China Bans Retractable EV Door Handles Over Safety Concerns
China will ban retractable car handles beginning Jan. 1, 2027
Under the proposed rules, vehicles weighing less than 3.5 tons must be equipped with interior and exterior car door handles that include a mechanical emergency opening function. The requirement is intended to ensure doors can be opened during power failures or after collisions.
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Sounds sensible to me.
Why are these even a thing to begin with? Do they offer any material benefit over a regular mechanical handle? It seems like a pretty substantial failure point to introduce for something purely aesthetic.
I’ve heard it’s about aerodynamics but I can’t imagine either a divot for the underside of the handle or even a handle sticking out entirely makes THAT much range difference.
Ya, it doesn’t. It’s purely a marketing gimmick.
that may be it. The aptera does not have one at all and uses a knock to open thing and its main thing and the thing they are super obsesive with is aerodynamics.
What a weird, niche, awesome car.
its history is crazy to. Way back when the guys doing aptera tried to do it as a super fuel efficient gas car. It did not go forward but people got their kickstarter money back which was one thing that made me more excited about the guys in this new one. Funny thing is I think hybrid and electric was kinda one reason it did not go originally. Here is the funny part though. As part of winding down the original they sold the patents to make what they needed to be fair to everyone and went sorta their seperate ways. Its years later and electric cars are a real and working thing, solar panels are way better/cheaper, and they are together and they are like. This would be great for a super electric car. It could run on its own solar power. So they are like. What did places ever do with the patents. They looked them up and found they could buy them back real cheap and whelp. that is how this new itteration came to be.
Soooo that would also be against this rule. As would all the capacitive touch ones.
I would think. it requires a physical one.
because elon musk , tesla started doing it, he said something along the lines it doesnt look cool.
It's weird seeing a government regulate something for the betterment of society and its citizens. I didn't know that happened anymore.
Are you a tankie /s
Communist China Gov. also banned Human Rights Layers!
Wake-up!
Why the limit of 3.5 tons?
I guess vehicles above that weight aren't considers 'cars'
In Singapore you can only drive a vehicles of 3,000KG or less with a car driving licence.
I suppose it's similar in China
I believe it could've come from the same root, probably USSR. Russia too has a 3,5 tons line to divide between driving licenses' tiers.
Separate regulations for different vehicle classes
The Chinese? The goddanm Chinese figured this out first? This is a new low for the state of regulations in the EU.
::: spoiler The good place where Jason's the one :::
Our new Equinox EV has the retractable handles, but you can always push in on the pivot side to reveal the handle. This allows the doors to open normally when the handle can't be retracted.
Well done China. Thank you for the influence this will have on car makers and regulators worldwide.
God someone should ban that shit, i fucking hate how janky handles are now. Why make something so much worse for no benefit???
Not sure why this would be a ban as long as they can be manually manipulated while "closed". Push/pop kinda deal.
Yeah, thats the problem. Several car makers can't be manually manipulated when closed, especially when the battery is disconnected.
Right, which is why I'm surprised the solution is posited as "no more recessed door handles" rather than "failsafe mechanical mechanism". Either something is missing here, there was a failure of imagination from the author, or it was disingenuous framing.