The pop-out door handle ban starts in 2027 for new cars, 2029 for existing models.
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China bans all retractable car door handles, starting next year
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"No way for first responders to open the door from outside" is an extreme fatal flaw.
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This is what good looks like. Prioritize safety and functionality over appearance. Good for them.
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It's embarrassing that it ever came to this. The flush-handle episode should be taught in every engineering curriculum alongside Challenger, the DC-10, and the KC Hyatt Regency.
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It's pretty stunning that China appears to be taking over as the leader of the 21st century and the US is running as fast as possible in the opposite direction.
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It's more like the 737 MAX disaster: US government consumer protections being bought and paid for by an industry that wants to avoid regulation.
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Well, it looks cool and is much less expensive than making something that looks cool and fails safe.
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Saddening that safety regulations are often written in blood, that the foresight wasn't there to begin with, that someone with enough clout wasn't in the room to stand up and say "What about safety? We're not designing a supersonic aircraft. This is a terrible idea".
Glad that a step in the right direction is being made here.
Edit: Ninja'd by Got Nate?
Glad that a step in the right direction is being made here.
Edit: Ninja'd by Got Nate?
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I was watching a series on Rich Rebuilds on a Fisker Ocean he got for free. The handles had an RFID reader that acts as the key mechanism and LED lights built in and they were only protected from the elements by a thin piece of plastic that apparently wasn't UV resistant as they were all cracked and therefore leaking. On top of that the actual unlock mechanism that the handle attaches to had a flaw where the electronic door could wedge the mechanism in such a way that the manual backup pull handle couldn't even unlock the door. Why have we taken a mechanism that has worked fine since the 1960s and messed it up so badly?
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The correct amount of regulation is not axiomatically "no regulation at all".
There are literally regulations on how to build fuel tanks. Regulations written in blood. Ralph Nader became famous for his work on that.
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Regarding Tesla, did they fix the “feature” where the doors auto-lock when it catches on fire?
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Canterrain
Ars Scholae Palatinae
Not really. Most emergency training for this scenario actually STARTS with "try to open the door." You'd be amazed how often this works, even in this modern time with auto-locking doors and such.
And in an emergency, often the FASTEST way to get a person out of a dangerous situation (like an EV that's on fire) is the best. Nevermind that then dragging a person out of a window or windshield, who may be injured, adds its own complications. If you COULD just simply open a door, that's a lot better than trying to break glass at a potentially already injured victim. And that's assuming they even have the right tools (often the first person on the scene doesn't), nevermind the Cybertruck's crazy armored windows.
So if the door handles are flush and CAN'T open, well that slows everything down. Then your only choice is to break out tools (again IF you have them) in a situation where time is the difference in saving lives. Hence 15 people people have died in Teslas because first responders couldn't open the door.
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One thing to note is that most cars lock the doors while driving so the outside handles won't be useful on any car.
However, the lack of a mechanical link between the door handles and the latches is dumb. If the 12V system is dead you literally can't open the door.
I have a Kia EV6 which has flush handles but they're mechanically connected and will always work.
Although there are front door releases inside of Teslas, they are different from the normal door open button. The driver and passenger is going to have to remember this in an emergency.
However, the lack of a mechanical link between the door handles and the latches is dumb. If the 12V system is dead you literally can't open the door.
I have a Kia EV6 which has flush handles but they're mechanically connected and will always work.
Although there are front door releases inside of Teslas, they are different from the normal door open button. The driver and passenger is going to have to remember this in an emergency.
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Excellent, excellent decision by China here, and I truly can't imagine a reasonable or rational person taking umbrage at it. Form should never take precedence over functionality and certainly not safety – at least never to the extent that it is undermining either of those. The kinds of handles Tesla has are "cool" "gimmicks" that elicit a response the first time you see them, but then just tend to get in the way. They only slow me down by a few fractions of a second each time, but it does add up.
Can't wait for Musk to throw a tantrum about this though.
Can't wait for Musk to throw a tantrum about this though.
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Thanks, Tesla, for making it so flush handles are conflated electric handles. If they'd been mechanical all along, we wouldn't be having this conversation.
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Canterrain
Ars Scholae Palatinae
All this, plus yes there are regulations on windshield tinting so....
Edit, Ninja'd by Cthel.
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I don't think flush is the problem here, and mandating handles that poke out will therefore NOT fix the issue.
The problem is electrically actuated doors where the handle is just electrical. I actually like the design of the Tesla 3/Y exterior handle (notably, not the very stupid electric Model S handle), because as long as the materials are strong enough, it should be able to hook into a mechanical system and force the door open. That would be a safe design, if it could be executed, and being flush has nothing to do with that. You physically have access to the handle and can push it, so I don't fundamentally see a problem with that, and it does benefit efficiency, which is important in an EV.
What's not safe is unintuitive and electrically actuated systems. You want the standard handle to be both mechanical (usually when more force is used) and intuitive (so it's not something that has to be learned separately from how to use the handle generally). All Tesla interior handles and the exterior Model S (and maybe X? not sure on that one) fail this test. Even the Model 3 front seat interior handle was confusing for me the first time I sat in it, which is a bad, unsafe design.
A non-flush handle would not have saved the guy who died in the backseat of that Tesla in Texas like a half mile from home when he crashed it and it burned. An intuitive mechanical interior handle would have saved him.
The problem is electrically actuated doors where the handle is just electrical. I actually like the design of the Tesla 3/Y exterior handle (notably, not the very stupid electric Model S handle), because as long as the materials are strong enough, it should be able to hook into a mechanical system and force the door open. That would be a safe design, if it could be executed, and being flush has nothing to do with that. You physically have access to the handle and can push it, so I don't fundamentally see a problem with that, and it does benefit efficiency, which is important in an EV.
What's not safe is unintuitive and electrically actuated systems. You want the standard handle to be both mechanical (usually when more force is used) and intuitive (so it's not something that has to be learned separately from how to use the handle generally). All Tesla interior handles and the exterior Model S (and maybe X? not sure on that one) fail this test. Even the Model 3 front seat interior handle was confusing for me the first time I sat in it, which is a bad, unsafe design.
A non-flush handle would not have saved the guy who died in the backseat of that Tesla in Texas like a half mile from home when he crashed it and it burned. An intuitive mechanical interior handle would have saved him.
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Don't most now attempt to auto-unlock when airbags deploy though?
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Good. I hope the EU will follow. (And then add requiring separate amber turn signals to the list so the stupid US blinky brake/rear lights are banned)
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