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Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

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21–30 of 160 posts

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#21

I hope there's more "no, your 'luxury' feature is just unsafe." Being unable to turn on the windshield wipers (not engage for a swipe, turn on) without fully taking eyes off the road to interact with the giant touch screen, that's going to get people killed. The #1 thing that convinced me Teslas are absolutely unfit to operate safely for many common actions was driving one at all.

To turn on the wipers you tap the button and scroll the wheel to select a speed. No touch screen required.

Reading and basic observational skills are required though. Apparently too much to ask.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#22

Good move. There's an interesting old article on the door handles here: > https://medium.com/@arunchidambaram/is-teslas-door-handle-an... In aerodynamic terms, door handles are nbd compared to side mirrors. Mirrors account for 6% of a car's aerodynamic drag. Door handles: roughly 0.2%. Basically they make no difference -- their effect is a rounding error -- and they were implemented for form-over-function style point…

Would it help to add a surface behind the side mirrors so that it's more aerodynamic? I'm thinking something that stretches from the car body to the side mirrors. Or could the side mirrors could be shaped like an airplane's wing so that the air displaces nicely? It'd look weird, but I'd rather have the fuel efficiency.

You could replace the mirrors with tiny cameras and screens inside the car, perhaps.

But not sure that would be legal.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#23

I hope there's more "no, your 'luxury' feature is just unsafe." Being unable to turn on the windshield wipers (not engage for a swipe, turn on) without fully taking eyes off the road to interact with the giant touch screen, that's going to get people killed. The #1 thing that convinced me Teslas are absolutely unfit to operate safely for many common actions was driving one at all.

To turn on the wipers you tap the button and scroll the wheel to select a speed. No touch screen required.

Owner of a Model 3 here: I absolutely need to look at the screen to know what speed it's set to, or if I've accidentally turned it to "Off" or "Auto". The scroll wheel does not tell me this.

It's very different from traditional wiper controls in older cars, where the slider/wheel has a hard stop at min and max, and you can pick the right setting entirely by feel.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#24

I hope there's more "no, your 'luxury' feature is just unsafe." Being unable to turn on the windshield wipers (not engage for a swipe, turn on) without fully taking eyes off the road to interact with the giant touch screen, that's going to get people killed. The #1 thing that convinced me Teslas are absolutely unfit to operate safely for many common actions was driving one at all.

You can install aftermarket stalks. They're actually quite good now, and are available for 3/Y, S/X. (don't know about truck) Some early models used adhesive (SEXY brand?), skip those.

In the end, I think tesla is just stupid.

- removing dashboard in front of driver (3, y, cybertruck)

- non-round steering thing (model s/x yoke, cybertruck squircle)

- removing stalks

- touch-sensitive buttons on steering wheel

- critical controls on the touchscreen, usually behind a swipe or two. for example can't locate defrost on touchscreen without swiping

- can't remove non-critical music player overlay

- hard to find or touch-sensitive buttons for hazard lights

- tiny targets on touchscreen (for a moving car)

- so much overloading on center console (for a moving car)

I could go on and on.

There are plenty of things they get right.

The original model s was ok. Not as "super-clean" looking, but you had stalks with buttons for fingertip access to many things 1) turn signals, headlights, wipers 2) self drive functions 3) gear select with present handles when you pressed park button 4) adjust steering wheel position;

The original model s interior door handles were good - the lever to open the door had two functions. Pull the lever a little bit and it would electronically trigger the door release solenoid. But the same lever, pull it further and it would mechanically open the door. So the same lever would open the door with power or without power, no need to discover something new in an emergency.

the older UIs were easier to use (in a moving car). more old-school looking, but more contrast and bigger targets.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#25
post #24

I hope there's more "no, your 'luxury' feature is just unsafe." Being unable to turn on the windshield wipers (not engage for a swipe, turn on) without fully taking eyes off the road to interact with the giant touch screen, that's going to get people killed. The #1 thing that convinced me Teslas are absolutely unfit to operate safely for many common actions was driving one at all.

You can install aftermarket stalks. They're actually quite good now, and are available for 3/Y, S/X. (don't know about truck) Some early models used adhesive (SEXY brand?), skip those. In the end, I think tesla is just stupid. - removing dashboard in front of driver (3, y, cybertruck) - non-round steering thing (model s/x yoke, cybertruck squircle) - removing stalks - touch-sensitive buttons on steering wheel - criti…

Yeah, everything about it seems trying too hard to be cool. My friend let me drive his new Tesla for a bit and I was like nah. Then a month later he was complaining to me how annoying it is to activate blinkers on it.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#27

Hidden door handles, button open doors when inside the car, only touch screen buttons, rear red turn signal lights. Reverse these trends. They all suck and unsafe. Ok the rear red turn signal lights were already a trend in the US before Tesla. But please reverse this too. It's very difficult to see blinking red lights on the freeway when it's sunny. For you people out there who buy cars with red blinking signal light…

Allowing Silicon Valley dorks to redefine the established UIs of cars was one of the biggest mistakes of the last 10 years. Ultimately it's cost shaving, but it spread like a cancer to other manufacturers owing mostly to a TikTok-brained customer base (to their own detriment). It's one of the reasons I refuse to own a new car. Zero reason to hide critical controls behind a touch screen. My daily driver has all tactil…

It's probably because they started mandating reverse cameras. Which is great, but any cars without screens suddenly had them. At that point, it was probably cheaper to put the rest of the functionality on the screen.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#28
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would it help to add a surface behind the side mirrors so that it's more aerodynamic? I'm thinking something that stretches from the car body to the side mirrors. Or could the side mirrors could be shaped like an airplane's wing so that the air displaces nicely? It'd look weird, but I'd rather have the fuel efficiency.

You could replace the mirrors with tiny cameras and screens inside the car, perhaps. But not sure that would be legal.

That’s what big trucks use. Because you can use wide angle cameras and actually see more.

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#29
post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could replace the mirrors with tiny cameras and screens inside the car, perhaps. But not sure that would be legal.

That’s what big trucks use. Because you can use wide angle cameras and actually see more.

These days you could probably even stitch together images from multiple cameras?

Re: Nearly 3M Teslas recalled in China over hidden door handles

#30

China just continuing to be the super reasonable one. I wonder if the USA will double down and make hidden door handles mandatory, or just try and place a tariff on normal doors.

Continuing?? Most Chinese domestic market cars can't be sold in the west because they're to dangerous or polluting. I'm sure they're getting stricter on both fronts but they're still behind developed countries.
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