Tesla faces federal safety probe over reports of faulty door handles

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking into reports that faulty electronic door handles on 2021 Tesla Model Y SUVs prevented owners from entering and exiting the vehicles, according to filing on the regulator's website. In several cases, parents describe situations in which they were unable to access children inside the car.

The Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received nine reports on "inoperable door handles," with the most commonly reported issues involving parents' inability to reenter the car after placing their child in the back seat before going on a drive, or to remove their child from the back seat at the end of a drive.

Some Tesla owners reported having to break a vehicle's window to regain entry, the NHTSA documents state. (NHTSA's number for the preliminary examination is PE25010 and can be viewed here.)

"Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergency situations, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle. For awareness, NHTSA has a Child Heatstroke Campaign that highlights the dangers to children entrapped in hot vehicles," the agency states.

While Tesla vehicles have internal manual door releases, they cannot be operated by small children, according to the safety watchdog.

According to the regulator's preliminary review, the handles on some Model Y vehicles appear to become inoperable "when the electronic door locks receive insufficient voltage from the vehicle." However, no warnings prior to the exterior door handle failures — such as a low voltage battery warning — have been reported by owners, according to NHTSA.

The investigation involves 174,290 Tesla Model Y SUVs from model year 2021 and is focused on the functionality of the electronic door locks from outside of the vehicle. The agency said it "will continue to monitor any reports of entrapment involving opening doors from inside of the vehicle, and ODI will take further action as needed."