Tesla Inc. safety regulators in Europe are joining a growing global effort to scrutinize the door handle design popularized by the world's leading electric vehicle maker.
The Dutch authority RDW, which inspects and approves Tesla's vehicles for sale in the European Union, said on Thursday that regulators will tighten rules to ensure passengers can get out of vehicles safely after a crash and be rescued by first responders.
The agency's comments follow a Bloomberg News investigation into Tesla's doors that stop working during battery failures, trapping drivers and passengers – including in cases where vehicles caught fire.
“Doors must always be operable – from the inside by residents and from the outside by emergency services – even in the event of a power outage,” an RDW spokesman said in an emailed statement. “If the current regulations are inadequate due to the introduction of new door concepts, this issue will be dealt with in the respective committees.”

Opening electrically operated doors in the event of an accident is “a key priority for both Euro NCAP and UNECE,” said the RDW spokesman, referring to Europe's safety testing and evaluation organization and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe.
Tesla representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
Just days after Bloomberg published its report on Tesla doors on September 10, the US Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into defects in the door handles of certain Model Y crossovers, the automaker's best-selling vehicle. Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's long-time design chief, then told Bloomberg that the carmaker was working on making its door handles more intuitive to use.
China has now proposed regulations requiring all passenger vehicles to have mechanical door openers that are accessible from both the inside and outside. The rules are aimed at reversing the rules promoted by Tesla and used by competitors such as China's Xiaomi Corp. Eliminate imitation flush exterior handle design.
“People die”
According to a UNECE report, the Netherlands is part of a global safety working group that discussed difficulties in opening electrically operated doors in May this year. The minutes of the meeting state that an expert from Germany present “stated that they had begun to look into this issue and saw an urgent need” for solutions “to ensure safe opening of the doors after an accident.”
Last month, a man and two children burned to death in a Tesla in an accident in Schwerte, German magazine Focus reported. A first responder told the publication he tried but was unable to pull the children from the car.
“This is not a theoretical problem – people die because they cannot get out of the vehicle when every second counts,” Antonio Avenoso, executive director of the European Transport Safety Council, said in a Sept. 24 statement. The Brussels-based non-profit organization is calling for regulatory work to be accelerated and recalls initiated in the EU for vehicles that can leave occupants trapped in emergency situations.
Although the organization lacks regulatory powers, it participates in the work of UNECE as an observer.
Photo above: A Tesla Inc. car dealership in The Hague, Netherlands, on Saturday, April 5, 2025. Tesla Inc. Photographer: Lina Selg/Bloomberg.
Copyright 2025 Bloomberg.

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