lemmy - Link to source

China to ban hidden car door handles made popular by Tesla in world first

China is banning hidden door handles on all cars sold in the country, becoming the first country in the world to target the feature – which was popularized by Tesla but has for years drawn concern over safety risks.

The feature has previously come under heavy scrutiny, both in China and elsewhere.

Last September, Tesla said it was looking into redesigning the way to open its car doors in an emergency, after several accidents where passengers were reportedly killed or severely injured in burning vehicles because rescuers could not open them.

Other Tesla owners have reported having to break their own car windows after buckling their children in and then being unable to get in the car again, according to an investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

An investigation by Bloomberg found 140 incidents of people being trapped in their Teslas due to problems with the door handles, including several that resulted in horrific injuries.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/china/china-hidden-car-door-handles-tesla-intl-hnk

#world
in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk

lemmy - Link to source

MBech

I have never been in a car that locked the doors from the inside with the autolock. Locking the doors from the inside usually requires activation of the child locks, which can usually be accessed on the door when it is opened. The autolocks only lock the doors from the outside, so any would-be car thieves or nosy firemen can't get in.
This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to MBech

lemmy - Link to source

jj4211

But it's about locking the door from the outside that is relevant here. If the external handles get in the way of rescuers, then the fact that they outside handles are almost certainly locked in that situation anyway is even more so. They will break the window and use the interior mechanism (which if electronic, could still suck, which Tesla runs afoul of). If you had traditional door handles, but electronic mechanism, the first responders would still be screwed).

But the mechanism being electronic means no one can operate the latch. But if it were somehow mechanical, but still physically like the Model 3/Y door handles, would that be considered 'adequate'? It's confusing, and harder to open if there's ice over it, but I don't think that facet factors into a rescue scenario.

(but you would be right that the auto-lock has nothing to do with child occupants, it's about if someone can open your door at a stoplight)

This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to kungen

lemmy - Link to source

French75

Long before Tesla existed, the Hurst tool (aka Jaws of Life) was created. It's like a giant can opener for cars, and firemen love to use it. The lack of door handles, locked doors, and even smashed and jammed doors,don't really stop firefighters from getting in. This has been a thing since the 80s at least. Also, Teslas do have mechanical door handles on the inside, so occupants can open doors without power, but these factoids don't make for good rage bait.
in reply to MicroWave

lemmy - Link to source

TheDemonBuer

This is why Tesla has been a mixed bag. They have made some smart choices and they have made some not so smart choices. Unfortunately, because they essentially are the EV market in America, all other companies looking to bring EVs to the market have copied Tesla in many ways, both the good and the bad. I think that's at least part of the reason why the EV market is suffering right now.
in reply to Akh

lemmy - Link to source

boonhet

Do you own one?

I test drove one (Bolt Drive rental lol) and it was honestly a bit less smooth on the road than my 2007 A6 Allroad. The performance was amazing (even though it was the lower power version I believe), but due to the hefty weight it seems the suspension is compromised. But since it wasn't brand new, I also don't know how good a shape it was in. IIRC it was on air suspension, so it should've been better than steel springs.

Buuuuut with the prices they have dropped down to, they're also god damn enticing these days! And 300 kilowatts is a ridiculous amount of power lol. The downside of course being that a brand new battery off Audi is twice the value of the car if it goes bad lol. But EV battery repair shops are starting to be a thing here, so that might make replacing single cells a very affordable option.

in reply to Victor

lemmy - Link to source

lmmarsano

Burning all your money and doing everything yourself would prevent others from earning from the wealth you create.
Gains from trade generate earnings.
Your contribution chains through the network: your spending generates earnings for someone, who can afford to spend, etc, which cascades through the economy.
If you hadn't contributed, someone wouldn't earn as much to spend on Nazis: you're contributing.

Businesses have complex supply chains & employ all kinds of people.
With US tax-funded grants, some of that Nazi's businesses benefit with fewer degrees of separation.

Purity gets impractical when taken to its logical conclusion, but it could be done.

in reply to lmmarsano

lemmy - Link to source

Victor

Unless I'm missing something, I still can't see anything that differs from my analogy. The only way my money doesn't "somehow touch" a Nazi is by not spending any of my earned money at all? The same goes the other way as well I'm that case. Some of my money probably touched a Nazi some time. Of course this is using an analogy of physical money which isn't really practical here, but nonetheless.

I could also try and not purchase things that benefit Tesla's material suppliers or whatever, but that would target them rather than Tesla itself directly. By not buying Tesla's products, I am directly targeting them/the Nazi, because that is their source of revenue.

Right?

This entry was edited (3 months ago)
in reply to tyler

lemmy - Link to source

TheDemonBuer

The plug they came up with, that eventually became the NAC standard. Technology Connections did a video about it, and he is no Tesla fan, I assure you of that.

Tesla won the plug war - and that's good news!

A surprisingly good series of events have unfolded, and this video is my mea culpa. Also, Sorry, John!Links 'n' stuffHere's a playlist to all of my EV-relate...
YouTube
in reply to TheDemonBuer

lemmy - Link to source

tyler

Yeah sure and TC isn’t right about everything. NACS currently doesn’t support (and hasn’t for years) 800v charging. CCS does. I can charge my ioniq 5 in 15 minutes up to 80%. This is like saying Tesla did self driving cars first, except they still don’t have it working properly, they’ve just been claiming so for a decade.

If your product is only good as a future, not yet implemented, version of itself, then it’s not a product and shouldn’t be bought. You’re selling future promises, rather than current status.

in reply to Magister

lemmy - Link to source

FuglyDuck

So, the flush handles actually save a lot.

The thing is, there’s purely mechanical ways of solving the problem. Including a hinge set somewhere towards the middle- so you push one side in, and the other angled out so you can open it.

Not the most convenient, but it’s less inconvenient than an over engineered piece of shit that breaks every winter.

in reply to FuglyDuck

lemmy - Link to source

jj4211

The normal handles might shift the coefficient of drag by 0.01 by the most generous estimate I could find, and the Lucid Air has a coefficient of 0.197... It's insignificant. A flap-type door handle that is recessed is probably exactly the same as the 'cool' flat handle look, and if not an air baffle for the lower half would absolutely make it the same as the weird ones
in reply to Sarah Brown

lemmy - Link to source

boonhet

I mean the entire goal of Tesla's design was to minimize drag coefficient. It's important in EVs because with ICE you just burn more fuel which takes 5 minutes to refuel, with EVs you have tedious charging stops more often - particularly with older EVs like the Tesla Model S that popularized this.

Say what you will about Tesla, but their Cd is pretty darn impressive especially if you consider that every car in the table that beats the Model S, save for the EV1, is newer than the Model S. That and the powertrain are the two things they absolutely nailed in their otherwise pretty mediocre EVs.

common measure in automotive design as it pertains to aerodynamics

Contributors to Wikimedia projects (Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.)
in reply to boonhet

lemmy - Link to source

SaveTheTuaHawk

I mean the entire goal of Tesla’s design was to minimize drag coefficient.


That's their bullshit story. They just love to market gadgets. The Model 3 handles pivot out and are just as flush, without the need of an electric motor and pointless complexity. Those stupid handles also fail and freeze closed. It's bad design. A tiny door handle does nothing to Cd compared to side mirrors, and cars in the 70s had smaller mechanical handles.

Read the table again, the S is beat by 4 models, one of which is 30 years old.

in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk

lemmy - Link to source

boonhet

in reply to boonhet

lemmy - Link to source

SaveTheTuaHawk

In 14 years, Tesla could not change the Model S door handles?
Cd should matter on any car, but Tesla low Cds are mainly dictated by not needing cooling radiators and airflow to reduce ICE heat.

The handles were designed to look cool for techno fetish buyers. Period. The Cybertruck also has no door handles, as if they cared about Cd.

Man, Americans just love to be educated by ad agencies.

in reply to SaveTheTuaHawk

lemmy - Link to source

boonhet

Well firstly the Model S hasn't had a facelift in 7 years. Things like this are usually done with at least a minor redesign

Secondly the way to get industry leading Cd (at the time) is to first do the big changes and then follow up with the small ones.

Looking cool can also be a reason. There can be multiple reasons to do something. If you achieve extra efficiency AND get to look cooler to your target audience, that's a jackpot, isn't it...

Not sure what your love to be educated by ad agencies has anything to do with here, American.

in reply to dellish

lemmy - Link to source

SaveTheTuaHawk

The Pinto is a good example of how law firms in class actions seed the minds of the public. All Detroit manufacturers had similar gas tank designs at that time, they just decided to focus on Ford because they had more money.

Similarly, unintended acceleration lawsuits against AUDI and Toyota were bullshit, but Toyota had black boxes installed to prove those crying moms were lying.

Chevrolet has been killing people with electric door locks since 2015, but no one cares.

Texas Man and His Dog Found Dead After Becoming Trapped Inside Car share.google/CmKibwq8sWOHwHimD

Texas Man and His Dog Found Dead After Becoming Trapped Inside Car

A U.S. Army veteran from Texas and his dog were found dead after an electronic malfunction apparently caused the pair to become trapped inside the man’s sports car.
Kathryn Robinson (NBC News)
in reply to MuskyMelon

lemmy - Link to source

Alcoholicorn

How long to redesign the door with regular handles?


Like a day? Car door handles are a pretty mature technology.

What do you do with the ones already built? Replace the whole door?


Yes, you do a staged recall, using the previous recalled doors as material to build the new ones.

But I suspect the law will have a grandfather clause, theres a lot of chinese cars that copied Tesla's mistakes.

in reply to Smoogs

lemmy - Link to source

MrFinnbean

Most modern cars lock the doors when going faster than the walking speed so in case of crash the doors are more unlikely to fly open. Similary most modern cars unlock the doors after crash so passengers can get out from the car. Tesla included.
In case the door fails to unlock there usually are way to manualy open the locks, but Tesla has made it to a treasure hunt with multiple stages, hidden paths and there is a wizard at the end asking quizzes before you can open the door. So in the end Musk can say there is a way to mechanically open the doors, because there is. Its just not convinient or safe.
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