U.S. traffic safety officials have launched an investigation into more than 170,000 Tesla Model Y vehicles after reports that faulty door handles left children trapped inside, forcing some parents to smash windows to reach them.
“The most commonly reported scenarios involved parents exiting the vehicle after a drive cycle in order to remove a child from the back seat or placing a child in the back seat before starting a drive cycle,” the agency said. “In those events, the parents were unable to reopen a door to regain access to the vehicle.”
In four cases, parents said they had to break windows to reenter. Tesla equips its cars with manual door releases inside, but the NHTSA noted that children may not be able to reach or operate them.
The investigation into Tesla’s best-selling model adds to previous reports of issues with the company’s doors, which in rare cases have left drivers unable to escape burning vehicles after losing power during a crash.
The NHTSA said that the current probe is focused on the operability of exterior handles, where no manual override exists. But it said it will continue monitoring interior entrapment cases.
“Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergency situations, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle,” the agency said.
According to the NHTSA, the failures appear to occur when the door locks receive insufficient voltage. Repair invoices show that some owners had their 12-volt batteries replaced afterward. None of the reports indicated that drivers saw a low-voltage warning before the handles stopped working.
The agency said its evaluation will examine the scope and severity of the condition, Tesla’s method of powering the locks, and the reliability of its power supplies.
Tesla has faced multiple other NHTSA probes in recent years, including into crashes involving its driver-assistance features in fog and other low-visibility conditions, as well as its remote-parking “summon” technology after reports of fender-benders.
