Tesla exec says the company will redesign door handles that reportedly pose safety risks

Tesla, the electric vehicle manufacturer, is planning to redesign the door handles of its cars after the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened an investigation into the company. The investigation was prompted by a report by Bloomberg that the electric door handles could stop working when a vehicle's low-voltage battery fails, posing a safety risk by potentially trapping passengers in an emergency situation, such as a crash. Tesla's design head, Franz von Holzhausen, stated that the company is considering a new approach that combines the electric and manual release mechanisms into a single button, which he believes "makes a lot of sense." The timing of the federal probe appears to be relevant to Tesla's decision to work on a redesign, although the company did not explicitly state this. This is not the first time Tesla has been in the NHTSA's sights this year. Last month, the regulator opened an investigation into how Tesla was reporting crashes with its Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems, despite the company claiming the inconsistencies in reports were due to a system error that it has since fixed.