NHTSA denies Tesla door-defect probe petition — but door safety rulemaking proceeds

This is a follow-up to Tuesday's news that NHTSA was starting a door-safety rulemaking process. On Friday, Reuters detailed exactly what the agency decided — denying the defect-investigation petition while letting the separate rulemaking proceed.

Petitioner Kevin Clouse asked in November for a defect investigation into the 2022 Model 3, arguing its mechanical emergency door release is hard to see and find, violating Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 206. But NHTSA said that as of March 13, only one consumer complaint had raised the issue among the 179,031 subject vehicles — too thin a record to justify opening an investigation.

Separately, though, NHTSA granted a rulemaking petition filed November 4 calling for a new federal standard requiring a 'robust and obvious' emergency-exit system in all vehicles, confirming it will begin the formal rulemaking process reported last week. Current FMVSS 206 doesn't specifically regulate the labeling or placement of mechanical door releases.

Net effect for Tesla: it dodged an individual defect probe in the near term, but the broader, industry-wide push for new door design and labeling standards continues. A final rule (NPRM) is still some way off, but Tesla's hidden power handles remain at the center of the debate.

Separately, Teslarati reported on Friday that Tesla is already redesigning the handles itself — a single latch that triggers the electronic release with a light pull, and doubles as the mechanical manual release when pulled harder. The fix is expected to roll out across other models too, meaning an actual design change is already underway independent of the rulemaking process.