Tesla models Y and 3 are displayed at a Tesla showroom in Corte Madera, California, on Dec. 20, 2024.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images
Tesla has been ordered to provide records to U.S. federal auto safety regulators to comply with a sweeping investigation into possible safety defects with the company’s flush-mounted, retractable door handles that can lead to people getting trapped.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a letter to Elon Musk’s automaker that the agency continued to receive complaints from Tesla owners after the regulators initiated a probe in September.
Owners said they were unable to enter or exit their cars due to battery power loss and other situations impeding normal use of the doorhandles.
In some cases, owners’ children were trapped inside hot vehicles, requiring first responder interventions or breaking windows to open the doors.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigations said they had “received 16 reports of exterior door handles becoming inoperative due to low 12VDC battery voltage in certain MY 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles,” as of October 27, 2025.
The agency began the electronic door handles investigation into Tesla following a Bloomberg report bringing incidents to light. The news agency reported that people were injured or died after becoming trapped in Tesla vehicles after collisions or battery power losses that prevented doors from opening normally.
Tesla design leader Franz Von Holzhausen has said in subsequent press interviews that the company would change the design of its door handles.
Tesla competitors, including Rivian, are also reconsidering flush-mounted, or retractable door handle designs.
Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer recently said his company’s customers don’t even want the flush-mounted, electronic doorhandles and VW has no plans to adopt them.
Meanwhile, China is expected to implement new vehicle safety standards around door handles, including a requirement to have more clearly marked, accessible and easier-to-use emergency, interior door release mechanisms.
China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has released draft standards and comments are open through November 22.
The NHTSA Tesla probe seeks records concerning all model year, “2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles manufactured for sale or lease in the United States,” as well as “peer vehicles,” including Tesla Model 3 and Model Y vehicles from model years 2017 to 2022, and “systems related to opening doors including, door handles, door latches, 12VDC batteries, software,” and other components.
Tesla has until Dec. 10 to provide the records.
While Tesla can seek an extension on the deadline from NHTSA, it may face fines of “$27,874 per violation per day, with a maximum of $139,356,994” if the company either fails to or refuses to “respond completely, accurately, or in a timely manner” to NHTSA’s information requests, the agency cautioned in its letter.
