Certain older Tesla Model Y and Model 3 cars lack any manual rear door release at all, according to Consumer Reports, which means a passenger in the back seat of those cars may have no mechanical way out if the vehicle loses power. The warning comes in the organization’s guide to escaping a car when the electronic door release fails. Newer versions of both models do include a hidden mechanical release, but it sits in places most riders would never think to look.
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Where Tesla hides the rear release and where it is missing
On Model 3 sedans from the 2024 model year onward, the rear release sits under a slot in the rear door pocket: a cover pops off and a mechanical cable is pulled forward. On newer Model Y vehicles, the mat at the bottom of the rear door pocket comes out, a red tab frees an access door, and a mechanical cable is revealed behind it. Neither location is marked on the door, and both require removing a piece of trim or a mat before the cable can be reached in the dark or in smoke.
Those details come from the Consumer Reports guide by senior autos reporter Keith Barry, which also states that some older Model Y and Model 3 cars lack a manual rear release entirely. Tesla’s own documentation shows how power-dependent the system is. A page of the Model 3 owner’s manual for the 2024 model advises connecting an external low-voltage power supply before opening a door when the car has no power, to avoid breaking a window, and points to a separate topic called Opening Doors with No Power.
Bloomberg’s count of trapped occupants and a federal probe
Bloomberg found 140 reports of occupants trapped in Tesla vehicles with electronic door handles, some causing severe injuries, and tied at least 15 deaths to crashes in which a Tesla’s electronic doors would not open. Consumer Reports cites both figures from the Bloomberg investigation. William Wallace, Consumer Reports’ director of safety advocacy, put the standard simply: “Anyone trapped in a car that has lost power should be able to readily find and use a manual door release.”
Separately, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation opened preliminary evaluation PE25010 on Sept. 15, 2025, covering an estimated 174,290 Model Y vehicles from the 2021 model year. The office had received nine owner questionnaires reporting doors that could not be opened, most often parents unable to reopen a door after taking a child out of the back seat, and four owners broke a window to get back in. The reports involved no crashes, injuries or fatalities. The alleged defect is that electronic handles stop working when the 12-volt battery supplies insufficient power, and the agency focused on exterior operability because interior manual releases exist but may be unreachable for a child.
That probe concerns access from outside, which differs from a rear passenger with no interior release, but both problems come down to doors that depend on electrical power.
How other automakers hide their releases
The Consumer Reports guide catalogs manual releases across brands, and the locations vary widely. BMW puts the release below the unlock button near the storage pocket. Genesis G90 owners pull an emergency lever under the door pocket twice, and Volvo EX90 owners pull a release lever all the way up, twice. Lexus’s Digital Latch system calls for pulling the door lever toward the occupant twice instead of pushing once, and a Lexus spokesperson told the magazine that all four doors have a manual override. On the Chevrolet Corvette and Cadillac XLR, a lever on the floor between the doors and sills pulls up. Rivian’s 2025 and newer models have a manual handle behind the electronic button, while the rear doors require removing a panel to the left of the handle and pulling a release cord.
The list continues across the market. On some Audi models the handle must be pulled forcefully, beyond its noticeable resistance, and twice. The Fiat 500e has a manual handle in each door pocket in front of the speaker, and the Ford Mustang Mach-E calls for pulling the armrest door handle further back. The Lincoln Continental has an emergency lever at the front of the storage pocket at the bottom of the door, Lucid asks occupants to pull the interior handle further and warns it may take effort, and Maserati tucks an emergency handle inside the front door pocket below the door handle. No two layouts match, so a driver who knows one brand’s release learns nothing about the next.
Redesigns, proposed rules and a petition
Tesla and Rivian told Bloomberg they may redesign their emergency release mechanisms. Chinese regulators are considering new door handle standards, and a proposed Safe Exit Act would require manual fail-safes on cars with electronic doors. Consumer Reports’ own petition on door handle safety has passed 35,000 signatures.
Jake Fisher, Consumer Reports’ senior director of auto testing, framed the practical advice for current owners: “An actual emergency is not the time to figure it out.” Owners of older Model Y and Model 3 cars are left with a more basic question that the guide does not answer, which is whether the rear doors of their particular car have any manual release to find.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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