U.S. Lawmaker Proposes Legislation Addressing Tesla-Style Door Handles

Tesla-Style door handles get their day in Congress

A U.S. lawmaker is proposing legislation that would effectively require automakers, including EV firms like Tesla and Rivian, to address genuine safety concerns with electrically-operated flush-mounted door handles directly; a design element popularized by the Elon Musk-led brand.

The Securing Accessible Functional Emergency Exit Act, or SAFE Exit Act, was introduced on the floor of the House of Representatives by U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly (IL-02) late on January 6. The bill itself will require the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to issue a final rule within two years of the bill's passing that will require "a power independent, easy-to-find manual release for each door providing occupant egress, which shall be intuitive to use and readily accessible for the occupant," labels to guide occupants to locate said manual releases and a way for emergency responders to access the cabin when the vehicle loses power.

Currently, there is no federal standard regarding electric vehicle doors. In a press release, Rep. Kelly declared the need for these kinds of rules, adding that "profits and, least of all, style, should not come before people’s lives," and that "Elon Musk and his Tesla designs are not safe, nor efficient, and it has cost people their lives."

"When crashes or power loss leave drivers and passengers trapped inside their own cars, that is not innovation—it’s a safety failure," Rep. Kelly said. "Just like requiring basic safety standards like seatbelts, my SAFE Exit Act will protect consumers. As the auto industry continues to innovate, we must ensure people’s safety."

Legislation follows other actions taken to address safety concerns

Rep. Kelly's bill is the first indication that safety risks posed by electrically powered vehicle doors have gotten the attention of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., and adds to the growing concerns regarding these mechanisms following incidents where people were harmed or lost their lives when they were unable to get out of their vehicles.

Tesla is singled out due to its positioning in the U.S. market as a leader in electric vehicle sales. Every vehicle in Tesla's current lineup, including the popular Model Y and Model 3, as well as the Model X, Model S, and Cybertruck, utilizes some form of electronically operated door release handles designed to be visually seamless.

While it may look futuristic, these mechanisms have garnered actual complaints from owners who have raised concerns about what happens when the system loses power when the vehicle’s 12V system fails. Recent reports show that at least 15 people have died in Tesla crashes where electric door releases failed, and the NHTSA has launched a preliminary probe into 174,000 2021+ Tesla Model Y vehicles after reports of electronic door handles failing to open and passengers getting trapped.

Tesla isn't the only EV brand affected by the proposed legislation

Although the proposed legislation has singled out Tesla, the proposed bill would also affect other EV brands that utilize similar door handle designs in their vehicles, including peer brands like Rivian. Like Tesla, its current lineup consists of the R1T electric pickup truck and the R1S SUV, which utilize flush, electronic door handles.

Last month, a Rivian owner and a user on the r/Rivian subreddit publicly called on the manufacturer to make emergency door release handles more easily accessible after he failed to demonstrate how to use them in an emergency to his kids. According to the owner’s manual, the first step in locating the emergency release is to pry open the panel located just below the armrest, which reveals a tab that opens the doors when pulled; however, it didn’t exactly go that way. 

“My kids are definitely dead in an emergency,” 2025 R1S owner and Reddit user u/AlstonCentral said in a December 2025 post. “The panel broke and could not be restored without Rivian service center ordering a new part, and I fully failed to even find the cable. There’s no way kids could ever figure this out if they had to.”

Rivian has addressed this concern in its upcoming R2, which will feature manual door releases positioned closer to the powered handles in a more visible spot. However, some owners of current Rivian vehicles have shared DIY solutions to make emergency exits more visible and easily accessible for children.

Final thoughts

Rep. Kelly’s new bill is not the only piece of world legislation aimed at curbing the effects of electronically-operated door handle mechanisms. Last month, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology released draft rules that would effectively ban these types of mechanisms in vehicles after January 1, 2027. This would affect all vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tons and require both interior and exterior handles with a mechanical emergency release. 

The new bill, the SAFE Exit Act, is also endorsed by Consumer Reports. In a statement on a press release issued by the Congresswoman, Cooper Lohr, the Senior Policy Analyst of Transportation and Safety at Consumer Reports stated that it is “critical for people to be able to immediately get out of the car during a vehicle fire or similar emergency,” and that this type of equipment can make it impossible for occupants to exit the vehicle in a life-threatening situation.

"Fortunately, this problem has a solution: every car should be required to have intuitive, accessible, and easy-to-find manual releases that work even when power fails," Lohr said. "We thank Congresswoman Kelly for introducing the SAFE Exit Act, which is a smart, timely response to a very real and growing safety risk."

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