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- Hacker News
- The door handles on my early model 3 were chromed, and really stood out from the paint and were easy to find even in low light at night.
The door handles on my Y are blacked out and actually hard to find at night sometimes.
I don’t get Elons obsession with the black out look.
by QuiEgo - They could've made exterior door handles that look exactly the same as they currently do, but without adding all this additional fragile complexity: put them on a pivot, so you press one end and the other pops up so you can pull on it...
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61xdWAXl2ML.jpg
...no electricity required to operate those.
door handles that are "difficult to identify and operate because their colour is similar to the interior trim".
Except for those which still have chromed handles, I think this is the case for the majority of cars. It's not the colour that's the problem.
by userbinator - Hyundai is doing that at least in the Ionic 5by arlcode
- This current Chinese administration is great
Maybe Xi getting rid of generals in the party really helped many other high ranking officials step in line and step up in doing things for the people
by yieldcrv - "Great" except for those nagging problems in Xinjiang, that nasty business with trade in prisoner's organs, forced labour camps, lack of freedom of association and expression, the problem with people forcibly being disappeared by the state, the heavy omnipresent censorship and many other similarly repressive policies.by Leonard_of_Q
- Yes, limiting military power access to political power was a great move. 25 years ago, and limited military waste. This is also why I don't believe China will invade Taiwan anytime soon, removing military families removed most of the jingoist part of the CCP.
The issue now is that the CCP is now a millionaire club, which means China will probably soon start to devolve into the US, but without a lot of freedom and privacy rights US citizens have.
by orwin - Here's an example of a recessed door handle with the aerodynamic advantages, but without any of the controversies: https://i.shgcdn.com/1b51ebc9-f7a7-4caf-865a-ef5e190b8dd2/-/...
Here's a different way of doing it: https://stwinglist01.blob.core.windows.net/media/NarBC_ny/8e...
General aviation manufacturers figured this out decades and decades ago. I really don't understand the Tesla engineer mindset.
by ruicraveiro - China just continuing to be the super reasonable one.
I wonder if the USA will double down and make hidden door handles mandatory, or just try and place a tariff on normal doors.
by protocolture - Continuing?? Most Chinese domestic market cars can't be sold in the west because they're to dangerous or polluting. I'm sure they're getting stricter on both fronts but they're still behind developed countries.by foxglacier
- > I wonder if the USA will double down and make hidden door handles mandatory
As long as they’re steam-powered.
by phs318u - The recalled vehicles will have a warning label stuck on the interior door and receive a software update to automatically lower the windows in a crash.
The designs have come under scrutiny after two fatal crashes in China involving Xiaomi EVs, in which power failures were suspected to have prevented doors from being opened.
If the power fails, how will the windows open?
by ChoGGi - "they are difficult to open in case of power failure"
"We'll just open the windows automatically using the same power that was lost"
by vrighter - this is a good move by China, hopefully its the end of the line for hidden door handles for EV's everywhere. Some things are cool but impractical; others are cool but dangerous.by hunglee2
- I hope there's more "no, your 'luxury' feature is just unsafe."
Being unable to turn on the windshield wipers (not engage for a swipe, turn on) without fully taking eyes off the road to interact with the giant touch screen, that's going to get people killed. The #1 thing that convinced me Teslas are absolutely unfit to operate safely for many common actions was driving one at all.
by lelandbatey - The iPad controls are the main reason I never leased a Tesla, and also why I avoid being stuck behind one.by frollogaston
- The windshield wiper controls are a physical button plus physical scroll wheel on the steering wheel. You don't have to touch the touchscreen.by dllu
- To turn on the wipers you tap the button and scroll the wheel to select a speed. No touch screen required.by pfannkuchen
- Tesla also cheaped out and didn't use a normal rain sensor for the wipers to enable auto mode, instead using "Tesla Vision". I've heard nothing but bad things about it.
Rain sensing was a solved problem and Tesla un-solved it.
Covered in this Technology Connections video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLm7Q92xMjQ
by jerlam - You can install aftermarket stalks. They're actually quite good now, and are available for 3/Y, S/X. (don't know about truck) Some early models used adhesive (SEXY brand?), skip those.
In the end, I think tesla is just stupid.
- removing dashboard in front of driver (3, y, cybertruck)
- non-round steering thing (model s/x yoke, cybertruck squircle)
- removing stalks
- touch-sensitive buttons on steering wheel
- critical controls on the touchscreen, usually behind a swipe or two. for example can't locate defrost on touchscreen without swiping
- can't remove non-critical music player overlay
- hard to find or touch-sensitive buttons for hazard lights
- tiny targets on touchscreen (for a moving car)
- so much overloading on center console (for a moving car)
I could go on and on.
There are plenty of things they get right.
The original model s was ok. Not as "super-clean" looking, but you had stalks with buttons for fingertip access to many things 1) turn signals, headlights, wipers 2) self drive functions 3) gear select with present handles when you pressed park button 4) adjust steering wheel position;
The original model s interior door handles were good - the lever to open the door had two functions. Pull the lever a little bit and it would electronically trigger the door release solenoid. But the same lever, pull it further and it would mechanically open the door. So the same lever would open the door with power or without power, no need to discover something new in an emergency.
the older UIs were easier to use (in a moving car). more old-school looking, but more contrast and bigger targets.
by m463 - Good move. There's an interesting old article on the door handles here:
> https://medium.com/@arunchidambaram/is-teslas-door-handle-an...
In aerodynamic terms, door handles are nbd compared to side mirrors. Mirrors account for 6% of a car's aerodynamic drag. Door handles: roughly 0.2%. Basically they make no difference -- their effect is a rounding error -- and they were implemented for form-over-function style points.
by A_D_E_P_T - Is it not possible to build a mechanical handle with similar aero properties? It's the electronic activation that's at issue here, not the shape.by JeremyNT
- Would it help to add a surface behind the side mirrors so that it's more aerodynamic? I'm thinking something that stretches from the car body to the side mirrors.
Or could the side mirrors could be shaped like an airplane's wing so that the air displaces nicely?
It'd look weird, but I'd rather have the fuel efficiency.
by sillysaurusx - https://www.drive.com.au/news/tesla-car-makers-alliance-push...
I think Tesla looks for efficiencies wherever possible, and any alignment with aesthetic goals is an easy win.
by FeloniousHam - You know what's a bigger source of drag than mirrors? Open wheel wells.
If the Tesla door handles were really because they care that much about aerodynamics, their cars would look more like the 1st Gen Honda Insight.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honda_Insight#/media/File:Hond...
by diggernet - What i hear is that electric door handle is more of a manufacturing cost-saving measure than an aerodynamic saving.by cherioo
- It's not "recessed" that's the issue. It's "mechanical".[1] China is requiring door handles openable from both inside and outside without power, and without any difficulty finding the release.
Tesla model X manual: "Opening a Rear Door with No Power
To open the falcon wing doors in the unlikely situation when Model X has no power, carefully remove the speaker grille from the door and pull the mechanical release cable down and towards the front of the vehicle. After the latch is released, manually lift up the door."[2]
[1] https://global.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202602/03/WS69818ec6a310d...
[2] https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/modelx/en_us/GUID-AAD769C...
by Animats - in the unlikely situation when Model X has no power
carefully remove the speaker grille from the door and pull the mechanical release cable down and towards the front of the vehicle
This reads like satire.
by userbinator - I miss being able to simply wish folks ill and hope they get what they "deserve".
Instead, as I get older all I can think of is how horrible it would be to possesses some vague idea of escape but have to deal with a smoke or rising water while trying to discern the inobvious escape route to save you from the fancy grave you've dug for yourself.
Horror is a much less satisfying than schadenfreude.
by scarecrowbob - "You can open a rear door manually (if equipped) in the unlikely situation in which Model Y has no power:
Note: Not all Model Y vehicles are equipped with a manual release for the rear doors.
1. Remove the mat from the bottom of the rear door pocket.
2. Press the red tab to remove the access door.
3. Pull the mechanical release cable forward."
https://www.tesla.com/ownersmanual/2020_2024_modely/en_us/GU...
by diggernet - Hidden door handles, button open doors when inside the car, only touch screen buttons, rear red turn signal lights.
Reverse these trends. They all suck and unsafe.
Ok the rear red turn signal lights were already a trend in the US before Tesla. But please reverse this too. It's very difficult to see blinking red lights on the freeway when it's sunny. For you people out there who buy cars with red blinking signal lights, I hate you.
by aurareturn