SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Tesla Model Y owners are reporting a troubling tech problem with the high-tech electric vehicles locking children inside.
“The most commonly reported scenarios involved parents exiting the vehicle after a drive cycle in order to remove a child from the back seat or placing a child in the back seat before starting a drive cycle. The parents were unable to reopen a door to regain access to the vehicle,” an investigation report by the U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration states.
NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation has received nine separate reports of the problem from owners of 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles.
In four of the incidents, parents resorted to breaking windows to regain entry. “Although Tesla vehicles have manual door releases inside of the cabin, in these situations, a child may not be able to access or operate the releases even if the vehicle’s driver is aware of them. Entrapment in a vehicle is particularly concerning in emergency situations, such as when children are entrapped in a hot vehicle,” the investigation report states.
Based on ODI’s preliminary review, the problem appears to occur when electronic door locks receive insufficient voltage from the vehicle. Model Y owners said they did not see any low voltage battery warnings prior to the exterior door handles becoming disabled.
Tesla’s door-locking problems were also reported from collisions that left Tesla Cybertrucks in flames, and drivers and passengers apparently locked inside.
In Piedmont, four college students were trapped inside a Cybertruck after it crashed, burst into flames, and three died. Soren Dixon, 19, Jack Nelson, 20, and Krysta Tsukahara, 19, died from smoke inhalation and severe burns on Nov. 27, 2024, according to an autopsy report.
A witness rescued one Piedmont Cybertruck passenger by breaking a window using a tree branch. The witness said he had to hit the window 10-15 times before it broke. The witness told the CHP, “I went back to the broken window and yelled for them to try and get out at this window. Krysta tried to come up, sticking her head from the back. I grabbed her arm to try and pull her towards me but she retreated because of the fire.”
In April, a college basketball recruit said he was “fighting time” trying to get out of his Cybertruck that ignited after he had crashed into a tree and was unable to open his door. The University of Southern California player, Alijah Arenas, moved to the back seat and tried to break out the window, but wasn’t able to. Arenas said he tried to use his digital key to escape, only to find the Tesla app had locked him out.
Arenas doused himself with a water bottle to cool his body down and spent nearly 10 minutes in the burning car before finally busting out the driver’s side window.
NHTSA said it will continue to monitor reports of entrapment for its investigation into Tesla technology.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Want more insights? Join Working Title - our career elevating newsletter and get the future of work delivered weekly.
