In a tragic accident on October 24 in Toronto, four friends from Gujarat, India, lost their lives when their Tesla Model Y crashed into a guardrail and burst into flames.
The victims have been identified as Ketaba Gohil, 29, her brother Neelraj, 25, Jay Sisodiya, and Digvijay Patel. The sole survivor, a woman in her 20s, escaped thanks to Canada Post employee Rick Harper, who smashed a window with a metal pole, allowing her to scramble out head-first.
Harper, who recounted the harrowing rescue to the Toronto Star, explained that the car’s electronic doors had failed.
“You couldn’t open the doors,” he said, suggesting that the young woman inside had likely tried to escape herself. “I don’t know if that was the battery or what, but she couldn’t get out,” he added.
Only after breaking the window did Harper realise that thick smoke had obscured the presence of other passengers trapped inside.
The crash has intensified scrutiny of Tesla’s electronic door systems, which rely on a button rather than traditional handles.
Captain Randy Schmitz from the Calgary Fire Department noted that, in a crash, power loss can render these doors inoperable. Although Teslas are equipped with manual override features, experts argue that they are not widely known or easy to locate in a high-stress situation.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has highlighted nine ongoing investigations into various safety issues involving the Tesla Model Y, including reports of “unexpected brake activation” and “sudden unintended acceleration.”
Tesla, which markets its vehicles as some of the safest globally, maintains that their battery systems minimise injury risk and contain fire hazards through sophisticated isolation systems.
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