An investigation by Bloomberg revealed that the retractable door handles used on Tesla vehicles were responsible for the deaths of 15 people following crashes that were considered non-fatal.
In the report, Bloomberg said it analyzed fire-related crash data in the United States since 2012 to estimate how many deaths involved doors that failed to open.
Data from 2012 to 2023 were provided to the outlet by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), while Bloomberg conducted an independent analysis of data from 2024 and 2025.
According to Bloomberg, the process involved reviewing thousands of pages of police, fire department, and autopsy reports. When possible, the outlet also examined photographs, recordings of emergency calls, and police body-camera footage.
While Tesla is not the only automaker to adopt retractable door handles, the manufacturer is by far the one that receives the highest number of complaints of this type from its customers.
The Bloomberg investigation identified a dozen incidents in which occupants or first responders were unable to open the doors of Tesla models that crashed and caught fire.
Although Bloomberg notes that the 15 deaths represent only a small fraction of the hundreds of fatal electric-vehicle crashes over the past decade, the list of deaths linked to electric door handles is growing.
According to Bloomberg’s analysis, more than half of the deaths occurred since November 2024, indicating a worsening trend.
The outlet emphasized that there are no comprehensive, publicly available statistics from state or federal agencies tracking the number of people trapped by car doors that fail to open. This is attributed to the difficulty of determining exactly what happens in the moments immediately following a crash.
After fatal accidents involving Tesla vehicle doors, the NHTSA launched an investigation into the retractable door handles of the Model Y on September 15 of this year.
The electric door handles on Tesla vehicles are powered by a 12-volt battery. However, in crashes where the battery dies or is disabled, the system becomes virtually useless.
While the vehicles are equipped with manual release mechanisms for the front doors, they have no obvious markings and can only be found in the vehicle owner’s manual.
It is worth emphasizing that, according to Bloomberg, the Model 3 and Model Y vehicles do not have the same release mechanism for the rear doors. For those Teslas equipped with manual rear-seat backups, the releases may be located under carpets, behind speaker grilles, and beneath pieces of plastic, making them difficult to find, especially in an emergency scenario.
To address the issue, Tesla published an article on its website detailing that vehicles will receive a system in which the doors automatically open after crashes. However, the company did not specify which models will receive the safety update.
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