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Tesla is looking to redesign its door handles following trapped-passenger report

Tesla is looking into redesigning its cars after several accidents where passengers were reportedly trapped in burning vehicles because rescuers could not open the car doors.

An investigation by Bloomberg found 140 incidents of people being trapped in their Teslas due to problems with the door handles, including several that resulted in horrific injuries. Tesla design chief Franz von Holzhausen said in a podcast Wednesday that the company is looking to combine the manual and electronic release mechanisms in the doors, which are now separate, in order to make escaping the car easier and quicker in a “panic situation.” The Bloomberg investigation found numerous instances of passengers who were killed or severely burned by post-crash fires when rescuers on the scene were unable to open the doors.

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