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China Is Banning Tesla-Style Retractable Door Handles Over Safety Concerns
(www.autoblog.com)
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this post was submitted on 29 Dec 2025
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Is it really that hard to make one of those recessed handles with a mechanical linkage instead of an electric one?
Seems like the real issue is the electric door latch itself, not the style of handle.
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.
Yeah I'm not shocked the 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.
Oh those Honda engineers would have laughed and laughed. "Aluminum chassis and plastic body support?!" I can hear them say through hysterics.
Yeah, the style at the time was "rust chassis and paint is body support" tbh
Aluminum chassis is the one thing I ain't gonna give Tesla any shit about.
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.
They are not mechanical.
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.
Why do need this in the first place? So a 2 ton SUV can be 0.0058% more aerodynamic?
Yeah, it's hard. How is it going to come out while there's nothing to grab on to?
E: I dunno who's downvoting me or why. I'm vehemently opposed to electronic door handles of any kind. But if you're going to have door handles that protrude and retract, they're gonna have to necessarily have a motor to push out against ice.
You press on it, tons of Chinese cars already do this.
How does it come out when you press on it?
With a fucking spring.
That's not how fucking springs work.
Fucking springs can expand and contract.
You press it in and it pops out.
Idk I'm not a mechanical engineer.
why did i find this so funny
The lever point is offset such that when you press on the taller part of the handle, the front pops out and you can pull.
They freeze quite solid in icy conditions. It's really remarkable!
Yeah that's where I was going with this...