Lawsuit: Tesla Door Handles Trapped 5 People that Died in Fiery EV Crash
The children of Jeffrey and Michelle Bauer have filed a lawsuit against Tesla, accusing Elon Musk’s EV giant of negligence in a fatal car crash that claimed the lives of their parents and three others. The lawsuit claims that multiple people survived the crash, only to be trapped in the burning Tesla by the company’s electronic door handles, which have led to other lawsuits making the same claim.
The New York Post reports that in a tragic incident that occurred in November last year, a Tesla Model S slammed into a tree and burst into flames, resulting in the deaths of all five passengers. Now, the children of two of the victims, Jeffrey Bauer, 54, and Michelle Bauer, 55, have filed a lawsuit against Tesla in Wisconsin state court, alleging that the car’s door design prevented their parents from escaping the burning vehicle.
According to the complaint, the Bauers survived the initial impact but were unable to escape the fire because the doors locked them inside. A nearby homeowner who called 911 reported hearing screams coming from inside the vehicle, while the local sheriff’s office found a cluster of bodies in the front seat, suggesting they may have been struggling to get out.
The lawsuit argues that Tesla’s design choices created a highly foreseeable risk, where occupants who survived a crash could remain trapped inside a burning vehicle. Although the doors can be manually opened from the inside, many owners and passengers are unaware of the location of the manual door release, especially in a crisis situation. (Read more from “Lawsuit: Tesla Door Handles Trapped 5 People that Died in Fiery EV Crash” HERE)
