EU next, please.
China Is Banning Tesla-Style Retractable Door Handles Over Safety Concerns
Submitted 2 weeks ago by dantheclamman@lemmy.world to technology@lemmy.world
Comments
xeekei@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Quazatron@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Should not have allowed them in the first place.
Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Thus is the old debate between Allow list versus Deny list.
On an Allow list system, everything is forbiden exceot what’s explicitly allowed, while on a Deny list, everything is allowed except what’s explicitly forbidden.
Aviation companies work mostly on Allow list system, meaning even small changes and improvements require certification before it’s approved for use. If this system was in use by car companies, the consequences would be similar, only 2 or 3 companies worldwide, making a few models each, all of them much more expensive than what they are now.
I’m glad that the automotive industry works mostly on a Deny list system. It keeps the barrier to entry lower for new manufacturers, innovation is faster and competition keeps prices reasonable.
Occasionally, issues like this pop up, requiring a ban, but in this industry I prefer this than the alternative.
zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 2 weeks ago
Bright headlights and combined brake/turn signals too please
sefra1@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
Don’t get me started on that, stupid direct led brakes lights should be outright illegal. They literally blind every following car behind, specially if the windshield is dirty or foggy.
How those damn things got approved in the first place is
beyond my understandingcorruption.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The glaring headlights have the opposite solution here: more technology. While auto-high beams are becoming common, we need the next step of active matrix headlights. They really are marvelous!
For me the active matrix headlights are still new enough that every time I’m amazed watching the dark spot in my headlight beams move to keep the oncoming traffic out of the glare.
Yeah this is kind of expensive but it’s getting the point that we really need it everywhere
realitista@lemmus.org 2 weeks ago
Next can we outlaw touchscreens? I’m guessing they are far more dangerous in the end.
Quill7513@slrpnk.net 2 weeks ago
i think often about that GM and Volvo paid Virginia Tech a lot of money to help them design a safe touchscreen infotainment center and after years of research the researchers basically reached the conclusion “there’s no safe way to put a touchscreen in a car” and now we all have touchscreens in our cars
vacuumflower@lemmy.sdf.org 2 weeks ago
I mean, there’s also no safe touchscreen on a mobile phone, and one would think a main personal mobile communication device should have the least disruptable user interface possible.
A stylus makes some sense, it’s a more convenient tool for drawing on a screen. But touchscreens must die.
I’m trying to dial someone or do anything at all in a dark place, I have to look with my eyes at a burning screen (notably with some crappy flat design of all UI elements, as is custom today) and try to hit it with my fingers. My fingers notably come from factory without backlight or auto-aim.
I could just remember which key is which, and rely on my tactile feeling to find them.
I’m trying to do anything at all in frosty weather (that kind when you feel like scratching your skin, normal winter, minus 10 Celsius is enough to feel that), I have to take off my glove and try to hit whatever with my fingers which become obviously clumsier under such temperatures.
And I can’t simultaneously do something and look at the display, because I’m poking my fingers at that display to do something!
And it’s easier to do something you didn’t intend.
I hope everything with a touchscreen dies as a consumer good, similarly to young nuclear scientist kits for toddlers, asbestos roof tiles, lead paint, you get the idea. Some things are bad.
Flipper@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
We wouldn’t even need to ban them outright. Just ban the usage for important things like windscreenwipers and climate control.
dai@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
“From the ID 2all onwards, we will have physical buttons for the five most important functions – the volume, the heating on each side of the car, the fans and the hazard light – below the screen,”
Climate controls are one but sure, five most important functions. Honestly rip out the touch screen, implement buttons just as they had been previously then add the display; preferably with a decent HID as Mazda have done.
I’m still driving a mk6 golf and really can’t imagine not having easy access to those features.
magic_smoke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Is it really that hard to make one of those recessed handles buy with mechanical linkage instead of an electric one?
Seems like the real issue is the electric door latch itself, not the style of handle.
RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Tesla whined about it citing all the crap they’d have to work around in their design in order to make a normal mechanical linkage. Funny how no other upper tier manufacturer has trouble with all the power windows and window power pre-offsetting for interference fits. They manage to have mechanical linkages.
magic_smoke@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 weeks ago
Yeah I’m not shocked major car company with the least amount of experience in mechanical engineering had that issue.
Give that to a team of 90’s Honda engineers and they’d have it done by lunch with a price tag a 1/3rd of the Tesla mechanism.
3abas@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
That doesn’t follow. The 3 and y both have mechanical handles that only close flush by a spring for aerodynamics. Literally every manufacturer has copied that in at least one model.
Only the s, x, and CT have retractable handles, and it’s mostly Chinese cars that copy that.
GenosseFlosse@feddit.org 2 weeks ago
Why do need this on a fist place? So a 2 ton SUV can be 0.0058% more aerodynamic?
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
These recessed handles usually have some sort of fallback. For me, I don’t want rescuers to have a single second of uncertainty of how to open my car. They should be able to quickly yank the door open, not fumble for some recessed/hidden button. Every second counts.
Bluewing@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The handles themselves freeze down and won’t pop up to allow someone to actually open the door. Freezing rain and sleet and prevent even traditional style handles are known to freeze up and stop working.
artyom@piefed.social 2 weeks ago
Yeah, it’s hard. How is it going to come out while there’s nothing to grab on to?
Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 2 weeks ago
You press on it, tons of Chinese cars already do this.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
For the model 3 and Y with the mechanical handles you press on one end to get the other to pop out
If it’s iced over, you can press on the other end and there’s a little room to effectively rock it back and forth a bit. I live in Massachusetts, I park outside, and this is my third winter with the car, and I’ve only had to do this twice. It worked each time with minimal effort
drmoose@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Good, it’s such an incredibly stupid design. Literally no one was bothered by a slight handle for better UX.
buzz86us@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Why not have those plastic handles on the sides of the doors
skozzii@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
Musk makes a product so shitty even China is like, hold up.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Can China ban retina burning headlights, rear facing floodlights and aftermarket exhausts now?
Buddahriffic@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Don’t ban aftermarket exhausts completely, just the ones that optimize for loudness or dirtier air.
I’d like to see devices that detect when a car is running too rich or lean (bad cases I can smell right away, so it should be detectable at a range), along with enforcement and seizing vehicles where they deliberately mess with those, especially if there’s a switch or function present that can switch between legal and illegal modes to pass emissions tests and then go back to spewing out unburnt fuel or a much higher number of nitrous oxide compounds.
SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Is that why I hear so many backfiring cars now?
gustofwind@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Must be nice having a functional government
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Americans are going to mandate retractable handles in response
determinist@kbin.earth 2 weeks ago
extra handles, 2 handles per door, bigger handles, bigger extra handles
phar@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I don’t think China or the US would be called nice in this regard.
gustofwind@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Well, the US is very nice to corporations which is why they’re often left to self regulate, are regulated by former industry insiders, or are barely regulated through fines and settlements
So yeah I suppose in this regard China is not being nice but being nice doesn’t effectively regulate corporations. This is in fact a good example of a functional government doing its job
Imgonnatrythis@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
There is a large demand for Teslas in China believe it or not. Very possible this is just motivated by trying to favor Chinese automakers more so than out of genuine safety concerns.
psx_crab@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
I don’t think this have anything to do with Tesla, because a lot of chinese car does have this sort of door handle, and more and more are ready to follow the trend.
NutWrench@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
When even China has to ban your product due to safety concerns, you’ve probably made some seriously bad design choices somewhere along the line.
iAmTheTot@sh.itjust.works 2 weeks ago
Good.
oftenawake@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Fuck Musk and Fuck Swasticars!
There’s no excuse left for driving one except having bought it before this year.
Buying Tesla is funding fascism and corruption. All Musk companies need breaking up!
Bytemeister@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Glances nervously at Ford, BMW, VW, Mitsubishi, etc…
oftenawake@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Well yeah that’s true. I’m driving an 18 year old second hand VW myself… the fuckers do keep running.
I could never afford a Tesla anyway even if I wanted one - I’m glad to say I always hated them as cars.
But ugh… Musk literally did the Hitler salute, twice to make sure, on live TV, and he is responsible for the real-time deaths of millions of people.
We can’t always do much about politicians but when it comes to business fucks like him, we can dismantle that bastard and his companies everywhere they exist… including in space!
kokesh@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As should the rest of the world.
Resonosity@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
Common China W
DylanMc6@lemmy.ml 2 weeks ago
Good
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
It all depends on the details, I kid the article is blatantly wrong
All Tesla models use flush, electronically actuated handles that blend into the bodywork
I believe this is only the model s and x, a small minority of their vehicles.
My model y has a physically presented handle - you press on one side to pop out the other - NOT electronic self-presenting. I believe that’s true of model 3 and y, the vast majority of teslas.
That being said, there’s several things this may mean. Is it just the self-presenting they don’t like? What about buttons like on the cybertruck? What about the manual operated handle like on the model 3 and y? Or is the important part the electronic latch mechanism internally? I have no idea what safety features that has.
If it’s literally just the self-presenting handles on the high end models like the article mentions, that’s probably no big deal. They don’t sell many of those and the model x especially is way overdue for redesign or to be ended. Hopefully it’s more than they though
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I still feel the handles where you have to press to make it appear are unintuitive and an example of form over safety. I have used them in Ubers and I always have a quarter second remembering how to open them. I don’t want a first responder to have to deal with that delay.
AA5B@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Yeah I’ve noticed people take a bit to figure it out even after I explain it. But as an owner it quickly becomes natural. It’s not all that different to use that a standard handle - the older style that used to have a button on the handle. As long as you use the correct hand, your thumb is ready to press exactly as if there were a button, then the jangle pops out and your hand is there to grab it exactly as the old style to pull after pressing the button
HumanOnEarth@lemmy.ca 2 weeks ago
More great news fot Tesla stock!
positiveWHAT@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I remember noting the bad handles and windows when sitting in one.
CosmoNova@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I still wouldn‘t willingly enter a Chinese car or a Tesla.
Anarch157a@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 weeks ago
I have a chinese car from GWM, the build quality is on par with most european brands. and by that I mean it beats the living shit out of american meakers +Fiat.
sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz 2 weeks ago
I’ll engage in good faith: why not?
TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Probably because one uses slaves in the manufacturing process, and the other has the Elon musk affiliation
bananabread@lemmy.zip 2 weeks ago
One of them is safe
mannycalavera@feddit.uk 2 weeks ago
Eww. Not without their consent I hope.
Socialism_Everyday@reddthat.com 2 weeks ago
Why wouldn’t you enter a Chinese car?
dgmib@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
The headline is terrible.
They’re not banning retractable door handles, they’re banning electronic mechanisms for opening doors.
Door handles can still be retractable, they just need to work mechanically without power not electronically like Tesla handles do.
Which makes a fuck-ton more sense than having emergency manual release cables that nobody knows about. Last thing you want in an emergency is an escape route that requires special knowledge or tools to use.
Jackusflackus@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
As they should, stupid over complicated and absolutely failure ridden unnecessary design
DaddleDew@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
Musk nearly bankrupted Tesla when he insisted that the door handles must be flush after stealing the company from its original founders.
UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I mean, “stealing” is a strong word. Elon bought them out, and they’re both enjoying a net worth in the hundreds of million.
What’s more disturbing about Elon’s tenure as head of the company is how social media manipulation, insider trading, and blatant SEC violations can pump a company’s valuation into the stratosphere.
Marc Tarpenning and Martin Eberhard both continued to contribute advances in engineering that far exceeded the Tesla project. But they’ll never have the kind of easy credit Elon secured through politics and media manipulation.
hopesdead@startrek.website 2 weeks ago
It’s already fucked up that he legally gets to call himself a co-founder for simply being on the board.
dantheclamman@lemmy.world 2 weeks ago
I have long observed that moving parts, particularly involving motors, are destined to give me grief as a car ages. The difference is that little motorized interior luxuries aren’t going to prevent people from pulling my unconscious body out of a burning wreck, while these door handles have for dozens of people