Tesla is under scrutiny in China and the US for its electric door handles, with an NHTSA investigation launched earlier this week. The investigation was prompted after owners reported being unable to open the doors with no electrical power. Tesla's design boss, Franz von Holzhausen, confirmed to Bloomberg that the carmaker is redesigning the door handles to integrate a manual door-release.

 

Tesla pioneered motorized (electrically actuated) door handles because Elon Musk thought it was a cool feature for a vehicle that "looked like the future." Besides their unique door handles, Tesla EVs have an electronically-controlled door release to trigger a series of actions in a coordinated fashion.