I always found what we regulate and don't regulate when it comes to motor vehicles interesting...

Demanding Tesla's need door handle regulation because of safety concerns lacks perspective given how relatively safe Teslas are, and that current regulation allows people to buy vehicles which go 60MPH+ on just two wheels, no airbags, and no doors at all.

It would be cool if Tesla can come up with something a bit safer if there are problems with their door handles, but ultimately I think the only regulation required would be transparency of safety data. If Tesla's are really dangerous people should know that and decide if they want to buy one anyway. Although two-wheeled motor vehicles are death traps, I don't think we should introduce regulation requiring all motor vehicles have four wheels. If people want to buy a vehicle with two-wheels, that's up to them.

I disagree that something as insignificant as a car door handle needs to be regulated to save at best a handful of lives a year – lives which probably could have been saved more effectively with other safety changes (perhaps many of which Teslas already have). Ultimately if you're in a car where your life depends on the design of a door handle, that's a problem already, and not one door handle regulation will necessarily be best suited to address.

Just let manufacturers innovate... If a car is extremely unsafe so long as consumers know that then manufacturers will have a strong incentive to improve safety in innovative ways.

> current regulation allows people to buy vehicles which go 60MPH+ on just two wheels, no airbags, and no doors at all

Are you talking about motorcycles?? Yeah nobody thinks motorcycles are safe. But the issues with them are inherent to the form, not created by the design.

To be clear, i also think motorcycles should be regulated better. The tiny signal lights on a honda cbr are obviously a creation of valuing design over safety.

> Just let manufacturers innovate...

We did. They innovated door handles that depend on the car electronics functioning, headlights that blind other drivers, and monthly subscriptions to unlock heated seats.

Bloomberg found over 140 people who had suffered injuries in Tesla crashes due to Tesla using a non-standard mechanism for opening the doors.

To put things in comparison, there were fewer injuries associated with the infamous Ford Pinto and its explosive fuel tank, and that was considered one of the most dangerous cars ever made in the U.S.