Tesla’s design manager says that the company plans to rethink the interior door handles on its vehicles to combine powered and manual versions. However, the designer, Franz Von Holzhausen, has stopped addressing a national survey of road safety security on complaints that external transplants on certain Tesla vehicles lose power and can trap the occupants, in particular children, inside.
Holzhausen has made comments on the design change in Bloomberg for his Hot Pursuit podcast in an episode that has not yet been published. In a report, Bloomberg said Holzhausen pointed out: “The idea of ​​combining electronics and manual together in one button, I think, has a lot of meaning.”
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Currently, Tesla vehicles have an electronic door release button and manual release in separate places. Holzhausen said that combining them can help when people are in a “panic situation”.
Holzhausen also said that the company was considering a design change and has a solution in response to Chinese regulations that could prohibit concealed door handles.
The representatives of Tesla and the NHTSA did not immediately respond to requests for comments.
Last week, Bloomberg published his own survey on the external and interior handles of Tesla, which were the subject of complaints and prosecution. The NHTSA would have investigated the cases of Tesla Model vehicles losing power on the handfuls of the rear door and trapping the children inside the rear seats. The federal survey can also cover the previous reports of drivers trapped in fire vehicles due to door malfunctions.
