Four friends are claimed to have died in a burning Tesla after an accident broke the car’s electronic door handles.
A woman in her 20s was the sole survivor of the Oct. 24 fire after Rick Harper, a heroic Canada Post employee, smashed the window of the burning Model Y with a metal pole.
Four of his friends, identified as Neelraj Gohil, 25, his sister Ketaba Gohil, 29, Jay Sisodiya and Digvijay Patel, died in the tragedy.
Harper has since told the Toronto Star that the surviving woman “couldn’t open the doors” from inside the crash.
Teslas have a button that the driver and passenger press to open a door, instead of a handle. But if the power fails after a crash, the doors can get stuck and not open.
A woman who was trapped inside a burning Tesla with four of her friends could not escape the burning car because the electronic door would not open
Four of his friends, identified as Neelraj Gohil (left), 25, his sister Ketaba Gohil, 29 (right), Jay Sisodiya and Digvijay Patel, died in the tragedy.
The smoke was so thick that he didn’t realize there were other people trapped inside. He has no way of knowing if they were also desperately trying to get out of the Tesla.
“My guess is that the young lady would have tried to open the door from the inside, because she was pretty desperate to get out,” Harper said.
‘I don’t know if that was the drums or what. But he couldn’t get out.
Harper said the woman got out of the car head first after he broke the window.
The smoke was so thick that he didn’t realize there were other people trapped inside. He has no way of knowing if they were also desperately trying to get out of the Tesla.
Harper said the woman got out of the car head first after he broke the window.
Digvijay Ausarkar (pictured) died in the tragedy along with three of his friends.
Police said the car crashed into a guardrail at high speed along Lake Shore Boulevard East in Toronto.
Police said the car crashed into a guardrail at high speed along Lake Shore Boulevard East in Toronto.
Investigators have yet to determine the exact cause of the accident.
Tesla boasts of a “safety-first design” that makes them “the safest in the world.”
There is a manual override button on Tesla cars, but experts say the feature doesn’t get much publicity.
Instruct accident victims to remove a door panel and then pull a wire underneath, which will open the doors.
Safety agencies have also highlighted that accident victims may be too frightened or dazed to seek the feature after an accident.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, there are nine investigations involving the Tesla Y Model, which is the same car involved in the tragedy.
These investigations range from “unexpected activation of the brakes” to “sudden and involuntary acceleration.”