Overview

• Police say a Tesla left the roadway while overtaking and struck a tree in Schwerte on September 7, killing a 43-year-old man and two nine-year-old children as another child escaped and was hospitalized.
• A nearby shop owner and arriving firefighters reported being unable to open the vehicle’s retractable exterior handles while trying to reach the occupants.
• North Rhine-Westphalia’s specialized police unit is conducting a technical reconstruction to determine the crash sequence and assess factors that hindered rescue.
• The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened a preliminary investigation covering roughly 174,000 2021 Model Y vehicles over reports that doors could not be opened from outside after power loss.
• Tesla’s design chief told Bloomberg the company is working on a door‑handle redesign, following earlier warnings from Germany’s ADAC about power-dependent retractable handles complicating rescues.