As of: February 27, 2024, 3:12 p.m
By: Natascha Berger
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Two teenagers died in the back seat of a Tesla in an accident in Germany.
The focus of the trial is not only the defendant, but also Tesla's door handles.
Will the automatic system be life-threatening for passengers in accidents?
Potsdam – A young man is currently facing charges of negligent homicide and bodily harm at the district court in Potsdam.
The defendant is accused of causing a fatal accident on a country road for two 18-year-olds through driving error.
But the trial also raises a question that has raised concerns in the past: Are Tesla's door handles life-threatening?
Tesla passengers cannot be freed from back seat and die after explosion
The 17-year-old at the time of the accident was traveling with friends on a country road near Dobbrikow in Brandenburg in August 2022 when the Tesla S model crashed into a tree.
While the driver was able to free himself from the Tesla, the two 18-year-old friends were locked in the back seat.
The driver cannot open the doors, and two Bundeswehr soldiers who happen to be at the scene of the accident cannot open the back doors.
The helpers and the driver retreat just before the Tesla catches fire.
The two passengers die in the back seat.
As
Handelsblatt
reports, the US company's retractable handles have been relevant in at least four fatal accidents in Europe and the USA in the last five years.
Recently, Tesla caused a stir because of the controversial expansion plans for the car factory in Grünheide.
Tesla's sunken door handles need power - if it goes out, things get complicated
In Tesla cars, the door handles disappear into the door when you drive off and automatically extend again when you are near the car with the key.
In the event of an accident with the airbag deployed, such as in a Model S, the door handles should unlock automatically.
The problem: The automatic system relies on electricity.
According to Handelsblatt
, the car manufacturer admits
that automatic opening of the doors is not possible in certain accidents.
To unlock the doors manually, you must read the manual for the specific model.
The first responders were also unable to free the two trapped teenagers from the Tesla in time.
© Christian Guttmann/dpa
According to the Tesla manual, on the Model S, in which the two 18-year-olds were locked in the back seat, “the edge of the carpet under the rear seats must be pushed back” to expose the mechanical release cable.
This should then be pushed into the middle so that the doors can be opened from the inside.
The handles cannot be opened from the outside, for example by first responders or rescue workers, if the Tesla's power supply is interrupted.
Opening the door handles is no less complicated on other models either: a speaker grille has to be removed on the Model
Only the front doors can be opened manually.
Tesla death trap?
Door handle mechanism triggers class action lawsuit in the USA
In the case of the fatal car accident near Dobbrikow, due to the high degree of damage to the vehicle, experts were no longer able to determine why the handles could not be opened automatically despite the airbags being deployed.
The sad conclusion: If the doors had worked as Tesla intended, rescuing the two people before the vehicle caught fire would still have been possible.
In another trial in the USA, a 48-year-old died in his Tesla Model S - also because none of the first responders could unlock the doors.
The deceased's lawyer described the Tesla as a "death trap".
In California, a class action lawsuit is currently underway against Tesla, which is currently pushing ahead with autonomous driving, due to the life-threatening door handles.
The family of the deceased near Dobbrikow are now also considering taking legal action against the car manufacturer.
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Are Tesla's futuristically designed door handles dangerous to life?
Elon Musk is said to have ignored warnings from his engineers.
© dpa/XinHua & dpa/PA Wire |
Kirsty Wigglesworth
The retractable handles of the Tesla models, which according to sales figures are no longer the most popular electric car models, are sometimes a trademark for fans of the cars.
The idea for the futuristic design is said to have come from Elon Musk himself.
Although engineers had warned the billionaire about the handles, he wanted to implement the design.