Tesla has announced it is working on a redesign of its vehicle door handles following a U.S. federal investigation into their reliability. The news was revealed by Franz von Holzhausen, the company’s chief designer, during an interview on Bloomberg’s Hot Pursuit podcast.
There are currently two ways to open a Tesla door from inside the vehicle. The first, and recommended way is the electronic button. The second is a mechanical release, however this method is only recommended in emergency situations as the window does not lower, increasing the potential for damage.
For the driver and front passenger, these emergency releases are easily accessible and located near the window controls. For rear passengers however, the location of the mechanical release is less intuitive, located under a cover in the door pocket.
Back in 2022 Tesla redesigned the rear door emergency release to make it easier to access, but this redesign will take it a step further. According to von Holzhausen, Tesla is working to merge the electronic and manual release mechanisms into a single, simplified control.
“The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together into one button, I think, makes a lot of sense,” von Holzhausen said. “That’s something that we’re working on,” he added, noting that the update is aimed at making exits easier, especially in “a panic situation.”
As Tesla does with many of its new and redesigned features, the automaker is currently studying the details of the redesign in China. “We’ll have a really good solution for that,” he noted. von Holzhausen did not provide a timeline for when the redesign might make it into production.
Tesla’s decision comes on the heels of criticism over its electronic door handles. Earlier this week, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a probe into roughly 174,000 Model Y vehicles from the 2021 model year. The investigation follows nine consumer complaints that doors could fail to open after the vehicle loses power, sometimes trapping children inside.
According to NHTSA, the review will examine whether Tesla’s approach to powering its locks and latches is sufficiently reliable in emergency situations. Some drivers have resorted to breaking windows to regain access when electronic handles stopped functioning.
