2022 Tesla Model Y: doors won't lock, open or latch

Filed Oct 19, 2026 · Body · CA

On October 18, 2026, at approximately 3:15, I was opening the driver’s door of my 2022 Tesla Model Y, using the exterior door handle in the normal way. My left thumbnail became trapped inside the handle mechanism as it operated. The handle tore the entire thumbnail off at the nail bed, and the nail remained lodged in the handle. I had to pull the detached nail out of the handle myself. I lost consciousness briefly from the pain and blood loss. I went to the emergency room at Kaiser Permanente, where the nail bed was cleaned and the detached nail was reinserted and splinted. No stitches were required. The nail will take approximately 6-8 months to regrow. The vehicle was parked and undamaged. The handle did not malfunction in an obvious way; the injury occurred during ordinary operation. I believe the design of the recessed handle allows a fingernail to be caught between the moving handle and the door, and I am reporting this as a safety concern.

Filed Aug 30, 2026 · Body · WA

Child entered our vehicle and was UNABLE to exit/open his door (driver's side passenger door) from inside. The child locks were not enabled. The door would also NOT open from the outside. When entering service mode, a VCLEFT_a187latchReleaseFailedR error was present. I looked up on Tesla service how to manual release the door. It states to use a fingernail or flat tool to open the plastic flap in the pocket of the door handle. I was unable to open with a my fingernail and using a small screwdriver took me multiple attempts. It then took me multiple attempts (~5) of pulling the release cable for the latch to unlock. I believe I finally got it to unlock while holding the electronic latch while pulling --this is not mentioned in the service manual (unsure if this step is missing or it just was extremely stuck/luck that it finally unlatched when I did this). Once the latch was released, this error and all history of it was not even logged in the service alerts section. Made a service appointment, however, first available is not for >20 days. I also have a video of us trying to open the door multiple times but I can not upload it here.

Filed Mar 24, 2026 · Body · VA

Tesla Model Y Performance with 47,000 miles. Driver's side, rear passanger door would not open. No accident or damage to the car or car door. Door could not be opened from the inside nor the outside with the handle. ISSUE: The Emergency Door release in the pocket of the door failed to release and open the door.

Filed Oct 17, 2025 · Body, Electrical · 42,678 miles · IL

On July 22, 2025, at about 6:30 PM in a western suburb of Illinois, on a hot, humid, sunny evening after my car had sat in direct sun all day, my 2022 Tesla Model Y Long Range (Dual Motor AWD) suffered a total electrical failure. As I walked up, the car unlocked automatically with my phone key as usual. I placed my dog in the back seat, closed that door, and immediately tried to open the driver’s/front door—but it would not open. The phone key failed, and the backup key card at the B-pillar also failed to unlock the car. I then tried resetting and reconnecting my phone key through the Tesla app, but nothing worked. There were no 12-V or low-voltage warnings on the display or app. I could not find a phone number or live help in the Tesla app; my son and I searched YouTube for guidance but could not fix it. My dog was trapped inside in dangerous heat, so I called 911. Police first tried a slim-jim tool without success and then broke the driver’s window to reach in and open the front door, but the rear doors and windows remained inoperative. The dog was in the car for 30 to 45 minutes before the window was broken. Once inside, I found that the front seats would not move forward or backward, none of the windows would not roll down, and the rear doors would not open from inside. It took another 30 to clear enough glass to evacuate my 75-lb dog through the front seats; we both sustained cuts, and I sprained my ankle. The event was traumatic and posed a serious heat-injury risk (~85 °F ambient, interior >110 °F within minutes). Police documented the incident. Tesla Service Center (Naperville IL) later confirmed a 12-V failure as the cause, replaced the 12-V battery with an upgraded model under warranty, and repaired the driver’s window and door trim. Tesla Insurance was notified the next morning but closed the claim and covered repairs under warranty. No warnings appeared until the following morning, when a low-voltage alert appeared in my Tesla app when being serviced.

Filed Sep 16, 2025 · Body, Electrical · SC

I saw that the US the federal safety agency is investigating the Tesla Model Y (2021 and over) due to the electronic door handles becoming inoperative. I am happy and relieved to see this is being looked into since this recently happened to my vehicle a couple of months ago. The rear passenger side door unlocked initially for me to put by [XXX] old into the car seat but when I went to open the driver's side door, the handles would not open. I tried all other door handles and all were locked. Luckily, I had not shut the door next to my child's car seat yet, otherwise it would've locked my child inside the vehicle. I opened a ticket with Tesla and they sent a technician out. He said the low voltage battery needed to be replaced and when this happens all electric door handles will be unresponsive and locked. However, the vehicle never showed any warning or notification leading up to this. He said when the 12V battery fails, the only way to unlock the unresponsive doors is to use the manual release inside the car or jump the 12V battery under the frunk (assuming you have the right jumping cables outside of the car). The Tesla technician said it is a flaw in the Model Y design and he said I would've had to break a window to get my child out if they are not old enough to locate and release the manual door release inside the vehicle. This poses a huge safety risk to parents with young children. I really hope Tesla implements another emergency way to release the doors from outside the vehicle to avoid young children from being locked inside. INFORMATION REDACTED PURSUANT TO THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552(B)(6)

Filed Jun 7, 2025 · Electrical · FL

The low voltage battery went out after rear right door was opened to put children in car seats. Drove 45 minutes to a train museum with the kids. Everything was working fine on the way down. Once done with the museum and back at the car, opened right rear door to put my younger child in the car seat. My older child decided to enter the car through same door as she didn't want to wait for me to finish to take her to the other side. Once my younger child was buckled up, I closed the door to come over to the other side the buckle in my older child into car seat. The door would not open. The phone application would not get the car to unlock the doors. I could not open any of the doors. Children were trapped inside. My oldest child was not yet buckled and I was able to instruct her to crawl to the front and try opening both doors with the electronic button, which did not work. I then instructed her to use the mechanical door latch vs the electronic and she got the door open. Had it not been for the fact that she was still unbuckled she would not have been able to get to the front to open the doors. I would have needed to call 911 for help getting the kids out as the car was unresponsive.

Filed May 25, 2024 · Body, Electrical · SC · crash · 1 injury

I just got T-Boned in my 2022 Model Y performance. I got out of the vehicle which wasn't in terrible condition, in fact the left side of the vehicle was still perfect and the doors worked fine. I had my dog with me and everyone was okay, but I opened my door and the back passenger door to grab a jacket and check on my dog. I shut the doors to make sure he didn't run out and was a bit out of it because of the accident impact so I took a moment to compose myself.. All of the car's lights flickered and then the electric cut off leaving the doors completely locked and inoperable even though they had just been used moments before and were not damaged in the accident. I had to climb in through a shattered glass window to get my dog as all the doors wouldn't open from the outside and I was unable to access the glove box, nor pry it open because the electricity was out and the impact caused that door to make the side panel to unlock the glove box manually accessible. If the car DID catch fire or an occupant were bleeding out: Anyone inside, unconscious, would be unable to use the manually release and would be burned alive while people pull on doors that won't open that were undamaged in the accident and working 60 seconds before. From what I have read the only solution would be to jump the car using the 12V battery in the Frunk of which the Tow company and Emergency Responders were not familiar with.

Filed Jun 8, 2023 · IL

No manual door latch present on rear passenger doors. In event of emergency not able to open the rear doors manually. Manual safety cord located under sealed compartment, inaccessible without small screwdriver or special tool.