Friends trapped in Tesla burned to death when electronic doors failed to open after crash

Four friends trapped in a Tesla died in a horror fire after a crash "disabled its electronic doors". The only survivor of the blaze, which happened on October 24, was a woman in her 20s who was able to get to safety after a passer-by smashed a window of the burning Model Y car.

As reported by the Mirror, four other friends - identified as Neelraj Gohil, 25, his sister Ketaba Gohil, 29, Jay Sisodiya and Digvijay Patel - all lost their lives in the incident. Rick Harper heroically used a metal pole to smash the car window, freeing the woman.

In an interview with the Toronto Star, the Canada Post employee told reporters she “couldn’t open the doors” from inside of the crashed Tesla.

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Harper said: “I would assume the young lady would have tried to open the door from the inside, because she was pretty desperate to get out. I don't know if that was the battery or what. But she couldn't get out.”

He described how the woman scrambled out of the car head-first after he smashed the window. Harper said he did not know anyone else was in the car at the time because the smoke was so thick.

He said he had no way to know if they too were trying to escape the burning car using the unresponsive doors in their final moments. The incident happened after the Tesla hit a guardrail at speed on Toronto’s Lakeshore Boulevard East and investigators are still working to determine the cause of the crash.

In the US there are nine investigations involving the Tesla Model Y, ranging from “unexpected brake activation” to “sudden unintended acceleration,” according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Tesla boasts its vehicles gave a “safety-first design” and says its vehicles are “the safest in the world”. Experts say there is a manual override in Tesla cars but the feature is not widely publicised.

In the event of a crash passengers are directed to pull away a panel in the door and tug at a cable underneath to open the doors, but safety watchdogs have said dazed or panicked crash victims may not be able to search for the feature after an accident.

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