Electric door latches, like those on the popular Tesla Model 3, may get a redesign if one Illinois legislator has her way. Congressional representative Robin Kelly introduced a bill January 6 that will ensure electric door handles conform to specific vehicle safety standards, as well as mandate clearly labeled mechanical emergency latches to allow the doors to open easily in the event of a power failure. The bill comes a couple weeks after Bloomberg reported that at least 15 people have been killed after being trapped inside Teslas with electric door handles, often as the result of smoke inhalation or fire following a crash.
Base Trim Engine
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Industry Support For The Legislation
The Securing Accessible Functional Emergency (SAFE) Exit Act would require the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to establish specific guidelines for electric door handle operation and labeling. Theoretically, this would make it easier to escape the vehicle in an emergency, even for passengers and others who may be unfamiliar with the car.
Furthermore, the SAFE Exit Act would require manual release latches to be placed in an obvious, clearly marked location – Tesla hides these mechanical overrides behind speaker grilles and on seamless interior panels. And flush-mounted exterior door handles would need to similarly be redesigned to allow emergency responders to access the interior of the car in the event a passenger is non-responsive.
It’s critical for people to be able to immediately get out of the car during a vehicle fire or similar emergency. Yet electronic door handles can fail and become unusable if a car loses electrical power, making it impossible to exit the vehicle when seconds matter most.
–Cooper Lohr, Senior Policy Analyst, Consumer Reports
Apart from Rep. Kelly, the SAFE Exit Act has support from industry watchdog Consumer Reports. The safety organization called the congresswoman’s bill a timely and easy solution to the problem of vehicle occupants being trapped in an emergency situation. In addition to industry experts, over 35,000 citizen petitioners supported the SAFE Exit Act over vehicle safety concerns, according to a press release from Rep. Kelly’s office.
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Tesla Isn’t The Only Automaker Under Scrutiny
Although Bloomberg‘s reporting focused solely on Tesla’s trapped-occupant deaths, the EV automaker has company from an unlikely source: the Chevrolet Corvette. In 2015, a 72-year-old man and his dog died in a 2007 model after being trapped by the car’s electric door releases when a battery cable came loose in a parking lot. The owner was apparently unaware that the C6 Corvette had emergency-use manual latches on the inside lower edge of the door sill.
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Social media has also taken aim at the Ford Mustang Mach E, in which an infant was trapped last year – the car was running and the baby was rescued safely. To prevent similar risks, some Rivian owners have taken matters into their own hands as a result of what many of them consider an unsafe design. Tutorials have sprung up online on how to fasten a parachute ripcord to the emergency latch release, which is hidden behind a piece of trim on the door panel.
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It’s not clear how the SAFE Exit Act would affect flush-mounted exterior door releases, such as those found on the BMW iX, Mercedes-Benz S-Class, and Aston Martin DB12. China’s own safety-based attack on problematic electric door handles includes the pop-out door handles found outside those vehicles and others, and if the SAFE Exit Act passes, its possible those manufacturers will have to redesign their products for our market as well.
Source: Representative Robin Kelly via Road & Track
