In a move aimed at ensuring the safety of drivers and passengers, U.S. regulators are set to develop new requirements for automakers to guarantee that people can safely exit their vehicles.

The new rule-making process, as outlined in a regulatory filing and first reported by Bloomberg, follows a series of incidents, including fatal ones, in which people have become stuck inside cars with flush, electronically operated door handles like those found on Tesla vehicles.

A Series of Incidents

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced the new rule-making in response to a petition that asked the agency to open a safety defect investigation into the emergency mechanical door release design on 2022 Tesla Model 3 vehicles.

The petition argued that the door release doesn’t comply with federal motor vehicle standards, and that the design may not work if the electronic door locks don’t receive enough voltage from the vehicle’s battery system.

NHTSA denied taking the action that the petitioners wanted, saying that the issue would be best addressed through rulemaking rather than a defect investigation.

This decision comes less than a year after NHTSA opened an investigation into Tesla’s door handles after receiving nine reports from owners who were unable to get into their cars, sometimes with children still inside.

The probe followed Bloomberg’s own investigation into a series of incidents in which Tesla drivers and passengers became trapped inside their vehicles following a crash.

While Tesla vehicles do have manual door releases, they are located only inside the car, which may not be easily accessible in emergency situations.

Rivian, a rival electric vehicle manufacturer, has taken steps to address this issue by changing the interior door handle design on its R2 SUV to put the manual release in a more visible location, closer to the electrically powered door handles.

Tesla designer Franz von Holzhausen said last year that the company was working on a redesign of its door handles, which may indicate a willingness to address the safety concerns raised by NHTSA.

However, the exact timeline for the rule-making process and the potential changes to the door handle design remain unclear.

As the automotive industry continues to evolve with the increasing adoption of electric vehicles, safety concerns like these will need to be addressed to ensure that drivers and passengers are protected.

NHTSA’s decision to develop new requirements for automakers to ensure safe exit from vehicles is a crucial step towards creating a safer transportation system for everyone.