Retractable Door Handles - Is It Practical?

[AnOutsider]

Isnt it a bit premature to be writing them off? I might be mistaken, but it seems like the feedback on the most recent betas (RCs?) is that they work pretty well and don't feel cheap. Considering that's not even the final version, I think that's a great start. We're getting down to the finish line now and we're going to see rapid improvements as they cross the final t's.

It wasn't too long ago folks were talking about the sluggishness of the touchscreen, while now it seems like every time someone plays with one we discover it not only seems snappier but has more and more functionality fleshed out.

Perhaps I'm biased in my thinking since I'd like to see the handles stay (and generally dislike the Aston handles), but I think the problems we have with them will be minimal. If not, Tesla should be embarrassed since that's something they've had at least 3 years to iron out, and it isn't like they needed to wait on newer battery tech to get around to it.

 

[Doug_G]

This reminds me of NASA figuring out how Astronauts would write in space. They spent a ton of time and money coming up with a pressurized pen. The Russians simply used pencils.

Urban legend - FALSE according to Snopes.

 

[vfx]

Urban legend - FALSE according to Snopes.

Thanks for that.

Confirms what I know about supplying for military/NASA etc. With a zero-fail policy they ask for hammers, screwdrivers, toilet seats, whatever, to endure and be fully functional well below zero and at extreme temperatures Weight, ergonomics with heavy gloves (or space gloves), collapsible, and dozens of other obscure but no-fail requirements is why milspec items cost so much (let alone manufacturers often making objects that have no commercial use in civilian life to recoup expenses.

Do you want o be hitting a moon rock with you space hammer and have it shatter far far way from a hardware store? No? It's gonna cost you.

 

[SByer]

When I interned at an aerospace company many, many years ago, my mentor once told me, 'You know all those sparkly things you see when they open the shuttle bay doors? Non-mil-spec screws and parts.'

 

[onlinespending]

Isnt it a bit premature to be writing them off? I might be mistaken, but it seems like the feedback on the most recent betas (RCs?) is that they work pretty well and don't feel cheap. Considering that's not even the final version, I think that's a great start. We're getting down to the finish line now and we're going to see rapid improvements as they cross the final t's.

It wasn't too long ago folks were talking about the sluggishness of the touchscreen, while now it seems like every time someone plays with one we discover it not only seems snappier but has more and more functionality fleshed out.

Perhaps I'm biased in my thinking since I'd like to see the handles stay (and generally dislike the Aston handles), but I think the problems we have with them will be minimal. If not, Tesla should be embarrassed since that's something they've had at least 3 years to iron out, and it isn't like they needed to wait on newer battery tech to get around to it.

I'm with ya. Lets keep the retractable handles as they are. They're cool and add a little cachet to the car (as if it really needed any more). Just imagine the reaction you'll get from people. First they'll see the car and say in disbelief "THIIISSS is an electric car? I thought all electric cars would look like fugly Priuses". And then they'll go for the door handle and become weak at the knees at the sight of the retracting mechanism. And once they get inside and see the 17" touchscreen they may just faint. But once they come to their sense and drive the thing, well then their head will explode!

 

[vfx]

...Just imagine the reaction you'll get from people. First they'll see the car and say in disbelief "THIIISSS is an electric car? I thought all electric cars would look like fugly Priuses". And then they'll go for the door handle and become weak at the knees at the sight of the retracting mechanism. And once they get inside and see the 17" touchscreen they may just faint. But once they come to their sense and drive the thing, well then their head will explode!

I think you just described Elon's brain.

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

I'm with ya. Lets keep the retractable handles as they are. They're cool and add a little cachet to the car (as if it really needed any more). Just imagine the reaction you'll get from people. First they'll see the car and say in disbelief "THIIISSS is an electric car? I thought all electric cars would look like fugly Priuses". And then they'll go for the door handle and become weak at the knees at the sight of the retracting mechanism. And once they get inside and see the 17" touchscreen they may just faint. But once they come to their sense and drive the thing, well then their head will explode!

Let's just hope that too many folks don't drop dead And, make that fugly Leaves!

 

[smorgasbord]

Just imagine the reaction you'll get from people.

You mean laughter when we're unable to get into our vehicles because the handles don't work, right? Come 'on: You really think we won't have a thread here about Model S owners frustrated that their handles don't extend when they want them to?

Sorry to be such a downer on this, but I've seen a lot of Betas. Of the 2 dozen or so times I've gone to Santana Row, I recall the handles working just once. And they were all so proud of that. Last week they were "turned off." Maybe the handles work better with the key fob owner around, but there are so many scenarios where someone other than the person holding the key will want to open a door from the outside. Your family loading up for a trip. Unloading the car while you're inside unpacking groceries. A car wash (oh, that's right, like the Roadster all Model S owners will wash their own cars).

IMO, if you want to look cool, get a Fisker. Tesla should be about practical technology that just works.

 

[onlinespending]

Maybe the handles work better with the key fob owner around, but there are so many scenarios where someone other than the person holding the key will want to open a door from the outside. Your family loading up for a trip. Unloading the car while you're inside unpacking groceries. A car wash (oh, that's right, like the Roadster all Model S owners will wash their own cars).

How is this different than any other keyless entry system? I imagine when you unlock the doors from the key fob, all door handles will extend open, allowing anyone to open the doors. They should certainly make it such that the door handles are extended when the doors are unlocked.

 

[smorgasbord]

How is this different than any other keyless entry system? I imagine when you unlock the doors from the key fob, all door handles will extend open, allowing anyone to open the doors. They should certainly make it such that the door handles are extended when the doors are unlocked.

Tesla has not made UNLOCKED == HANDLES EXTENDED at all times. That means that the handles retract on their own even if the doors remain unlocked. That means you need some way to tell the car to extend them. That means you've now replaced the one single motion of pulling on a handle to open the door with two motions separated by a wait - a push in followed by a waiting, then a pulling of the extended handle.

Now, tell me how in any way that's better. It's not.

Tesla's door handles will go the way of LED watches. People thought those were pretty cool at one time. Then they got tired of having to use two hands and an extra motion just to see the time.

 

[AnOutsider]

At this point... they're staying, and they're even on the Model X.

Milk. Spilled. Now let's see how it tastes

 

[gg_got_a_tesla]

Tesla has not made UNLOCKED == HANDLES EXTENDED at all times. That means that the handles retract on their own even if the doors remain unlocked. That means you need some way to tell the car to extend them. That means you've now replaced the one single motion of pulling on a handle to open the door with two motions separated by a wait - a push in followed by a waiting, then a pulling of the extended handle.

I hope Tesla folks are watching this thread. As some of us suggested before, this is all that Tesla should think about changing. They can still have the cool, flush handles but only when the car's locked and/or moving! Otherwise, if the car is stationary and unlocked, please keep the handles open! Atleast introduce a setting in the touchscreen that optionally makes this behavior happen rather than the current one.

 

[Todd Burch]

Smorgasbord: I understand your concerns. They are valid.

GG, my fellow Illini, I agree, and I think Tesla will go this route.

I have a feeling Tesla will get this right. Elon is big on the experience of the car. He drives the S quite a bit. If the handles annoy him, I'm sure he'll get the behavior changed.

 

[ckessel]

I don't imagine the handle failure rate would be any worse than pop up headlights, which are extremely reliable. That's not to say they don't fail once in a great while, but it's so low a rate that it's probably not worth considering.

 

[smorgasbord]

Otherwise, if the car is stationary and unlocked, please keep the handles open!

It's more complicated than that. First, you probably mean the car has to be in PARK and unlocked. Otherwise, you'll have handles extending at stoplights and freeway traffic jams - unless the car always automatically locks itself when driven above 5 mph or something. And even then there are issues: if you leave the car unlocked, everyone will instantly know it. And then is there any impact of leaving the handles extended long term, exposed to weather? I'm sure there are other issues as well, including that Elon won't think leaving the handles extended looks "cool." And coolness is what all this nonsense is about, after all.

Does Model S have a driver safety mode? On my X5, the first unlock command unlocks only the driver's door - that helps prevent people from jumping in with you. If the car unlocks when you PARK it, that can be a safety problem as well, so you need a lock/unlock within the car, which I'm guessing has to be on the touchscreen. How convenient is that? It might be more convenient if it has separate "unlock driver's door" and "unlock all doors" buttons. It's surprising how complicated even normal car lock/unlock scenarios can be, and now we've got another variable in the handle retraction to deal with.

As for Elon, what works for a divorced, workaholic father may not work for a single person or a married person with or without kids. For instance, having the seat and mirror settings tied to one of 2 key fobs doesn't work in my family of 3 drivers. Not to mention that with multiple cars/drivers we don't each have every car's key on our personal keychains, but instead have a dish by the front door that nominally holds one of each car's key with a house key. That way, we take the key for the car we're taking. Now, we'll be forced to use separate key fobs for the different drivers, and figure out how to share 2 fob with 3 people of varying heights. My X5 has 3 buttons for seat/mirror memory.

Bottom line is that works for Elon may not work for me nor you. I'm expecting to live with a certain level of frustration, but to me, retractable door handles is Tesla going out of their way to make owner's lives harder for the sake of coolness that, like LED watches and leisure suits, won't last.

 

[smorgasbord]

I don't imagine the handle failure rate would be any worse than pop up headlights, which are extremely reliable. That's not to say they don't fail once in a great while, but it's so low a rate that it's probably not worth considering.

From Car & Driver

With time, the motors and electrical equipment of pop-ups inevitably failed. An epidemic ensued of winking cars (one side open, the other closed) and cars with headlights perpetually popped open.

 

[onlinespending]

Tesla has not made UNLOCKED == HANDLES EXTENDED at all times. That means that the handles retract on their own even if the doors remain unlocked. That means you need some way to tell the car to extend them. That means you've now replaced the one single motion of pulling on a handle to open the door with two motions separated by a wait - a push in followed by a waiting, then a pulling of the extended handle.

Now, tell me how in any way that's better. It's not.

Tesla's door handles will go the way of LED watches. People thought those were pretty cool at one time. Then they got tired of having to use two hands and an extra motion just to see the time.

Relax. We haven't seen the final implementation. You've given Tesla the benefit of the doubt on many things, so we should see how the final door handles operate. And even if they somehow drop the ball, this is certainly something that could be fixed by a software upgrade in short order.

I was going to suggest the same thing GG did. They should at least allow the option to make it such that the door handles do not retract when the doors are either unlocked, or if the car is in not in park. Most new cars automatically lock the doors once the car has begun moving beyond a certain speed, which is controlled by the onboard computer. They can certainly allow a similar thing, but tie it in to how the handles retract/extend.

 

[smorgasbord]

Watch this and tell me how it can be as convenient and fast as a normal door handle:

Notice also that it retracts after the door has closed, but is not locked.

 

[ckessel]

Watch this and tell me how it can be as convenient and fast as a normal door handle:

You seem to be set in your opinion, so I'm not sure this matters, but I don't see how that's much different from the oodles of "push to open" things I own. My RX8 has push-to-open overhead thing to store my sunglasses (or garage door remote) in. My stereo cabinet is a push to open glass door. The little door on my TV to get to the manual controls is push to open.

Push to open is pretty common.

 

[doug]

Watch this and tell me how it can be as convenient and fast as a normal door handle:

Notice also that it retracts after the door has closed, but is not locked.

Well, can't please all of the people all of the time. All I know is that video was pretty cool.