For almost as long as the jet engine has been around, car drivers have wanted to have just a slice of jet plane tech on four wheels. In the past that might have been taillights that looked like afterburners to gigantic fins that looked like airplane wings. Heck, some car and motorcycle designs have flirted with using engines that would normally live in planes or helicopters. But, here’s one more bit of tech that might be cool to see in cars.
One of the more annoying trends of modern cars is the flush door handle. You’ll find flush door handles on everything from the Volkswagen ID.4 to the Tesla Model X and these things rock when they work and suck when they don’t. Sure, they look cool, but they can sort of stop being door handles when the car’s 12V system stops working. Wuffles Cookie starts off on a good rant here but makes a great point:
This is just another example of half-assed product configuration decisions (I am 100% positive the engineers who have to implement these designs are doing so under protest) that, thanks to extensive lobbying, is still legal in world of personal automobiles when virtually every other form of transportation has required better solutions. You know what other industry really, really cares about aerodynamics? Aerospace. Most people may not have ever actually used the door handles on an airliner, but they are completely flush and as smooth of an aero surface as possible, and totally mechanical. This is effectively required by 14 CFR § 25.809, and there is no reason similar designs can’t be used in cars.
Heck yeah, I want aircraft door handles on my next car, please! While we’re at it, I’ll take one of those beefy turbofans, too. Today, we also found out that liberal use of the skinny pedal might be good for your EV’s battery. Where have we heard this before? From Angel “the Cobra” Martin:
Italian tune-up translates to the EV world. Excellent.
See also, DaChicken:
“No, Officer, I was just keeping my battery from degrading.”
Earlier today, David Tracy wrote an article about hood-based flashlights. Look, every once in a while, you get David writing about lights and Jason writing about Jeeps. I can’t wait for Adrian to write a love letter to Smart. Anyway, Sid Bridge is a light on a dark day:
Quite an illuminating feature. Thanks for shedding some light on it. It’s a shame these things were kind of a flash in the pan. I can definitely see the glow on you writing about it. One of the bonuses is that it probably doesn’t weigh that much – I’ll bet it’s pretty light. But it’s articles like this that let these things shine. It would be cool to drop that thing into a little canister and gentle lower it down so you can see an in-can-descent.
I can’t stop. I have a bank of these gawd-awful puns. Enough to fill-a-mint.
Somebody make my brain stop.
Have a great evening, everyone!
Topshot: Collins Aerospace
The sad thing is the Tesla 3 and Y door handles are fairly simple and MOSTLY mechanical, but then they put the stupid switch on the inside and expect you to use it, when the mechanical “backup” lever is RIGHT THERE and the more obvious way to open the door. But that doesn’t lower the window out of the seal. The smarter way would be a simple microswitch in the mechanical system to actuate the window drop, as done by a zillion other cars with frameless windows. It can’t possibly be more expensive to do it that way vs. making a “pretty” switch that is going to be touch a billion times in the life of the car. But I guess that wouldn’t be seen as “cool” enough. Oooo – I push a button to open my door, handles are SO 20th Century.
I have a friend who had a succession of Model S before his hubby had the 3 and the Y. Between the two over six years he had something like *13* failed door handles. Gee, do ya think that maybe doorhandles that have to electricly raise themselves out of a door might have issues in a car that isn’t garaged in a place that regularly gets *freezing rain*? Water gets in, freezes, then the crappy plastic mechnism eats itself. Fun!
A related side rant, saving a dollar by leaving out the keyhole in the trunk on cars where the battery is in the trunk and so making it miserable to open the trunk to get to the battery if the battery is disconnected should be just cause for beatings of all the accountants and engineers involved. At least put a *&^*^ mechanical backup pull inside the car if you are going to do that! Just a simple wire loop pull like the backup openers for locking gas flaps would be just fine. Though they have probably cost-cut those out of existence too.
I always knew Mercedes was a sucker for airplane-related comments! But yeah, your picture at the top is the perfect example- that little flap that says “PUSH” is just a spring-loaded cover you poke your hand in to grab the release handle. Implementing it on car would dead simple, and fewer and cheaper parts, with less warranty claims.
Dear Product Managers: Save money and keep your customers happy- just make a mechanical door release.
The aerodynamics of these door handles has zero impact on the range of a vehicle stuck in urban/suburban traffic, which is most of the time. You know what does impact range? 22″ wheels, but hey those look cool so we’ll give up some efficiency.
This reinforces my argument that design and styling are not the same thing. These decisions are stupid styling decisions. A good designer wouldn’t stand for this crap.
Wagon wheels on non-sporting cars are SO STUPID. Wheels need be no bigger than necessary to fit over the brakes. Which is why the whole huge wheel craze got started to begin – BTCC racing cars needed enormous wheels to fit over their enormous brake rotors, and here we are.
I agree very much about design (really engineering) vs. styling. Engineer the damned thing to make sense FIRST, then let the stylists loose on it.
Less unsprung weight, smaller, lighter wheels and less complicated plumbing: is there any reason why inboard brakes aren’t a thing?
Jaguar independent rear suspensions from the 60s through the 80s(?) used inboard brakes mounted right to the differential case essentially, and they are a notorious pain to service. So much so that there are forum posts of people converting their rears to have the more traditional outboard brakes from later series cars. The lower unsprung mass is definitely an advantage however.
Ah, yes, I’m not a wrencher but I can imagine just changing the pads must be a nightmare.
The flush door handles on my car are pretty airplane-like. Push on the front bit, the back part swings out, grab it and pull. A nice mechanical solution using a simple machine. None of them crazy electrons required.
Wuffle Cookies was right on point. If Subaru could have flush, mechanical door handles on the XT in 1985, it shouldn’t be a problem for any automaker to do so today. The electronic handles drive me nuts, especially the ones that look like normal door handles but are just pretending.
There’s a bunch of different examples of mechanical flush door handles. The GT-R and the C3 Corvette, for example. This is another example of an answer to a question nobody asked except for Elon. I am very sure that’s why “flush electric door handle” is the default on EVs. Because the Model S had them, and it set the design language. It’s just needless weight, complexity and hassle.
I’m still convinced all these crazy door handles are just a subtle flex on your friends and coworkers who take an extra 3 seconds to figure out how to use them. “My car is too fancy for the likes of your plebeian sensibilities. Now are we going to Cracker Barrel or Cheesecake Factory?”
My Ioniq 5 has stupid motorized handles that swing out from the doors when the car’s unlocked.
If I forget to lock the car or just don’t feel like locking it, I’d prefer my car not fly four “Hey, I’m unlocked!” flags.
Without owning a wind tunnel, I’m just going to have to guess that the aero gains of the flush handles are barely noticeable compared to something like removing a single exterior mirror.
Even if we accept that electric handles that pop out to be used are something consumers absolutely must have, it seems like having at least one door where the handle could be pushed in to open it if the power fails would be possible.
My favorite is the original MB 300SL. A small, ridged triangle with a hinge pin vertically behind it, extended out of the bodywork on an otherwise a flush metal square rod that, when pushed with a thumb revealed the actual lever that could then be pulled to open the door. Better built than any POS Tesla, too. Other cars have had a similar style and even the NA Miata had a handle that was pretty close to flush. The issue with the XT style was the flap could freeze up with ice and I don’t think they were all that durable (Plastic? Cheap cast metal? I can’t remember, but I remember seeing several damaged ones) and fingernails scratched the paint of the flap. Neither are insurmountable problems, though.
Can a story about light illumination be called a Bulb Fiction ?
With John TraVOLTa of course…