Trapped in a burning EV: Could new safety rules prevent future deaths?

Federal regulators are investigating reports of nearly one dozen people getting trapped inside of electric vehicles after they lost power.

Some of those people, according to lawsuits, burned to death as a result.

NBC 5 Responds has looked into how one bill on the table could change safety features in all electric vehicles.

 Home for Thanksgiving break 2024 and reunited with high school friends, Krysta Tsukahara, 19, was a passenger in a Tesla when it crashed and caught fire.

Krysta survived the impact but according to her family’s attorney she couldn’t get out and passed away in the back seat. According to attorney Roger Dryer, the Tesla’s doors wouldn’t open. 

“It ends up making that car a crematorium because they can’t get out. She was trapped in the vehicle and burned to death,” said Dryer.

Two of her friends, including the driver, were also killed.

“About as most horrifying circumstances you can imagine,” said Dryer.

Now Dryer represents Krysta’s family  in a wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla. Dryer told NBC 5 Responds Krysta and her friends could have escaped the burning car if emergency door releases were easier to find and operate.

“The only way you would learn this is if you specifically said, ‘I wonder how I get out of a door if I cannot open it’. And that’s not something–  no one’s gonna pull out their iPhone and say, ‘let me Google that while I’m catching on fire’. So they have to be intuitive,” said Dryer.

Court records show Tesla has denied “each and every allegation… and specifically denies that it caused or contributed to any alleged damages.” 

Telsa faces multiple wrongful death and class action lawsuits alleging passengers were not able to escape the vehicle after a loss of power.

  At least four of these cases are ongoing. The parties reached an out-of-court settlement in another case.

The door design has also caught the attention of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration-which opened an investigation of the 2021 Tesla Model Y vehicles last fall after receiving almost a dozen reports of exterior door handles failing.

A separate petition to the NHTSA calls for a review of 2022 tesla model 3s, citing hidden, unlabeled, and non-intuitive emergency door releases.

Neither of the NHTSA filings examine the model Tesla Krysta Tsukahara was riding in at the time of her death.

 “There needs to be a manual way to out of the vehicle or for first responders to get in,” said Rep. Robin Kelly.

Kelly, who represents Illinois District 2, recently introduced a bill called the “Safe Exit Act of 2026.”

The bill would “require each new motor vehicle to be equipped with a manual door release allowing timely exit regardless of failure of any electrical system, and for other purposes” and an “easy-to-find manual release for each door.”

Kelly wants emergency responders to have easy access to a vehicle when electrical power is lost. If passed, the rules would apply to all electric vehicle manufacturers.

 “You don’t want to see people die because they’re driving a car that you designed that didn’t have, you know, the necessary equipment to get people out alive,” said Kelly.

“People who have Teslas generally need to understand that if they have a crash, single car crash or multi-vehicle crash….the nature of the fire is a fast fire and you need to be able to get out of the vehicle,” said Dryer.

NBC 5 Responds asked Tesla for an interview, but they haven’t responded to our request.

The Safe Exit Act has advanced to the House Committee for Energy and Commerce.

The Tsukahara family’s lawsuit is still working it’s way though the court.

And starting next year, China is mandating a mechanical release function for all electric vehicle door handles.