Can retracting door handles hurt a kid's hands?

[hemants]

Thoughts?

 

[stevezzzz]

No. It can surprise you, but spring force is low enough that it won't hurt you. Happens to me regularly if I happen to reach for the door handle just as the car starts to lock the doors.

 

[Killface]

What stevezzzz said. My hands get caught in there at least twice every time I wash my car. I can't imagine it hurting anyone, and two of my kids are real babies when it comes to pain.

 

[nwdiver]

This person apparently didn't know how to use their fob to lock the car... FF to ~0.35...

 

[Alysashley79]

Nope doesn't hurt a bit. My kids are 9 & 7. They've both reached for the handle to late and its closed on their hands and fingers. Surprised them yes...hurt...no...(they were 8 & 6 when we took delivery)

 

[pgiralt]

No, my kids have done it on purpose just to show me that it doesn't hurt.

 

[Brass Guy]

No. They retract with springs only. You can easily pull them out all the way if your hand is in there. It's actually easier to slide a hand out by pulling the handle out first, and then small knuckles won't scrape against the door.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Sometimes kids cry when something unexpected happens, not because it actually hurt. I can see a kid crying over something like this, but it wouldn't actually hurt them.

 

[flyboyzz1]

At the risk of sounding weaker than all your kids, I have to say a few days after I took delivery of my MS I hit the lock button when my hand was in there. As the handle started to close I started to pull my hand out. The handle caught the tip of my finger and I have to say, it hurt. Nothing crazy but it did in fact hurt.

 

[Banahogg]

An old thread with a live test: Tesla Door Handles - Child Safety Test !!

 

[supratachophobia]

I've tried most of my body parts and none of them have hurt. But they could definitely surprise you if you weren't expecting it. Kids especially as someone else mentioned.

 

[Todd Burch]

I've tried most of my body parts and none of them have hurt. But they could definitely surprise you if you weren't expecting it. Kids especially as someone else mentioned.

There's a D joke in there somewhere...

 

[dark]

The handle hurts my kids when it is under the sun. That thing is hot and burns.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

I agree with both observations from this thread - usually it hasn't hurt me, but in some corner cases maybe a little:

If indeed the finger(s) get caught partially while it is retracting, it can feel a lot more forceful than it actually is - once it nibbled at my finger tips a little and it hurt. I guess in this scenario the handle has reached "maximum" energy while closing and the fingertip, moving upwards, doesn't provide enough of a counter, so the soft tissue on the head of the finger gets pinched (and may give the sensation that you just avoided something bad happening, although in reality it was as bad as it could get).

Then again, just this week I went to try and open the car while it started to retract at the same time, got my full hand inside the handle as it was closing and it didn't hurt, instead it sort of was or went limp. I could pull out the handle very easily (just like the kid does on #10 link as she pulls out her hand), like it were broken or something, but it refused to open the door at this point. I pulled it out a couple of times, finally let go because it was doing nothing, and it retracted (and once it did that, allowed me to normally push the closed handle to extract it and open the door).

In the video link in #4, I would expect the person actually could have pulled the handle towards themselves easily had they tried and thus released their hand from there more easily. I know I could - and the kid in #10 could.

A small amount of ice that had formed over the top of the handle is enough to not let it close.

The way the closed handles open, though, that is quite forceful as anyone in colder climates with ice over the car can testify - the bang it creates when breaking through an ice-sheet is an experience in itself, has startled me a few times. I can see that opening operation hurting if that hit anyone standing very close. It probably isn't a good idea to have a child rest their head on the handle when it opens.