Customer Says Defective Door Handles Trapped Her In Burning Car

A Tesla owner is suing the automaker over injuries sustained inappropriately fiery crash, but Tesla is denying responsibility. On December 9, 2023, Susmita Maddi was riding in a 2023 Tesla Model Y driven by her husband, Venkateswara Pasumarti. He had a medical emergency and crashed into a utility pole, causing the car to catch fire, according to court documents reviewed by Car Complaints.

Maddi suffered burns and other injuries after, the lawsuit alleges, becoming trapped in the Model Y due to defective door handles. The lawsuit claims the front-passenger door couldn't be opened from the outside by onlookers due to said defects, that these defects were present when the car was built, and that Tesla didn't provide adequate warning. Tesla's defense rests on disputing that last point.

'No Post-Sale Duty To Warn'

The lawsuit was filed in the Travis County District Court in Austin, Texas. Tesla told the judge that the case should be thrown out because the customer signed a binding arbitration agreement as part of the vehicle purchase, and because the crash occurred in Virginia, not Texas. But perhaps the boldest argument from Tesla's lawyers rests on litigation in the Lone Star State.

"Texas courts have specifically held there is no post-sale duty to warn of, or to recall, an allegedly defective product," Tesla lawyers said in court documents.

Tesla goes on to argue that the 2023 Model Y complied with all federal and state regulations when it was manufactured and sold, thus fulfilling its responsibilities. Federal regulations require automakers to address defects through recalls, of course, including notifying customers and providing free repairs. Tesla's argument here seems to be that the plaintiff shouldn't have brought the suit in a Texas state court.

Door Handle Redesign?

Tesla's lawyers said the automaker "denies each and every material allegation" by the plaintiff, which would seem to include the claim that the Model Y's door handles were defective. But this isn't the first such allegation. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently launched a preliminary probe of 174,000 Model Y EVs following reports of defective door handles trapping occupants.

Electronically-actuated flush door handles have been a signature Tesla feature since the launch of the Model S, and have been copied by other automakers. But legal pressure, along with reported plans by Chinese regulators to ban flush door handles and mandate mechanical backups, might force a redesign. Tesla design boss Franz von Holzhausen said as much in appearance on a Bloomberg podcast.

"The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together in one button, I think, makes a lot of sense," von Holzhausen said, adding that door releases needed to be more intuitive for emergency situations. "That's something that we're working on."