Tesla's Electric Car Giant Again Hit By Serious Issues, This Time Regarding His Best-selling Car

JAKARTA - The Tesla Model Y is the best-selling Tesla model overall. Based on sales data in the past few years and the latest shipments until September 2025, Model Y dominates Tesla's sales in various global markets, including the US, Europe, and China.

Now, the United States National Highway Traffic Safety Agency (NHTSA) has just announced an investigation into about 174,000 Tesla Model Y units. The cause? Complaints from owners who reported their car's exterior door handle suddenly malfunctioned.

Reporting from Reuters, Wednesday, September 17, this investigation stems from nine complaints received by NHTSA. Some of them are very worrying. Parents reported the difficulty of opening the door from the outside after getting out of the car to put their child in the back seat. In four cases, the situation was so precarious that parents were forced to break the glass window to get access back into the vehicle.

NHTSA noted that although Tesla has a manual door opening lever in the cabin, children may not be able to reach it or operate it without help. This poses a significant safety risk, especially in a state of emergency.

According to the preliminary analysis of NHTSA, this problem is thought to be related to inadequate voltages supplied to electronic door locks from low-voltage batteries. Repair reports from owners often mention the replacement of these batteries after the incident occurred, although none of them received previous low voltage warnings.

This investigation is the first step from NHTSA. If it is proven that the matter poses an unnatural safety risk, this could lead to a mass recall. Until this news was published, Tesla had not made any official comments.

This incident adds to the long list of Tesla features under the strict supervision of NHTSA. Previously, this agency had also investigated Full Self-Driving (FSD) software and the System Smart Actualy feature.