How To Manually Open An Electronic Car Door Handle In An Emergency

As automakers continue to add electronic features to vehicles, it seems as if the physical controls have all been forgotten, including the car door. More and more manufacturers are moving toward electronic buttons for opening car doors, although this can potentially cause an extremely dangerous situation. In the event of an accident, it's possible for the power to be cut off from the rest of the vehicle, which could cause the electronic door handle to stop working.

While this can be a scary situation to deal with, there are still emergency handles in vehicles that allow drivers and passengers to open the doors even without power. Every vehicle should have information in the owner's manual that will show you where the emergency door handle is.

Every vehicle with electronic door handles should have a small area on the outside of the door handle that will allow a key to unlock the door. Granted, with most vehicles having fobs instead of physical keys, that can be an issue. However, in an emergency situation, having someone outside the car who is unable to open the door can turn a bad situation into a tragedy. There should also be a lever inside the door that will help open the car door when there is no power.

Each vehicle has its emergency door handles in a different location. In the Lexus NX, the electronic door button requires a slight push in order to unlock and open the door. If there has been a crash and the vehicle's electronics aren't working, all a driver needs to do is pull on the lever instead of pushing down, and this should unlock the vehicle.

Tesla has a similar feature in the Model 3, although it is only on the front doors and not the rear doors. Since every function of an electric vehicle is controlled by the vehicle's battery, when that battery dies, it means the rest of the vehicle will not work. In this type of situation, the forward-facing area of the vehicle's window controls is actually where the emergency door handle is located. Just place your fingers underneath the front of the window controls, pull up, and your door should open.

This issue becomes even more dangerous when the vehicle features seamless, flush door handles that need to be pressed into the vehicle. In the event of a crash or if the battery of the vehicle has died, the flush door handle cannot be used to open the car door. However, brands like BMW hide a keyhole in a flap on the flush door handle that can be used to unlock and open the car door in an emergency situation.

Unfortunately, there have been a number of tragic situations that have occurred in no small part due to the failure of electronic door handles. One of the more recent occurrences was in October of 2024, when a Tesla crashed and witnesses were unable to open the vehicle's doors. Of the five passengers, only one was able to be saved after a good Samaritan broke a window and pulled them out.

A Tesla was involved in another incident in 2019, when a doctor crashed his Model S into a tree. Again, bystanders were unable to open the doors of the Tesla due to the vehicle not having any power. The driver passed away due to smoke inhalation while trying to escape from the crash.

This is far from just a Tesla problem, though. Volkswagen had to recall all of its ID.4 EVs as the handles on the doors would randomly open if the sensor got wet. The owner of a Rivian R1S was trapped inside her SUV for more than 45 minutes due to an electrical short.

The best way to avoid these situations is to know how to open your vehicle's doors if the vehicle loses power in the event of a crash. Read your owner's manual and make sure any passengers who regularly ride with you know the deal as well.