Summary: It is imperative to standardize hidden door handles.

(By / Observer Net, Zhou Shengming; Editor / Gao Xin)

According to a report by Bloomberg on September 18, Tesla is redesigning the door handles, planning to integrate the current "mechanical + electronic" door opening mechanism into a single operation.

Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla's chief designer, told Bloomberg that this is to allow passengers to open the doors more intuitively in "panic situations."

"Combining the electronic and mechanical mechanisms makes sense. This is what we are doing," he said.

Currently, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the United States is investigating potential safety defects in Tesla car doors.

China has taken it a step further: the safety technical requirements for car door handles will become mandatory national standards, and the relevant standards are expected to be officially issued soon.

Tesla Under Regulatory Investigation

Currently, Tesla's external door handles are fully concealed and use an electronic release mechanism, making the process of opening from the outside relatively complex. According to reports, passengers need to first press one side of the door handle with their thumb to lift it, then pull it with their palm to open the door.

Tesla External Door Handle Tesla

Additionally, Tesla's internal door uses a button-style opening, and a "mechanical emergency door opening lever" is set in front of the window control buttons as a safety redundancy, but its appearance and position are relatively hidden.

Tesla Internal Door Handle Tesla

As a comparison, traditional non-hidden mechanical door handles only require pulling them once to open the door.

Non-hidden Mechanical Door Handle Source: Network

A study by Bloomberg found that in multiple accidents involving Tesla in the United States, some passengers were unable to open the car doors from inside due to power failure, resulting in injuries or even deaths.

It is reported that since 2018, NHTSA has received over 140 consumer complaints about Tesla car doors being stuck, unable to open, or malfunctioning.

Notably, this week, NHTSA formally launched an investigation into approximately 174,000 2021 model Tesla Model Y vehicles, as the external handles may fail, potentially causing children to be trapped inside. NHTSA stated that the investigation will also assess the power supply method of the car door locks and the reliability of the related power sources.

Franz von Holzhausen did not disclose details about the redesigned door handles to Bloomberg, nor did he explain why this decision was announced at this time.

China to Issue Mandatory Standards

Observer Net noted that on May 8 this year, the Science and Technology Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology publicly solicited opinions on the revision plan for the mandatory national standard "Safety Technical Requirements for Automotive Door Handles," with the deadline for comments set for June 7, 2025.

Screenshot of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology website

The project proposal for the mandatory national standard "Safety Technical Requirements for Automotive Door Handles" published by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (hereinafter referred to as the "Proposal") states that in recent years, with the rapid development of automotive electrification and intelligence, hidden door handles have been widely used due to their aesthetics and strong sense of technology.

The Proposal mentions that currently, the products of door handles on the market show a trend of diversified working principles and forms. During the application process, the following problems have emerged: insufficient strength, potential safety risks in control logic, difficulty in identification and operation (hidden without signs), power failure failure, hand entrapment, and potential risks for escape and rescue.

These issues pose potential risks for escape and rescue. For example, in accidents such as collisions and fires, power outages can cause electric external door handles and electric internal door handles to fail, increasing obstacles for rescue and escape; the lack of clear and unified signs increases the difficulty of operations in emergencies.

The Proposal states that from the perspective of rescue and escape, it is necessary to strengthen the safety logic of the external door handles of cars in accident scenarios such as collisions and vehicle fires, add safety redundancy design requirements such as mechanical or power-off protection, and ensure that the car door system can be opened during power outages and collisions, thus enabling rescue and escape activities.

Additionally, the Proposal mentions that it is necessary to ensure that in rollover and fall accidents, the door handles do not function accidentally, thereby reducing the risk of passengers falling out; to standardize the easily identifiable safety markings of hidden internal door handles and emergency internal door handles, ensuring the visibility of the marks, thus reducing the difficulty of escape for passengers in emergencies; to ensure the structural strength of the door handles, preventing the loss of the function of the door lock operating mechanism after an accident.

With the end of the public comment period for the mandatory national standard "Safety Technical Requirements for Automotive Door Handles," the relevant standards are expected to be officially initiated for formulation, and China may see its first mandatory safety standard for door handles.

This article is an exclusive article by Observer Net. Reproduction without permission is prohibited.

Original: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7551749781962473993/

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