A beloved teenage honors student and his father were killed in a “self-driving” Tesla Model 3 that suddenly veered off the road without warning, slammed into a tree and then burst into flames, according to a wrongful death suit filed by the boy’s mother.
At the same time, the vehicle’s electric-powered door handles became inoperable once the battery system caught fire, preventing the two from getting out or rescuers getting in – a serious issue that has similarly doomed others riding in Teslas – Shantorria Herring’s complaint alleges.
“Consequently, both occupants burned to death in the thermal runaway and fire that occurred after impact,” the complaint states.
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Is this the one where it turned out FSD wasn’t on?
There is quite a history of spectacular sounding bad stories getting big coverage by the press and commentators with little or no follow through and little or no coverage when things turn out to be quite different … and little or no recognition that nasty accidents happen all the time and some of those the car contributes to.
There’s so many of these it’s hard to keep track. I think you’re thinking of the one where FSD disengaged leaving the driver only seconds to regain control.
This is a different one. This is the one where Tesla’s horribly designed electronic door handles are alleged to have failed locking the passengers in the car to be incinerated.
There’s so many of these it’s almost like Tesla is not a safe vehicle to operate or ride in.
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No, the one I was thinking of it was never engaged.
But, a large part of the problem is the selective reporting of Tesla and the theorizing as to causes. That makes it seem like there is an extreme problem when the problem is actually much smaller … blaming FSD when it wasn’t engaged … blaming the door handles when the occupant was dead before they had a chance to think about the handles … etc. What do you think would be the reaction if every Chevy or Ford accident was reported in the same way?
I’m sure it was back at the beginning of the era. “Automobile startles horse, carriage rider dies!” “Car smashes into milk wagon by failing to stop” You should expect these kinds of stories because “it’s new”.
Chevy and Ford aren’t doing anything new and revolutionary, we’ve seen their stuff for 100 years. If they were doing self-driving without adequate testing, if they were using everyone else as guinea pigs in potentially fatal experiments, I suspect you would see those headlines too.
They’re not either because they’re moribund, or smarter, possibly both.
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Well, like you said, Tesla has brought this on themselves with their reporting. They are the only manufacturer that claims “Full Self-Driving.” I think they might be the only manufacturer that redacts accident details when reporting to the NHTSA.
If you do a Google search for “Ford electronic door handles accident,” several hits come up. One of the first ones that comes up for me is a lawsuit against the Ford Mach-E for being unable to open their doors when the battery fails. Lawsuits like that are not discussed here because this is not a Ford board.
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Door handles that don’t open while the car is on fire with people inside the car - I don’t believe this product feature is in doubt as being unnecessary, life-threatening design.
But, if someone has facts otherwise, would be glad to learn them.
Further, the complaint goes on, Tesla “designed and manufactured the door locking mechanisms on the subject vehicle in such a way that they prevented the doors from being opened from the outside in the event of a crash,” as they “rely exclusively on electrical power and have no mechanical backup.”
In related news:
China has become the first nation to require a change to make it easier to rescue people from car crashes: Car doors must be able to open from either side mechanically, like by lifting a handle.
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While this incident as reported seems like something one would obviously want to avoid, the problem with such sensationalist reporting is that it draws one away from facts which might establish a different context. E.g., were the people here dead before they could even think about door handles, i.e., did the handle design actually change anything? Are there other cases, i.e., a pattern or was this unique? What is the overall rating of the car relative to other cars? Safer or less safe (separate from FSD issues)?
Depending on the answers to these and related questions one might see this event as a trigger that should lead to change or as a weird thing that happened once. Remember that one with the Tesla over the cliff? Started out an FSD failure, but turned out the husband had driven over the cliff on purpose and the amazing thing was everyone living through it.
This is not understood to be an isolated thing.
That’s why there is a NHTSA investigation.
You raised a lot of questions and claim sensational reporting.
Any answers or facts to add?
By whom? How many? What parallels? Any actual facts? Is it really NHTSA policy to have a whole class of accident but to refer to the class as a single case? Got NHTSA docs?
You might try a search engine.
Report: Tesla Doors That Won’t Open Have Led to 15 Crash-Related Deaths
Bloomberg news service investigation looks into Tesla’s electronic door releases, which may stop working following a crash, trapping occupants inside.
* new report from the Bloomberg news service shows that at least 15 people have died in Teslas when the vehicle's doors would not open following a crash.**
According to the report, the doors of Tesla models have been known to trap occupants inside potentially burning vehicles.**
Tesla recently unveiled a new website detailing how its electrically powered doors will automatically unlock following a crash, though the feature may not work on older models.**
[A new chapter](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2025-12-22/tesla-door-safety-tied-to-at-least-15-auto-accident-deaths) in an ongoing investigative [report from Bloomberg](https://www.bloomberg.com/latest/tesla-s-dangerous-doors) starts from the news that at least 15 people have died in Teslas where the electrically powered doors would not open after a crash. Following years of complaints from owners, Bloomberg looked at crash data going back to 2012 in an attempt to quantify the number of fatalities where inoperable doors were involved.
Not exactly an isolated incident.
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So 15 cases where someone died over a 14 year study period and we still don’t know if they would have died anyway? And Tesla has a fix?
Tesla better have. China, the world largest car market for nearly 20 years, has outlawed doors without a mechanical linkage to open, and a bill has been introduced in the US (The “Safe Exit Act” to do the same. The NHTSA has not made a ruling, but the writing is on the wall.
Regulations, I note, rarely if ever precede, but are nearly always a reaction to a market or design failure: in this case doors (from both inside or out) which will not open when the electrical system fails. As will sometimes happen in an electric vehicle, obviously.
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And apparently moved to provide it before we even started talking about the problem.
Nope. Tesla began the redesign only after China outlawed the current one. You can look it up.
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And we were talking about it before China?