Finger almost got crushed by the door handle

[BMonte13]

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.

Sounds about right. I’d say about 80% of the time it works and 20% I have to take out the FOB to unlock. It makes the day interesting. Kind of. Maybe.

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[outie]

If what you said was real, my 3 kids and I would have no fingers left by now. I don’t remember how many times we’ve been crushed.

 

[fullmetalbaal]

I don't think it will crush fingers. But I have seen it painfully pinch.
It's spring loaded, but it packs quite some strength. I've had kids get their fingers/hands pinched before.

Overall, this is another area of the car that is IMHO rather dumb.

In retracted state still gives unfamiliar people the impression of being able to grab it. We drop our kids off at school, and sometimes the door handles take a while to extend - almost every time that happens folks outside of the car won't realize and start yanking on the handles while in "locked position".

This is neither as functional as a normal handle, nor as visually clean as fully recessed.

 

[tbinmd]

Glad I didn't check the guillotine door handle option...

Handles are spring loaded and may pinch, but they are not going to crush your finger.

 

[Jhenson29]

Well…I had to test this…

And…

I have absolutely no idea how to make the exterior handle hurt you. I tried every way I could think of. It’s just not very strong. It’s barely uncomfortable at worst, and most of the time, not even that. If your car handle injures you in any way, I would suggest something is wrong and your should take it to the dealer.

Do not fear your handle.

 

[gkiratbajwa]

Yeah I tried to do it intentionally this time and it wasn't a strong pinch. I think it just startled me the first time and I yanked out the hand by reflex. All this sudden movement and handle retraction combined might've led to a slightly painful experience.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. It was really helpful. I'm not scared of the handle anymore.

 

[dtich]

Yeah I tried to do it intentionally this time and it wasn't a strong pinch. I think it just startled me the first time and I yanked out the hand by reflex. All this sudden movement and handle retraction combined might've led to a slightly painful experience.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. It was really helpful. I'm not scared of the handle anymore.

yes, i was going to post to say this - i think the first time it happens it's very surprising and you think it's going to hurt you, but the reality is the most is a slightly pinched bit of skin may hurt more than you'd like, but.. won't really do any damage.

i had the same experience with the handles on model s when i first got it (2012), and those days the programming was a lot more clunky, so it actually did close on your fingers here and there, until they sorted all that out. it was startling indeed, but never did any damage. sure makes you curse up a storm though. you want your car to be totally on your side, not maybe pinching you if you operate it 'wrong'... tesla did sort it after a couple years, but it took new code, new handles and new sensors. i am pretty sure the taycan handles are much farther along the development and testing path than that.

it's just the beginning of the war with machines. this is how it starts. jk.

 

[WattTurbo]

Well…I had to test this…

And…

I have absolutely no idea how to make the exterior handle hurt you. I tried every way I could think of. It’s just not very strong. It’s barely uncomfortable at worst, and most of the time, not even that. If your car handle injures you in any way, I would suggest something is wrong and your should take it to the dealer.

Do not fear your handle.

You should repeat this test with the trunk closer . I had a Lexus once and it’s one of those that only pops open and you have to lift it up the rest of the way. I put my hand underneath to lift it and accidentally triggered the close switch and it closed on me. I snatched my fingers out but was caught a bit and it hurt like hell

 

[Jhenson29]

You should repeat this test with the trunk closer .

You want a good one, my company makes a machine that clamps with a little over 22 million lbs of force in about a second.

I didn’t bother testing what happens if I pinch my hand in that one (although, I’ve stuck my hand in lots of times when it was safe).

 

[minstril]

I locked my car while my 8 yr old was fiddling with the door handle - it closed with his finger over the top of the handle and gave him a bit of a pinch.

He was surprised and cried, understandably. I ran around the car to see what happened, saw his finger stuck, and was able to lift it open with my hand with basically no effort. His finger was fine, no bruise or anything, and he forgot about it within a minute.

While I don’t recommend sticking your fingers in there, it’s not going to send you to the hospital. There’s not much force behind it.

 

[McgR]

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.

I also have a 2022. My car has an issue where the comfort acces doenst always close correctly and reopens. It also sometimes closes the car just after opening it which can be a problem when my hand is behind the door handle. It keeps pulling the doorhandle in. I must admit that I didn’t wait to see what would happen it I didn’t pull my fingers out but I shure is a strong force pulling the handles in. And it doesn’t seem to stop with resistance. I recognize the spring load feeling you describe when pulling on the closed handles but when they are mechanically pulled in the feeling is different. Maybe you should give it a try and see how it feels. Doesn’t feel reassuring at least.

 

[Jhenson29]

And it doesn’t seem to stop with resistance. I recognize the spring load feeling you describe when pulling on the closed handles but when they are mechanically pulled in the feeling is different.

Are we sure the handle is really “pulled” in like that when locking? I would have guessed it’s just always sprung against a stop and the stop moves.

Edit: or maybe something pushes it open against the spring, but still the spring closing it.

 

[McgR]

Are we sure the handles is really “pulled” in like that when locking? I would have guessed it’s just always sprung against a stop and the stop moves.

Edit: or maybe something pushes it open against the spring, but still the spring closing it.

It really feels like they are pulled in and I can also feel it pulling when I try to resist it. But they acknowledge my car does have a problem with comfort closing that has to be fixed.

 

[McgR]

Are we sure the handle is really “pulled” in like that when locking? I would have guessed it’s just always sprung against a stop and the stop moves.

Edit: or maybe something pushes it open against the spring, but still the spring closing it.

Found this picture. There definitely are springs.

 

[dtich]

my company makes a machine that clamps with a little over 22 million lbs of force in about a second.

uh.. so, what is that for? picking up aircraft carriers? catching dragons??

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