergency releases for the front doors, these are not clearly marked and can only be found in the vehicle owner’s manual.
It is important to emphasize that according to Bloomberg Models 3 and Y do not have the same rear door release mechanism. In some Tesla– cars with manual rear seat backups, the releases may be under floor mats, behind speaker grilles, or under plastic panels, making them difficult to find, especially in emergency situations.
To address the problem, published Tesla an article on its website in which the company indicates that the cars will have a system where the doors open automatically after accidents. However, the company did not specify which models will receive this security update.
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