Federal auto safety regulators opened an investigation Tuesday into possible defects in Tesla doors that have reportedly left parents with children trapped in the back seat and forced to break windows to get them out.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said the preliminary probe is focused on 2021 Tesla Model Ys after receiving nine reports of electronic door handles not working possibly due to low battery voltage.
The company run by billionaire Elon Musk has installed manual door releases inside the vehicles but NHTSA noted that a child may not be able to reach or know how to operate the releases.
In four cases, the parents had to break the windows to get inside.
The investigation into Tesla's most popular model comes after numerous reported incidents in recent years of other problems with opening Tesla doors, sometime trapping drivers in burning vehicles after accidents and a loss of power.
In April, a college basketball recruit said he was "fighting time" trying to get out of his Tesla Cybertruck that had caught fire after he had crashed into a tree and was unable to get the doors open.
The University of Southern California player, Alijah Arenas, who was induced into a temporary coma after the accident, said he stayed alive by dousing himself with a water bottle as smoke filled the vehicle.
Last year, relatives of the driver of a Tesla Model 3 who was trapped in his car and burned beyond recognition sued Musk's company for negligence and fraud for failing to fix what they called a design flaw in the doors despite what they said were 200 fires involving its cars. The case is pending in Los Angeles Superior Court.
NHTSA said the investigation is only focusing on the operability of the electronic door locks from outside of the vehicle, not inside, as that's the only instance in which there is no manual way to open the door.
But it also said it will continue to monitor reports of people stuck on the inside what it calls "entrapment" and will take further action as needed.
The current agency investigation covers approximately 1,74,300 of the midsize SUVs.
