A US Tesla driver who crashed his SUV told emergency responders he was trapped inside, and pleaded for help to escape moments before he died, a lawsuit has alleged, as concerns intensify over car doors that require electricity to function.
Details of the emergency phone call that Samuel Tremblett placed after the October crash outside Boston were revealed in documents filed to a US court on Wednesday, just as manufacturers were grappling with news that China would become the first country to ban sales of new cars without a mechanical release option for doors.
Australian authorities are yet to act on concerns that power-operated doors could trap occupants after collisions, but car industry groups say they expect the ban in China – a powerhouse of global electric vehicle manufacturing – to flow through to the designs of cars exported to the local market after it takes effect from next January.
As well as China’s ban, a raft of news reports and lawsuits against car manufacturers have raised further questions about the safety hazards of electric door systems, which can fail and trap occupants inside vehicles, particularly after a crash.
In Tremblett’s lawsuit, it’s alleged that the 20-year-old died after he was unable to open electrically powered doors on his car. He allegedly pleaded with a 911 operator to be rescued from his burning Tesla Model Y SUV after the crash: “I can’t get out, please help me.
“It’s on fire. Help please,” Tremblett said, according to the lawsuit. “I am going to die.”
After Tremblett survived the initial impact of the collision his remains were found in the back seat, according to a police report of the incident.
“Unable to open the doors, Mr Tremblett was trapped in the Tesla vehicle and died from thermal injuries and smoke inhalation before he was able to be rescued,” according to the complaint filed on Wednesday in Massachusetts federal court.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on Tremblett’s lawsuit. However, in September, a Tesla executive said that the company was working on a redesign of its door handles. In December, Tesla updated its website to say that, after a serious collision is detected, hazard lights will turn on to increase visibility and “doors will automatically unlock for emergency access”.
Tesla is facing multiple US lawsuits over crashes that allegedly involved door-related entrapment, including cases filed last year in Washington state and Wisconsin.
The company was sued in October over claims that defects in the doors of a crashed Cybertruck in California made it a “death trap” by preventing three college students from escaping before they died of smoke inhalation.
Bloomberg has also reported at least 15 deaths in a dozen incidents over the past decade in which occupants or rescuers were unable to open the doors of a Tesla that had crashed and caught fire.
Tesla cars and most electric vehicles have two batteries: a low-voltage 12V battery that operates interior functions like windows, doors and the touchscreen, and the high-voltage pack that propels the car. If the low-voltage battery dies or is disabled, which is common after collisions or if a car is submerged in water, the doors may not unlock and must be operated manually from the inside.
While manufacturers, including Tesla, are increasingly including mechanical release options inside for at least some doors, many owners and passengers are unfamiliar with where they’re located or how to operate them. There is no mechanical release option from outside for emergency responders.
It has led to multiple reports of occupants being trapped. In October – the same month of Tremblett’s death – Chinese state media reported that the driver of a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra sedan died in an accident after passers-by were unable to open the door to pull him out of the burning vehicle. Emergency workers were also filmed breaking windows to try to save victims at a 2024 crash involving an SUV from Aito – backed by Huawei – with retractable handles, in which three people died.
In addition to China’s ban announced this week, European regulators have said they intend to accelerate rulemaking on the matter. In the United States, authorities are conducting defect investigations into various Tesla models, including certain iterations of the popular Model 3 and Model Y, the latter of which was driven by Tremblett.
In Australia, independent safety advocate the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) rewards reliability of door opening in the event of crashes in its rating system, but there are no laws requiring manually opening doors. ANCAP’s CEO Carla Hoorweg this week said “would encourage regulation to follow in this space”.
Transport minister Catherine King, whose portfolio includes oversight of Australian Design Rules that dictate requirements for cars, did not respond to a request for comment.
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Elias Visontay is a National Consumer Affairs Reporter at The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email.