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.
I don’t know much about this, but in my understanding, it’s not that the handle hides in the door, but the fact that the latch inside is electronic. Using a mechanical latch that will work even without any electrical power would solve the problem.
It’s both. The electric latch can trap occupants inside the vehicle, and the external handles make it difficult for rescuers to quickly access anyone trapped inside.
How do rescuers get into the car via the handle when it’s locked? Or are cars supposed to unlock upon failure/crashes?
Yes part of the regulation is airbag deployment or ev battery fire has to trigger unlocking all the doors.
Nobody wants to rescue anyone in a burning SwastiKKKar.
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.
Yeah under a snap cover in the map pocket. I won’t ride in the back seat of one.
This is the point Lemmy fails to grasp. All cars autolock when moving to keep kids from falling out the back doors. Whether the door handle is exposed or not is irrelevant. In case of crash, EMTs punch out the windows anyway.
You fail to realize that practically all cars made in the last 10+ years have impact sensing door unlock systems. Tesla is no exception here but that system fails disproportionately higher in Teslas due to their electronic handles/latches.
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.
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)
All that is completely right. I’m just saying the autolocks don’t make sure your kid can’t quick eject into oncoming traffic. Just wouldn’t want someone to believe the autolock will save their kid based off of that comment.
One is definitely way worse than the other though.
The flush handles on a model 3 are annoying in ice but the situations in which you desperately need into a car seem less likely than the situations where you need out but can’t find the stupid pull tab that’s hidden under plastic.