It appears that Tesla can’t catch a break from being bombarded with lawsuits. Yet again, it’s door handles. While the EV maker was recently taken to court for the Model 3’s door handle design, this one’s slightly different in that it’s a pre-facelift Model S, specifically MY 2014-16.
Newer Teslas feature a flush door handle design, which looks noticeably different from older models. Although they were of a similar retractable pop-out type, the design wasn’t all that reliable, claims the plaintiff. The report comes courtesy of Business Insider, which goes into detail about the class-action lawsuit filed in Florida by John Urban, a Maitland-based 2015 Tesla Model S owner.
Urban's Model S Ludicrous had three out of four of its door handles fail by 2022. This includes the driver's side door, where he had to climb over from the passenger side to exit the vehicle, and continued to do so until he waited for repairs. According to the complaint, this creates a "significant safety risk," as the occupants could potentially be locked inside during emergency situations.
The lawsuit mentions that Model S door handles after the 2016 model year have been redesigned, which, according to the Floridian, makes them more reliable. This implies, per the complainant, at least, that Tesla “knew or should have known” about the problem, and that more recent models rarely experience door handle failure.
However, there are instances of Tesla’s “more recent” vehicles, like the Cybertruck, experiencing the defect, evidenced by the death of two college students who were trapped inside the burning vehicle after its door handles failed. A similar story from Wisconsin, involving a 2016 Model S, saw its occupants pass away after crashing into a tree. The culprit? Malfunctioning door handles, or so the lawsuit alleges.
Tesla
The door handle issue grabbed so much attention that the NHTSA launched an investigation against Tesla, and US House Representative Robin Kelly introduced a bill that forces automakers to include "intuitive, accessible, and easy-to-find manual releases" on every car that features electronic door handles. China is also in the mix, but takes things one step further by banning electronic door handles on all cars from 2027. Truth be told, door handles are one of those things that never really required all that innovation.
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