Tesla Sued Over Claim Faulty Doors Led To Deaths In Fiery Crash

Tesla Inc. was sued over a crash in Wisconsin last November that killed all five occupants of a Model S who allegedly became trapped in a fast-moving inferno when the doors wouldn't open, adding to scrutiny over whether a design choice by the automaker is a fatal flaw.

The suit was filed on behalf of a couple who died when the four-door sedan hit a tree and caught on fire. Jeffrey Bauer, 54, and Michelle Bauer, 55, survived the initial impact, but were unable to escape because the doors locked them inside, according to the complaint brought by their children in state court.

A nearby homeowner who called 911 said she could hear people screaming from within the vehicle, according to the lawsuit. A report by the local sheriff's office said a cluster of bodies in the front seat suggested there may have been a struggle to escape.

“Tesla's design choices created a highly foreseeable risk: that occupants who survived a crash would remain trapped inside a burning vehicle,” lawyers for the children said in the complaint.

The lawsuit accuses Tesla of negligence, arguing that Elon Musk's electric vehicle maker was aware of the dangers of its door handle designs and the risk of post-collision fire hazards from the EV's lithium-ion battery pack but did nothing to address either issue.

Tesla didn't immediately return a request for comment. The suit was filed on Friday in state court in Wisconsin.

Tesla's door handles have drawn increased attention after a Bloomberg News investigation uncovered a series of incidents in which people were seriously injured or died after they were unable to open doors following a loss of power, particularly after crashes. The Wisconsin crash was one of several such incidents reviewed as part of the investigation. The company is being sued over the deaths of three college students who allegedly were trapped inside a burning Tesla that crashed last November in a San Francisco suburb.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US auto safety regulator, disclosed in September that it's investigating whether some Tesla doors are defective, citing incidents in which exterior handles stopped working and trapped children and other occupants inside. Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's design chief, told Bloomberg that the company is working on a redesign of its door handles to make them more intuitive for occupants “in a panic situation.”

In the Wisconsin crash, the Dane County Sheriff's Office determined that road conditions, excess speed, and impaired driving were factors that contributed to the cause of the crash.

Lawyers for the Bauer family members argue that vehicle manufacturers have a responsibility to provide adequate “crashworthiness protection,” ensuring that their vehicles provide reasonable safeguards against injury both during and after a collision.

“Regardless of the cause of a crash, the manufacturer's obligation includes designing vehicles that permit timely escape and rescue in the event of fire,” they said in the lawsuit, arguing that Tesla “disregarded these principles, instead manufacturing vehicles prone to fires that ignite and spread rapidly upon impact — and from which escape depends on electronic systems that Tesla knew were liable to fail in precisely the conditions when escape is most critical: collision and fire.”

Tesla vehicles have two batteries: one for low-voltage power to windows, doors, the touchscreen and other functions, and the high-voltage pack that propels the car. If the low-voltage battery dies or is disabled — which can happen after a crash — the doors may not unlock and must be opened manually from the inside. While there are mechanical releases inside Teslas, many owners and passengers are unfamiliar with where they're located.