4 ms·

Flush door handles are the car industry's latest safety problem

23 points by mgh2 11mo ago

SilverElfin 11mo ago
I just find them so unnecessary. If you need them for fuel efficiency, is your battery / motor / whatever really properly designed? It just comes off as desperate.
- toomuchtodo 11mo ago
  From a comment: > The flush Hyundai and Kia handles are motorized and retractable, but they can also be opened entirely mechanically without power. They are little more awkward to use when unpowered but it's entirely doable if you know how. You just push the front side in which pops out the rear grab handle part. This also how Chevy has done their Equinox EV handles which is powered on the higher trims but unpowered for the base model I believe. So, as long as they fail safe, I think they’re fine from a form and function perspective. It’s the failing unsafely (Tesla) that’s the problem. If they do not work without power, they should fail safety testing.
  - anigbrowl 11mo ago
    I largely agree, although in an emergency bystanders/emergency workers shouldn't be trying to figure out how a door handle works at all. As a general non-driver, I find it kinda disturbing how auto manufacturers are constantly making these cosmetic adjust that impact safety - excessively bright headlights, distracting animated turn signals, weird ass handles. Not all features are innovations, some are just bad ideas.
    - toomuchtodo 11mo ago
      That’s fair. I would also support pyrotechnic bolts or other systems similar to seat belt tensioners that cause doors to fail open upon impact. The primitives already exist to support isolating the high voltage battery pack in a crash event (triggered by airbag deployment) using a pyrotechnic switch. When Bad Thing happens, the vehicle should be designed to maximize occupant survival odds, including minimizing time to occupant extraction. https://xray.greyb.com/ev-battery/tesla-crash-protection-techniques-for-ev-batteries https://xray.greyb.com/ev-battery/tesla-crash-protection-tec...
      - shibapuppie 11mo ago
        The doors are part of the structural rigidity of a unibody vehicle. If you open the doors during or just before an impact, the car will fold like a tin can.
        toomuchtodo 11mo ago
        After impact is when any action would occur. Many automakers are using either supercapacitors or some smaller battery and logic to enable doors to function after impact. My example of seat belt pretensioners wasn’t to demonstrate when the action would be taken, but that pyrotechnics and vehicle dynamics are components of orchestrating a controlled failure mode in the event of a crash. > General Motors Co. has since made the Corvette door’s emergency release handle more visible, the company said. Graphics on the handle, which lies on the floor next to the door, illustrate its function. GM also has added a “bystander access” feature on its e-doors to unlock them after a crash, so first responders or good Samaritans can free the occupants. > Stellantis NV engineered a similar system on Jeep and Dodge models with electric doors, where airbag deployment automatically unlocks all doors. Stellantis and Ford also have outfitted their electric doors with supercapacitors that act as a battery backup to keep the power flowing to the latches even when a car’s 12-volt battery has died. And Ford, in response to this year’s recall, updated the software on its Mach-E to keep electricity flowing to door handles for 12 minutes after the small battery that normally supplies them — separate from the electric car’s main battery pack — goes dead. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-electric-car-doors/ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-electric-car-doors/ | https://archive.today/YETme https://archive.today/YETme
  - Rebelgecko 11mo ago
    I have a Hyundai and the handles are fine except when you forget to lock the car or they freeze shut
- elmerfud 11mo ago
  The fuel efficiency claims are nonsense. Golf balls would like to have a word with these engineers. They do it because it looks cool and futuristic. Just like replacing all of the physical switches with non-tactile touch-based things. Overall just reduces the vehicle's safety and increases the cost to repair. Door handles, by law should be mandated to be physical things. If you want a button that can automatically actuate the physical linkage that's fine but the handle itself should be a physical linkage to the latch.
- euroderf 11mo ago
  I feel the same way about door windows that don't have crank handles. Like, suddenly I have to place a lot of trust in the electrical system in all conditions. But I guess I'm just, um, cranky.
1970-01-01 11mo ago
>If automakers were that serious about drag reduction, we’d see many more EVs riding on smaller wheels. Has nothing to do with drag. EVs are heavy, and need big brakes to stop in an emergency. Wheels go over the brakes. Therefore, the wheels need to be big to fit the brakes. Smaller wheels mean longer braking distances. Nobody wants that.
- seanmcdirmid 11mo ago
  EVs rarely use brakes, and larger wheels reduce the efficiency of regen braking. But we are optimizing for the worst case where braking is needed, so a larger wheels reduce size is useful.
  - 1970-01-01 11mo ago
    You physically can't fit smaller wheels on the car and pass safety tests. A 14" wheel on a Tesla or Kia EV means downsizing the brake rotor and caliper to an unsafe stopping distance.
    - treadmill 11mo ago
      Share the details of your calculations with us, please.
      - 1970-01-01 11mo ago
        https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/images/y2kgb27.gif https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/images/y2kgb27.gif
        fragmede 11mo ago
        rim size isn't in that equation.
        matt-attack 11mo ago

23 points by mgh2 11mo ago

I just find them so unnecessary. If you need them for fuel efficiency, is your battery / motor / whatever really properly designed? It just comes off as desperate.

toomuchtodo 11mo ago
From a comment: > The flush Hyundai and Kia handles are motorized and retractable, but they can also be opened entirely mechanically without power. They are little more awkward to use when unpowered but it's entirely doable if you know how. You just push the front side in which pops out the rear grab handle part. This also how Chevy has done their Equinox EV handles which is powered on the higher trims but unpowered for the base model I believe. So, as long as they fail safe, I think they’re fine from a form and function perspective. It’s the failing unsafely (Tesla) that’s the problem. If they do not work without power, they should fail safety testing.
- anigbrowl 11mo ago
  I largely agree, although in an emergency bystanders/emergency workers shouldn't be trying to figure out how a door handle works at all. As a general non-driver, I find it kinda disturbing how auto manufacturers are constantly making these cosmetic adjust that impact safety - excessively bright headlights, distracting animated turn signals, weird ass handles. Not all features are innovations, some are just bad ideas.
  - toomuchtodo 11mo ago
    That’s fair. I would also support pyrotechnic bolts or other systems similar to seat belt tensioners that cause doors to fail open upon impact. The primitives already exist to support isolating the high voltage battery pack in a crash event (triggered by airbag deployment) using a pyrotechnic switch. When Bad Thing happens, the vehicle should be designed to maximize occupant survival odds, including minimizing time to occupant extraction. https://xray.greyb.com/ev-battery/tesla-crash-protection-techniques-for-ev-batteries https://xray.greyb.com/ev-battery/tesla-crash-protection-tec...
    - shibapuppie 11mo ago
      The doors are part of the structural rigidity of a unibody vehicle. If you open the doors during or just before an impact, the car will fold like a tin can.
      - toomuchtodo 11mo ago
        After impact is when any action would occur. Many automakers are using either supercapacitors or some smaller battery and logic to enable doors to function after impact. My example of seat belt pretensioners wasn’t to demonstrate when the action would be taken, but that pyrotechnics and vehicle dynamics are components of orchestrating a controlled failure mode in the event of a crash. > General Motors Co. has since made the Corvette door’s emergency release handle more visible, the company said. Graphics on the handle, which lies on the floor next to the door, illustrate its function. GM also has added a “bystander access” feature on its e-doors to unlock them after a crash, so first responders or good Samaritans can free the occupants. > Stellantis NV engineered a similar system on Jeep and Dodge models with electric doors, where airbag deployment automatically unlocks all doors. Stellantis and Ford also have outfitted their electric doors with supercapacitors that act as a battery backup to keep the power flowing to the latches even when a car’s 12-volt battery has died. And Ford, in response to this year’s recall, updated the software on its Mach-E to keep electricity flowing to door handles for 12 minutes after the small battery that normally supplies them — separate from the electric car’s main battery pack — goes dead. https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-electric-car-doors/ https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2025-electric-car-doors/ | https://archive.today/YETme https://archive.today/YETme
- Rebelgecko 11mo ago
  I have a Hyundai and the handles are fine except when you forget to lock the car or they freeze shut
elmerfud 11mo ago
The fuel efficiency claims are nonsense. Golf balls would like to have a word with these engineers. They do it because it looks cool and futuristic. Just like replacing all of the physical switches with non-tactile touch-based things. Overall just reduces the vehicle's safety and increases the cost to repair. Door handles, by law should be mandated to be physical things. If you want a button that can automatically actuate the physical linkage that's fine but the handle itself should be a physical linkage to the latch.
euroderf 11mo ago
I feel the same way about door windows that don't have crank handles. Like, suddenly I have to place a lot of trust in the electrical system in all conditions. But I guess I'm just, um, cranky.

1970-01-01 11mo ago

>If automakers were that serious about drag reduction, we’d see many more EVs riding on smaller wheels. Has nothing to do with drag. EVs are heavy, and need big brakes to stop in an emergency. Wheels go over the brakes. Therefore, the wheels need to be big to fit the brakes. Smaller wheels mean longer braking distances. Nobody wants that.

seanmcdirmid 11mo ago
EVs rarely use brakes, and larger wheels reduce the efficiency of regen braking. But we are optimizing for the worst case where braking is needed, so a larger wheels reduce size is useful.
- 1970-01-01 11mo ago
  You physically can't fit smaller wheels on the car and pass safety tests. A 14" wheel on a Tesla or Kia EV means downsizing the brake rotor and caliper to an unsafe stopping distance.
  - treadmill 11mo ago
    Share the details of your calculations with us, please.
    - 1970-01-01 11mo ago
      https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/images/y2kgb27.gif https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/programadmin/images/y2kgb27.gif
      - fragmede 11mo ago
        rim size isn't in that equation.
        matt-attack 11mo ago