NHTSA Complaint #11717070 — 2023 TESLA MODEL 3

STRUCTURE:BODY issue reported to NHTSA

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Complaint Details

ODI Number	11717070
Vehicle	2023 TESLA MODEL 3
Component	STRUCTURE:BODY
Date of Incident	February 10, 2026
Date Filed	February 10, 2026
Mileage	N/A miles
Crash	No
Fire	No
Injuries	0
Deaths	0
Vehicle Towed	No
State	CA

Consumer Description

Tesla has completely removed the rear door manual release latch in my late 2023 Model 3 Performance. This elevates the concern of the ongoing NHTSA Defect Petition DP25002 (opened December 2025), which investigates similar issues with emergency egress controls on Model 3 vehicles, citing them as "hidden, unlabeled, and not intuitive." Again, in my late 2023 Model 3 Performance, these are entirely absent in the design. For some reason, Tesla has doubled down on the defect issue and completely removed the manual door release mechanism.

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