China to ban hidden door handles on cars starting in 2027(apnews.com)
apnews.com
China to ban hidden door handles on cars starting in 2027
https://apnews.com/article/china-car-door-handles-ev-tesla-0c8a310e8d5b38804a725ec698c84f8f
4 comments
Possibly dumb question from someone who's not Tesla-savvy: why would you want the door handle to retract the window slightly while opening the door?
The glass of the window does not have a frame. You want the glass to go into a rubber seal to really prevent air from getting in and whistling at high speeds. If there's a frame around it, then no problem, the seals move with the glass when you open the door. But if you don't have a frame then opening the door without retracting the glass will cause it to pull at the rubber seals. At best it'll wear the rubber faster, but eventually it'll pull the rubber seal out.
This is very common on cars where the windows don't have a frame. Before I had a Tesla I had a convertible Mustang. Because it was a soft top it didn't have the same kinds of seals. Instead it used lateral pressure to hold the window against some rubber. At freeway speeds the window would flex and let air in. Eventually the soft top started blocking the passenger side window from meeting the rubber, and there was always a 1/4" gap unless I rolled the window down a bit and then back up.
This is very common on cars where the windows don't have a frame. Before I had a Tesla I had a convertible Mustang. Because it was a soft top it didn't have the same kinds of seals. Instead it used lateral pressure to hold the window against some rubber. At freeway speeds the window would flex and let air in. Eventually the soft top started blocking the passenger side window from meeting the rubber, and there was always a 1/4" gap unless I rolled the window down a bit and then back up.
Cars are a weird world where there are a lot of small "I'm not sure anyone likes this" things that get rolled out and become almost defacto standards, despite being something that I'm not sure anyone likes it.
I'm looking at buying a new vehicle soon and there's so much to not like...
I'm looking at buying a new vehicle soon and there's so much to not like...
(In an old Tesla, as you pull the handle, you first actuate a switch that triggers the window to retract slightly and then, as you pull farther, you mechanically release the latch. It works very well.)