In the US, the families of two students who died in an accident involving a Tesla Cybertruck electric pickup truck have filed lawsuits against Tesla, accusing it of creating a dangerous door design that trapped the victims inside the Cybertruck , Bloomberg reports.
The lawsuits relate to an incident that occurred on November 27, 2024, in Piedmont, California. According to a report from the California Highway Patrol, the vehicle was traveling at high speed on a residential street, struck a tree and caught fire. The electronic door unlocking system failed, preventing passengers from exiting the vehicle.
The accident killed three people – a 19-year-old driver and two passengers, ages 19 and 20. The fourth passenger was rescued by being pulled out through a broken window.
The families of the students who died allege that the Cybertruck's door design made it impossible to escape during the crash. The New York Times reports that a lawyer for one family said the doors failed because the crash knocked out the vehicle's power. A lawyer for another family said one of the students survived with minor injuries but died in the vehicle from smoke inhalation and burns because he was unable to get out.
The Cybertruck has no exterior door handles, using electronic buttons near the windows instead. There are manual opening mechanisms inside the car, but they are difficult to find. To open the rear doors, passengers have to lift the mat in the door pocket, find a cable under it, and pull it, which makes evacuation even more difficult.
Additionally, the Cybertruck's body is made of steel panels and the windows are made of reinforced glass, which the families say made rescue efforts difficult. Tesla has not yet commented on the lawsuit.
The lawsuits come amid an ongoing investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) into door handle issues in other Tesla models. In September 2025, the NHTSA began inspecting 175,000 2021 Model Y vehicles over complaints that the doors would not open, particularly when children were left inside. According to Bloomberg, there have been more than 140 complaints about Tesla door issues since 2018.