Tesla is working on redesigning its door handles to make them less likely to trap people inside its cars. Chief designer Franz von Holzhausen confirmed the news to Bloomberg News on Wednesday.
This announcement comes just one day after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into Tesla’s door handles. It also follows a Bloomberg News investigation from last week that highlighted multiple instances where owners or passengers were stuck in their cars after a crash.
Von Holzhausen did not specify when Tesla made the decision to rethink its door handles. China has already been pushing automakers to reconsider the use of fully concealed door handles due to safety concerns, although the country’s top regulator has not yet taken final action.
One of the two apparent problems with Tesla’s door handles is their use of electronic locks, which can fail if they are not receiving power from the car’s battery. The other issue is that while Tesla does include manual door releases in its cars, they are often difficult to find and access.
Von Holzhausen told Bloomberg that combining the electronic and manual release into a single button is an idea that makes a lot of sense and is something the company is actively working on.
The NHTSA opened its investigation on Tuesday after receiving nine complaints from Tesla owners who experienced door handle failures. In four of those cases, the owners had to break a window to get back into their vehicles.
Tesla includes instructions in its owner’s manuals on how to use an outside power source to activate dead electronic door locks. However, the NHTSA noted in its preliminary report that none of the owners who complained reported seeing low-voltage battery warnings, meaning they likely would not have known the cause of the problem.