John Urban filed a class-action lawsuit in Florida on January 10, 2026, accusing Tesla of defective electronically actuated door handles on 2014-2016 Model S vehicles that routinely fail after several years, creating access issues and safety risks. Three of four handles on his 2015 Model S Ludicrous stopped working by 2022, forcing inconvenient workarounds amid broader scrutiny of Tesla's door systems.
A class-action lawsuit filed on January 10, 2026, by Maitland, Florida resident John Urban targets Tesla over the electronically actuated pop-out door handles on 2014-2016 Model S sedans. The complaint alleges these 'futuristic' features—a hallmark of the premium vehicle's design—'routinely fail' after years of normal use, preventing easy entry and posing hazards in emergencies, such as when manual releases are hard to access.
Urban's 2015 Model S Ludicrous exemplifies the issue: by 2022, three of four handles, including the driver's, had malfunctioned, requiring him to climb over from the passenger side. The suit claims this stems from a design defect, with Tesla having 'known or should have known' given a post-2016 redesign that reduced failures in newer models.
Tesla has not publicly responded. This adds to prior legal challenges, including suits over software updates reducing range/charging, direct sales models, and handle failures in crashes—like an October 2025 Cybertruck fatality in California and a November 2025 2016 Model S wreck in Wisconsin. The NHTSA is probing similar issues in Model Y vehicles where children have been trapped.
Regulatory pressure mounts: On January 6, U.S. Rep. Robin Kelly introduced the Securing Accessible Functional Emergency Exit Act, mandating easily accessible manual releases on EV doors. Tesla's chief designer Franz von Holzhausen noted in a September 2025 Bloomberg interview ongoing handle redesigns for clearer manual controls. Tesla's website states doors auto-unlock in emergencies (with build-date caveats), though critics say releases remain obscure.
The case highlights tensions between innovative EV features and reliability, even as they cut emissions with renewables. One reader summed it up: 'When a simple design/operation becomes a complicated one=Fail.'
