Finger almost got crushed by the door handle

[gkiratbajwa]

I recently purchased a 23 Taycan RWD and have been having a great experience with it, with some expected hiccups. But I didn't expect to get almost injured while opening the car door.

The car was in an unlocked state with the door handles extended out. I was about to open the door by placing my fingers under the handle when one of my friends touched the locking dimple on the other door which triggered the locking mechanism of the car. They were holding a key in the hand so it wasn't an unexpected behavior. But the handles started to retract while my fingers were already underneath a handle. I was able to pull them out quickly before it closed completely but it did manage to crush some of my fingers. Hurt a lot for a minute or so, but I recovered soon after.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? I thought the car would be smart enough to not retract the handles while my fingers are underneath. What is the expected behavior in such a case. I don't wanna give it another try since it may damage the handle motors or my fingers.

EDIT: For anyone reading this thread now, it turned out to be a nothing burger since the handles are spring-loaded and won't retract with enough force to damage the fingers. Link to my latest reply: here

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[AHayat]

I recently purchased a 23 Taycan RWD and have been having a great experience with it, with some expected hiccups. But I didn't expect to get almost injured while opening the car door.

The car was in an unlocked state with the door handles extended out. I was about to open the door by placing my fingers under the handle when one of my friends touched the locking dimple on the other door which triggered the locking mechanism of the car. They were holding a key in the hand so it wasn't an unexpected behavior. But the handles started to retract while my fingers were already underneath a handle. I was able to pull them out quickly before it closed completely but it did manage to crush some of my fingers. Hurt a lot for a minute or so, but I recovered soon after.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? I thought the car would be smart enough to not retract the handles while my fingers are underneath. What is the expected behavior in such a case. I don't wanna give it another try since it may damage the handle motors or my fingers.

Not to this extent but the car has tried to lock itself without any reason and with me holding the key

 

[Ross]

Ouch
Another reason not to get Comfort Access?

 

[f1eng]

but it did manage to crush some of my fingers. Hurt a lot for a minute or so, but I recovered soon after.

I find this strange.

The back of the handle is spring loaded so, on mine at least, couldn’t crush a finger, the spring isn’t stiff enough, nor the retraction motor powerful enough.

My car retracts the handles after a while anyway even when unlocked, and you just push your fingers behind the spring loaded handle and open it, no problem.

At first I used to press the unlock button so the handle pops out, but having the sprung back means it isn’t necessary, it is easy to open from the retracted position when unlocked..

 

[Donlam]

I own many cars with keyless entry in the past. Taycan doors handle is one of the best design. I don't have any problem and I like it!

 

[masmole]

Happened to me before, but you don’t have to worry, it’s spring loaded so it won’t injure you or even leave a mark if you left your fingers in there. “Almost got crushed by the door handle” is quite the overreaction though! I suppose that if one had long manicured fingernails like some women I know, it could possibly break those. But no fingers will be crushed and I’m pretty sure Porsche wouldn’t sell such a car in the US if its door handles could do that.

 

[Tighlines]

I don't have too many gripes with the car but one of them would be the door handles. The car doesn't always connect with the FOB and I find myself waiting and waving for the car to unlock, which is frustrating. Sometimes I even have to pull the FOB out and unlock it. But, it works fine the majority of the time.

 

[CarbonTax]

Ouch
Another reason not to get Comfort Access?

it

Happened to me before, but you don’t have to worry, it’s spring loaded so it won’t injure you or even leave a mark if you left your fingers in there. “Almost got crushed by the door handle” is quite the overreaction though! I suppose that if one had long manicured fingernails like some women I know, it could possibly break those. But no fingers will be crushed and I’m pretty sure Porsche wouldn’t sell such a car in the US if its door handles could do that.

I would venture to say that the taycan demographic includes a few inspirational guitar or keyboard musicians including the Zuffenhausen employees and this occurrence (which I've also encountered) is harmless? yet a bit unnerving

 

[rim23]

I don't have too many gripes with the car but one of them would be the door handles. The car doesn't always connect with the FOB and I find myself waiting and waving for the car to unlock, which is frustrating. Sometimes I even have to pull the FOB out and unlock it. But, it works fine the majority of the time.

Change the batteries in your key fobs

 

[gkiratbajwa]

Thanks a lot everyone. It just seems like an overreaction then. I just got scared after one incident where the fingers were definitely hurt but recovered soon after. It was mostly around the nails, so could have just been due to an unfortunate angle of my finger placement. Or it might have been because of the way I yanked my hand out during the retraction, scared that it'll get caught.

But I'm glad to know it's spring loaded so I don't have to worry even if my fingers simply get stuck while it is retracting. I don't need to be paranoid anymore.

 

[Tighlines]

Change the batteries in your key fobs

The car is 2 months old with 1,200 miles on it.

 

[PDACPA]

It is the interior handle that pinches your skin. They have a stronger retraction and if you grab it and it does not open and snaps back it can catch your skin. Minor thing, but I have heard of others saying it did the same, but not the outside handle.

 

[rim23]

The car is 2 months old with 1,200 miles on it.

It doesn’t matter there were reports when the batteries were almost dead in cars similar age as yours. You can’t know how new the battery was before it was installed to your keys. Changing that is a matter of couple of euros. So why not to give it a try?

 

[McgR]

I recently purchased a 23 Taycan RWD and have been having a great experience with it, with some expected hiccups. But I didn't expect to get almost injured while opening the car door.

The car was in an unlocked state with the door handles extended out. I was about to open the door by placing my fingers under the handle when one of my friends touched the locking dimple on the other door which triggered the locking mechanism of the car. They were holding a key in the hand so it wasn't an unexpected behavior. But the handles started to retract while my fingers were already underneath a handle. I was able to pull them out quickly before it closed completely but it did manage to crush some of my fingers. Hurt a lot for a minute or so, but I recovered soon after.

Has this ever happened to anyone else? I thought the car would be smart enough to not retract the handles while my fingers are underneath. What is the expected behavior in such a case. I don't wanna give it another try since it may damage the handle motors or my fingers.

I have had the same. A couple of times. Also a problem with locking the doors and reopening. They know about the problem but don’t have a solution yet.

It was actually a spontaneous action from the car not started by someone else like in your case.

I don’t agree with the reports above. The door handles retracted mechanically and almost crushed my fingers if I didn’t pull them away. It’s not spring loaded.

 

[f1eng]

It’s not spring loaded.

Yours must be different to my 2022 model then.

Mine definitely have a spring loaded back and pushing fingers up behind the handle when retracted springs the rear section of the handle out of the way so there is room for fingers behind the handle even when retracted.
This means the doors are easy to open even with retracted handles - as long as unlocked of course.

I can’t imagine any logic in fitting finger crushing motors to retract the handles, either from an engineering or safety point of view.
It would be stupid.

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