China is banning hidden door handles on all cars sold in the country, becoming the first country in the world to target the feature – which was popularized by Tesla but has for years drawn concern over safety risks.
The feature has previously come under heavy scrutiny, both in China and elsewhere.
Last September, Tesla said it was looking into redesigning the way to open its car doors in an emergency, after several accidents where passengers were reportedly killed or severely injured in burning vehicles because rescuers could not open them.
Other Tesla owners have reported having to break their own car windows after buckling their children in and then being unable to get in the car again, according to an investigation by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
An investigation by Bloomberg found 140 incidents of people being trapped in their Teslas due to problems with the door handles, including several that resulted in horrific injuries.
I have never been in a car that locked the doors from the inside with the autolock. Locking the doors from the inside usually requires activation of the child locks, which can usually be accessed on the door when it is opened. The autolocks only lock the doors from the outside, so any would-be car thieves or nosy firemen can’t get in.
But it’s about locking the door from the outside that is relevant here. If the external handles get in the way of rescuers, then the fact that they outside handles are almost certainly locked in that situation anyway is even more so. They will break the window and use the interior mechanism (which if electronic, could still suck, which Tesla runs afoul of). If you had traditional door handles, but electronic mechanism, the first responders would still be screwed).
But the mechanism being electronic means no one can operate the latch. But if it were somehow mechanical, but still physically like the Model 3/Y door handles, would that be considered ‘adequate’? It’s confusing, and harder to open if there’s ice over it, but I don’t think that facet factors into a rescue scenario.
(but you would be right that the auto-lock has nothing to do with child occupants, it’s about if someone can open your door at a stoplight)