U.S. regulators are said to expand probe into Tesla door handle failures

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The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received several new complaints about Tesla’s Model Y door handles failing during battery outages, leaving drivers and passengers including children trapped inside their vehicles, Bloomberg News reported Sunday.

In an Oct. 27 letter to Tesla (TSLA [https://seekingalpha.com/symbol/TSLA]), NHTSA said the new reports came within days of launching its investigation [https://seekingalpha.com/news/4495161-nhtsa-opens-preliminary-probe-into-tesla-door-handles] in mid-September. Owners described exterior handles that stopped working after a low-voltage battery failure, in some cases preventing them from exiting or reentering the car.

The probe follows a Bloomberg News investigation detailing incidents where people were injured or killed after being unable to open Tesla doors following power loss or crashes. The agency is seeking data on consumer complaints, crashes, fires, injuries and lawsuits related to door malfunctions in 2021 Model Ys and “peer vehicles,” including 2017–2022 Model 3s and 2020–2022 Model Ys.

Since opening the probe on Sept. 15, NHTSA has received at least seven additional reports. One parent in Florida said they had to call 911 when their infant son was trapped in a Model Y after a battery failure on an 80-degree day. Another complaint described firefighters breaking a window in Santa Barbara, California, to rescue an overheated baby locked inside.

Tesla has until Dec. 10 to respond to the regulator’s information request. The company didn’t immediately comment, Bloomberg News reported.

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