Tesla drivers are buying escape tools and new cars to avoid getting trapped inside

Michael Brooks, executive director at the Center for Auto Safety, said he’d like to see NHTSA set new standards for doors, including making it clear where releases are located. Consumers are unlikely to know or consider door design when they’re car shopping, he said. “They’re not thinking, ‘How am I going to escape this vehicle on the off-chance that I’m in a crash or have a battery fire?’” Brooks said. “The way the doors operate and the potential emergency consequences of that is very, very far down the list for most car buyers.”

Erin Geter’s toddler son became trapped inside her Tesla Inc. in May when the electric doors lost power. A few weeks later, she was at a Honda Motor Co. dealership buying a new family car.

“I was very traumatized,” said the 39-year-old from Huntersville, North Carolina. These days, she prefers to transport her kids in the CR-V, which has standard door handles.

Geter’s case is a particularly extreme example of the lengths Tesla owners are now going to deal with a problem most had never imagined: being unable to open malfunctioning doors. Some are buying glass breakers in case they need to escape through the windows. Rideshare drivers are proactively showing passengers where to find Tesla’s built-in manual door releases, which vary substantially by model. Sellers on Amazon.com Inc. and Etsy Inc. are listing emergency pull cords and other third-party accessories to make the releases easier to use, and Reddit boards and YouTube videos have cropped up to provide step-by-step installation instructions. Nearly 35,000 people have signed a Consumer Reports online petition calling on automakers to fix their electronic doors.

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