After renting a couple cars with electronic door poppers, I find them plainly worse than mechanical door latches. They’re a solution in search of a problem, and some implementations are hazardous.
New Rules Could Force Tesla to Redesign Its Door Handles. That’s Harder Than It Sounds
Submitted 1 day ago by RGB@group.lt to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
Zak@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
im occasional ride in my parents leased ioniq5 and the door handles are lik teslas, very flimsy to the feel.
magic_smoke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 day ago
I think having an electric popper on top of an mechanical door latch (actual door handles are standard mechanic, but there’s solenoid that can actuate them independently) is okay if you can find an actual usecase.
I mean sure still stupid but at least it isn’t dangerous.
artyom@piefed.social 20 hours ago
I think having an electric popper on top of an mechanical door latch is okay
The problem with having both is that the electronic one is always the primary one, and the one people will use daily. In particular Tesla hides the mechanical ones really well. So in an emergency situation, people panic and have no idea where it is or how to use it.
Same way electric locks have worked
Electric locks actually serve a purpose though. And they’re not a danger to passengers inside. What purpose do electric door locks serve? Other than being more prone to failure and costing more money.
SkyNTP@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
I hear they are a solution to the problem of increasing mileage/efficiency. I am no fan of Tesla, but we have to admit, there is some merit to that argument, however debatable the efficiency benefits are.
That’s not to say safety isn’t a serious issue. The biggest problem is the reliance on electronics. Now if someone can reinvent the design with a highly reliable mechanical system, with multiple redundancy.
Humanius@lemmy.world 1 day ago
To my knowledge, there are designs which allow you to pop out the latch without the need for electronics.
However, if I’m reading the article correctly those wouldn’t be allowed either because in their default state they don’t have “enough room for a hand to grip behind them”.
That wording alone explicitely bans flush doorhandles, and not just electronic doorhandlesprole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 hours ago
Yeah I’m sorry, I’ll take normal door handles over a 0.01% increase in efficiency
Zak@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
I’ve seen three designs for purely mechanical flush door handles in production use:
- A handle with a central hinge where one side is pushed inward to make the other side stick out to be pulled. This design has been used on aircraft for many decades, and has also made its way to a few cars.
- A pull-up door handle with an additional flap in front of the access area. This was used on the Subaru XT/Alcyone/Vortex.
- A handle that pushes in to open, usually found on a portion of the door that’s more horizontal to the ground. Used on the C3 Corvette, among others.
The push-then-pull central hinge is probably not a great choice for the application because its operation will be less obvious to a rescuer trying to get the door open quickly. It’s still better than something that requires electronics.
artyom@piefed.social 20 hours ago
They were hazardous when they were on Corvettes too. They should have banned them back then.
Zak@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
The rental cars in question were, in fact Corvettes. Corvettes are still using them.
NutWrench@lemmy.world 18 hours ago
“That’s harder than it sounds.”
Is it, though? Is it really? We’ve been making manual car door latches for 100 years.
It’s only hard for Musk, and only because he just doesn’t want to do it.
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
Seriously. Every other car maker has figured out how to make normal door handles. You can even buy the parts directly from them if you find it too hard to design yourself.
shalafi@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
[deleted]reptar@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Again, what did they miss? Spell it out for us, please!
skisnow@lemmy.ca 14 hours ago
I’m calling corpo lobbied bullshit. 2 years is enough time to put a normal door handle on your car.
Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 hours ago
they got lazy, they fully adopted the electronic one, and dint want to “waste money” bringing back the old one, in thier recent and future models.
WALLACE@feddit.uk 14 hours ago
Cars are designed up to 5 years in advance. Usually the last 2 years before production is dedicated to endurance testing.
KillerWhale@orcas.enjoying.yachts 35 minutes ago
So how do they deal with routine and unexpected defects that every manufacturer deals with for every model?
skisnow@lemmy.ca 7 hours ago
They’re not being expected to design a whole new car from scratch though, are they.
BanMe@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Tesla doesn’t do any of that, nor crash testing
shalafi@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
[deleted]skisnow@lemmy.ca 7 hours ago
I read the article, and I’m calling bullshit on the excuses they’re putting up. The fact that they usually prefer a five year cycle, does not mean that it’s difficult to change the handles on the doors in two years if you need to.
pahlimur@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
Redesigning the handle by 2027 is stupid easy. I have an masters in mechanical engineering, this could be done with mostly off the shelf parts. Tesla is being a bitch like normal.
rafoix@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Tesla disregarded all knowledge about automotive door safety to make a more expensive and much more dangerous door handle.
prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 hours ago
This is literally what libertarians do for literally everything.
rafoix@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
Libertarians are just people too dumb to understand code requirements in every industry and profession.
The only thing libertarians understand is that they can make more money if they charge a full price for a half-ass job.
kbobabob@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 hours ago
Did you just take a complete left turn into politics land?
klobuerschtler@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
Audi is following in all their new models…
rafoix@lemmy.zip 23 hours ago
🤮
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
The issues could cascade beyond the design. The auto manufacturing industry operates on strict production schedules. Though it builds in time to validate and test whatever new features come in each new model, the sudden intro of a design change late in the process could throw off the delicate timetable.
FFS, it’s a bloody door handle, not full self driving tech. Author is full of BS.
porcoesphino@mander.xyz 1 day ago
A lot of upvotes here, and I think they’re ignoring how much is involved in production pipelines and the overhead of sourcing suppliers. That said, Musk has a habit of throwing in last minute changes and the company manages to handle those but much like self driving they ship late
filcuk@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Yeah let’s see, if the handle would have to be a different shape, they may need a different cutout for the door, different handle moulds, different mechanical parts, updated electronics… does anyone have a fucking clue how difficult it is to program one of those robotic arms? How expensive new moulds are? Any other potential knock-on effects this may have on the internal design?
People with the mentality of ‘it’s just a small plug at the bottom of the pool, how bad could it possibly be if we removed it’
Treczoks@lemmy.world 23 hours ago
You do not know or believe how much shit has to be pipelined to get a simple change on a car design going on the market. If you have knowledge about computers, you quickly notice that the hardware and software running in a car are OLD. I’ve seen cars sold as new with processors so old, they are “no longer recommended for new designs”. This is because every single thing has to be tested and approved to death in a car. Sometimes several times over.
AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works 23 hours ago
This is because every single thing has to be tested and approved to death in a car.
This is tesla though, how much testing do they actually do before passing it to customers for free QA?
echodot@feddit.uk 18 hours ago
Government’s also tend to introduce grace periods. They announced that they are going to introduce a law and that that law will go into effect on x date. The manufacturing now has plenty of time to sell the current run of vehicles and then alter the design well ahead of the law coming into effect.
You don’t just introduce a law and then implement it the following day. Well Trump does but no body else does.
lechekaflan@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Whatever. Luxury e-cars are the new Bimmers.
MigratingApe@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
echodot@feddit.uk 18 hours ago
Unless you’re planning to drive your car around at about 150 miles per hour I don’t imagine that the aerodynamicism of door handles really comes into account. Especially since you’ve still got wing mirrors, wipers, and aerials on the car.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
I looked into this a long time ago, and it was likely they were getting around 2-3 miles of extra range from it.
I’d say it’s less important now, than it was back then when batteries weren’t as good.
LyD@lemmy.ca 18 hours ago
It comes into play much sooner than that when you’re designing for maximum range on an electric vehicle.
Hule@lemmy.world 21 hours ago
With two doors, half the problem is already solved!
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 16 hours ago
that style is also a problem in the winter, though less so
they are prone to breaking as they age when the door is frozen shut and you gotta pull hard
echodot@feddit.uk 18 hours ago
Is this because the door handle is some complicated electronic mechanism rather than a latch? Gee who could have possibly predicted that would be a problem.
My neighbour has a Tesla and last year I had great fun watching her trying to defrost her car enough to get the door handle to even come out.
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 16 hours ago
I have had to put quite a bit of force into a car door to get it to open on many an occasion. (Ice is a bitch) A normal door handle just works, stop trying to fix it!
Honytawk@feddit.nl 23 minutes ago
Yeah, but in those cases you actually can get a grip to pull on.
Unlike those hidden handles.
mrgoosmoos@lemmy.ca 16 hours ago
I hate the little flip up style handle on my car, known for its winter capability, which regularly freezes enough that you’re afraid it’ll break if you pull any harder
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
Great. Next please: no more touch-controls. I want back haptic buttons for the most important stuff.
CannonFodder@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Touchscreens are infinitely reconfigurable. And the solution is cheaper. Some like the cleaner look when avoiding all the buttons and knobs.
Dyskolos@lemmy.zip 1 hour ago
Sure, for anything else than a car. But I don’t want to have to look at it while driving 250km/h, I want to feel if I have the right button and also pressed it. Pure safety.
Everywhere else I’d surely prefer a touchscreen over haptic buttons. I mean I have through this great tech-evolution, I love it. But it all has its place, and the car doesn’t seem like the right place for it. At least not for everything.
pyre@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
harder than it sounds… yeah the technology isn’t there yet! we need research and scientific breakthrough to invent a door handle that you can actually handle. no one’s even thought of the concept before.
shalafi@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
[deleted]skisnow@lemmy.ca 4 hours ago
You’ve posted this in multiple places without explaining yourself, and your subsequent follow-ups have also just been questioning the person’s credentials and offering nothing of your own. You’re a classic example of the bullshit asymmetry principle, flooding the thread with low effort trolling.
pyre@lemmy.world 12 hours ago
i very much did, actually. it’s just the bullshit recycled from the seatbelt mandate, except this is about the something cars already had a century ago.
reptar@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Do go on
aesthelete@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
I hate fucking “flush handles”. Good riddance to terrible garbage.
iloveDigit@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
At least they work as a quick visual cue that a car is designed with zero utilitarians in the room
pineapplelover@lemmy.dbzer0.com 16 hours ago
I find them cool. But if they become unusable in freezing weather or kill people because of an overcomplex emergency release from the inside?..
aesthelete@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
They’re like an idea a twelve year old Steve Jobs / Jony Ive wannabe would come up with.
phutatorius@lemmy.zip 17 hours ago
Cry me a river.
sramder@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Load of uninformed B.S. from the supply chain expert. There’s not a door out there that isn’t full of empty space.
SaharaMaleikuhm@feddit.org 20 hours ago
Who cares? You only have yourself to blame for buying a Tesla.
jjlinux@lemmy.zip 19 hours ago
Dude, you act like you’ve never been burned by someone in your life. Instead of shaming people for purchasing something and getting burned, we should all be getting together and shaming the companies that are enshitified.
ripcord@lemmy.world 19 hours ago
A) Yes, at this point we can blame the idiots buying Teslas too.
B) Nothing about Teslas are “enshittificarion”. It doesn’t mean “getting shittier”, or “are shitty”.
its_kim_love@lemmy.blahaj.zone 9 hours ago
Someone bought a Tesla.
deczzz@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
Wtf is “willingness to work from design-first principles”? Do Wired realize that the form of the handle follows the function of designing for better aerodynamics?
Eranziel@lemmy.world 6 hours ago
Pretty sure they’re using “design” to mean “aesthetics” in that sentence. I do think we need to less often use “design” to refer specifically to aesthetics or graphic design; every object and system that humans have made are designed.
EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 1 day ago
Could they just use regular fucking door handles?
I remember when people kept trying to assert that Tesla is a “luxury” brand, though it seems that this pretense has finally been dropped. Even so, surely they can figure out something that doesn’t seem to be an issue for even the cheapest tier of vehicles available in USDM.
vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 1 day ago
They can, it’s an article out of the air.
AA5B@lemmy.world 20 hours ago
Will it? I’m skeptical of the translation since it’s obviously loose and casual, and more optimistic with the quote from Tesla saying they’re redesigning it …
- article says mechanical release handles inside and out. Tesla model y could already be here depending on the details
- articles says a hand must fit behind the handle, ruling out flush handles, but depending on the details, the model y may a Ready be there, as is the Opel Corsa in this thread
- no mention of the electronic latch. I don’t get it, wouldn’t this be the actual most dangerous part?
muntedcrocodile@hilariouschaos.com 1 day ago
Inside or outside? Ik they have issue with inside door handles and safety but I don’t see a need to redesign outside handles?
squaresinger@lemmy.world 1 day ago
www.bloomberg.com/…/2025-tesla-dangerous-doors/
Non-functional outside handles are just as bad as non-functional inside ones. Not always is the person on the inside able to open the door on their own.
logi@lemmy.world 1 day ago
So those would be the model S and X electric handles and not the 3 and Y mechanical ones? Yeah, that seems like a safety issue.
NotMyOldRedditName@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
As long as the model 3/y were mechanically operated, I’m not sure their push to pull mechanism is bad, but the model s/x have electronically presenting handles that need power to present themselves, which you can’t really just make mechanical like you can the model 3/y ones.
Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Oh cool, we should start looking into shit that matters.
badgermurphy@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
There are billions of us. We can do many things at once.
This may not matter as much as nuclear disarmament, but it matters to everyone that owns one of these cars.
Demonmariner@lemmy.world 8 hours ago
I read the article. It sounds like the auto makers concern is that they don’t think they have been given enough time to solve the problem (the problem being one which may kill people while we wait for a solution).
I think we should give them all the time they want, as long as they stop selling cars without safe door handles RIGHT NOW.
iloveDigit@sh.itjust.works 4 hours ago
Your comment is giga based because it doesn’t let the overton window get shifted by being too suggestible.
Your brain still went where logic goes, not where was suggested. So important at times like this.
reptar@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
All in all, quality
Soup@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
“We meed more time even though door handles are a solved problem.”