Imagine escaping a car crash only to be caged by the very vehicle meant to protect you. That’s the harrowing claim at the heart of a lawsuit against Tesla, filed in Wisconsin state court by the children of Jeffrey and Michelle Bauer, who perished in a fiery crash last November.
Breitbart reported that in a tragic incident, a Tesla Model S veered off course, slammed into a tree, and erupted in flames, claiming the lives of all five passengers, including Jeffrey, 54, and Michelle, 55, while leaving their loved ones to seek justice through legal action.
The crash itself was devastating, but the lawsuit alleges something even more chilling: the Bauers and others survived the initial impact only to be trapped inside by Tesla’s electronic door handles.
A nearby homeowner dialed 911, reporting screams echoing from the burning wreck, a haunting detail that underscores the terror of those final moments.
The local sheriff’s office later discovered a cluster of bodies in the front seat, hinting at a desperate, failed struggle to escape the inferno.
The plaintiffs argue that Tesla’s design created a predictable danger, locking occupants inside a vehicle prone to rapid-spreading fires after a collision—hardly the futuristic safety one expects from a tech giant.
While Tesla doors do have a manual release, the lawsuit points out that many owners and passengers are clueless about its location, especially in a panic-stricken crisis.
The Bauers’ legal team insists that automakers like Tesla bear a duty to ensure vehicles allow swift escape during emergencies, not trap people in a deathly puzzle.
“Tesla knows that it’s happened and that it’s going to happen, and they are doing nothing but selling the car with a system that entraps people and doesn’t provide a way of extraction,” said Roger Dreyer, an attorney in a related case, in a sharp critique of corporate priorities over consumer safety.
Let’s not pretend this is a one-off grievance—Tesla faces a barrage of lawsuits over its door designs and alleged defects, painting a troubling pattern of negligence.
In a separate case, Breitbart News highlighted a lawsuit tied to a Cybertruck crash that killed three teens, with claims that a failing 12-volt battery disabled the electronic doors, and a hidden manual release offered no help.
Another lawsuit details the death of Michael Sheehan, 47, near Houston, who was allegedly trapped in a 5,000-degree Cybertruck blaze after a survivable crash, with the suit blaming poor ergonomics and crashworthiness.
Adding fuel to the fire, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration launched an investigation in September into whether Tesla’s doors are defective, following reports of exterior handles failing and trapping children inside.
“The company is working on a redesign of its door handles to make them easier to use in a panic situation,” admitted Tesla’s design chief, Franz von Holzhausen, to Bloomberg—a rare concession, though one wonders if it’s too little, too late for families already shattered.
While innovation drives progress, these lawsuits raise a fair question: Shouldn’t safety trump sleek design in a vehicle meant to carry precious lives?
Tesla’s defenders might argue it’s pushing boundaries, but when those boundaries trap people in burning cars, it’s hard to cheer for unchecked tech ambition over old-fashioned responsibility.