{"id":100584,"date":"2026-07-24T06:20:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:20:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/federal-safety-agency-rejects-call-to-investigate-tesla-door-release-flaw\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T06:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T10:20:36","slug":"federal-safety-agency-rejects-call-to-investigate-tesla-door-release-flaw","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/federal-safety-agency-rejects-call-to-investigate-tesla-door-release-flaw\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal Safety Agency Rejects Call to Investigate Tesla Door Release Flaw"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n

The federal agency responsible for vehicle safety has rejected a formal request to launch a defect investigation into the emergency mechanical door release system found on approximately 180,000 Tesla Model 3 vehicles.<\/p>

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded that the petition failed to provide adequate evidence of a safety-related defect that would justify opening an investigation. The agency added that the matter would be better handled through a separate rulemaking process already underway.<\/p>

Those who filed the petition raised concerns about the manual door release design found in 2022 Model 3 models, arguing it was hidden and hard to find in situations where the car lost electrical power following a crash \u2014 potentially trapping people inside.<\/p>

Tesla’s electronically controlled door handle design has come under increased scrutiny following multiple crash incidents in which occupants reportedly could not get out of their vehicles after power was lost. Those cases have fueled wider demands for tougher federal regulations around emergency door exit systems.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has turned down a request for a formal defect investigation into emergency door releases on roughly 180,000 Tesla Model 3 vehicles. The agency said the petition lacked sufficient evidence of a safety-related defect and pointed to an ongoing regulatory process as the better avenue for addressing the concern. Critics have raised alarms that the door releases could trap occupants if a crash cuts power to the vehicle.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":100583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[831],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-100584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/news-1784888436150.jpg?fit=450%2C300&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pbtNqq-qak","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":58494,"url":"https:\/\/tvdelmarva.com\/wp\/federal-safety-probe-of-tesla-model-y-steering-issue-concludes-without-recall\/","url_meta":{"origin":100584,"position":0},"title":"Federal Safety Probe of Tesla Model Y Steering Issue Concludes Without Recall","author":"Admin","date":"April 28, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Federal highway safety officials have wrapped up their investigation into Tesla Model Y vehicles after reports of steering wheels detaching from two cars. 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