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A few weeks ago, I wrote about installing lanyards on the mechanical release cables on the rear doors of my Tesla Model Y. At the time, I was pretty explicit about how cavalier Tesla has been in assuming that anyone who has been in a serious accident would have the presence of mind to find and activate those cables if they did not a.) know how to do so in advance and b.) have a flashlight and screwdriver at the ready to perform the task quickly.
Photo by Carolyn Fortuna for CleanTechnica. All rights reserved.
That story was sparked by a couple in Virginia who have filed suit against Tesla, claiming the design of the interior door handles on their Model Y was defective and led to them being trapped in the car after it collided with a light pole.
Cybertruck Door Locks Prove Deadly
Since then, two more suits against Tesla and its stupid door handle tricks have been filed, both stemming from the crash of a Cybertruck that trapped 4 passengers inside. Three of them died after the vehicle caught fire. The Guardian reports that the family of Krysta Tsukahara filed suit in Alameda County Superior Court last week. She was a 19-year-old college student who was visiting her family over Thanksgiving weekend.
In their complaint, her family alleges the design of the door handles in the Cybertruck was responsible for her death. When power to the electrically operated door handles is interrupted, the only way to exit a rear door is by pulling a cable that is located underneath a pocket liner at the bottom of the storage compartment molded into the bottom of the door, according to a report by Bloomberg, and as I demonstrated in this article assuming it’s the same as in a Model Y. From outside the vehicle, the doors remain locked and the flush handles make it difficult for rescue workers to access the interior of the vehicle.
According to Bloomberg, Franz von Holzhausen, the chief designer for the company, now says Tesla is exploring ways to combine the electronic and manual door release mechanisms, which are currently in separate locations. He said the decision is intended to make the handles more intuitive for occupants in “a panic situation.” About damn time, Franz.
The deadly incident happened on the night of 27 November 2024, when the Cybertruck was traveling at high speed, struck a tree, and caught fire, according to a California highway patrol report. When power to the truck’s electric doors was shut down by the fire, the four passengers were locked inside with no way out. “The design of this vehicle failed Krysta,” said Roger Dreyer, the attorney representing the Tsukahara family. “There was no functioning, accessible manual override or emergency release for her to escape.”
Tesla’s door handles are a distinguishing feature of its vehicles and a point of pride for company CEO, Elon Musk, The Guardian says. Tesla was the first to make cars with electric door handles, which give the vehicles a sleek and streamlined look. But the design has invited scrutiny from safety experts and is currently under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
“Tesla had repeated and direct notice that its reliance on electronic door systems created a serious risk of entrapment. Owners, bystanders, and first responders documented instances where Tesla occupants survived crash forces but could not escape when electrical power failed and fire ensued,” the lawsuit contends.
The Cybertruck has received high safety ratings in crash tests, but the vehicle has also received eight recalls since it first debuted less than two years ago. Tesla has been embroiled in other lawsuits over vehicle safety, including one in Florida where a jury ruled in August that Tesla must pay $329 million in compensatory and punitive damages after its driver assistance system — known as Autopilot — blew through a T intersection and killed a pedestrian on the other side.
Tsukahara’s family is also suing the estate of the driver, Soren Dixon, who at the time of the incident was under the influence of alcohol, cocaine, and amphetamines, according to a coroner’s report from Alameda county. Dixon also died in the crash.
A Night To Remember
On the night of the accident, a friend was following the Cybertruck in another vehicle and saw what happened, according to various news reports. He rushed to try to save his friends, breaking a window on the Cybertruck. He was able to save one passenger, but when he attempted to rescue Tsukahara she wasn’t able to make it through the fire, according to an account by The Guardian.
The lawsuit filed on Thursday alleges that Tsukahara didn’t suffer physical trauma from the Cybertruck’s collision with the tree, but rather she died of smoke inhalation and burns because she wasn’t able to escape the vehicle. “Her death was preventable,” her parents, said in a statement. “She was alive after the crash. She called out for help. And she couldn’t get out.”
Jack Nelson, age 20, was another victim of the Cybertruck crash. This week, his family also filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla. Both complaints allege that fatal design defects in the Tesla Cybertruck turned a survivable situation into a deadly one. Nelson survived the impact of the crash but was trapped inside the vehicle as it burned. Nelson and Tsukahara both died from smoke inhalation and burns after suffering minor injuries in the initial crash.
The lawsuit alleges that the Cybertruck’s door design made escape impossible: the doors rely on low-voltage electronic buttons that became useless once power was lost, while the manual releases inside the vehicle were hidden and unlabeled. With no exterior handles, a stainless-steel exoskeleton, and windows built with Tesla’s “armor glass,” bystanders could not break in fast enough to rescue Nelson.
The parents of Jack Nelson said in a statement, “The four young people in the Cybertruck were close friends and outstanding individuals, each on the verge of making meaningful contributions to the world. They were all victims of Tesla’s unsafe design. Their deaths and injuries have devastated everyone who knew them. The impact has been felt not only in Piedmont but also far beyond — including at the University of Colorado Boulder, where Jack was a student and is deeply mourned by his friends and classmates.”
Rivian Caught Up In Door Lock Controversy
There is a lot of “monkey see, monkey do” thinking in the tech and automotive worlds. Rivian also has adopted electrically operated door looks, no doubt because it wants its vehicles to be as cool as the ones from Tesla. Its vehicles have emergency rear door release cables hidden behind an unmarked panel where nobody who was not a mid-level engineer at the company would ever know to look for them. How so many supposedly bright people could possibly think doing that was a good idea is hard to explain.
But now, according to Bloomberg’s Emily Change and Edward Ludlow, Rivian is in the process of redesigning its door operating hardware for thy R2, the less expensive model scheduled to become available next year. Rivian plans to incorporate a manual release that is more clearly visible and located near the electrically powered interior handles in the rear doors of its next-generation SUV, sources told Bloomberg.
Rivian is pulling the same “we are in full compliance with all applicable rules and regulations” stunt as Tesla. In a statement, it said, “Safety is at the center of everything we do at Rivian, and R2 is no different. Similar to R1, R2 will meet or exceed all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, including passenger egress from all doors in the event of a crash or emergency.”
That is mumbo jumbo designed to provide legal cover for the company. They know the FMVSS does not address the issue (although that is under review by what us left of the federal government), but if safety really is at the center of everything Rivian does, somebody in the company should have said, “Wait! This is a problem waiting to happen.” There is no indication Rivian intends to redesign the door hardware in its current vehicles.
A complaint filed with NHTSA in June said the rear door emergency release cable in the R1 “is not intuitive nor is it reasonable to believe a small child or an older occupant” would be able to use it. “Intuitive” is precisely what it should be in all vehicles, whether from Rivian, or Tesla, or any other company. It’s time to stop being clever and start being smart.
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