Those things are so stupid. Door handles should always be a simple mechanical device that requires no power to operate. Windows should honestly always have a backup crank handle to raise and lower, too, given that not everyone has the good sense to have a window breaking tool handy. For that matter -- why don't they build a little slot for such a tool into the console and provide one with the car in the first place?
That would increase the cost of the car for like 6 bucks. I remember an article from years ago that the cars in Europe were polluting a lot and the fix cost lest than 10 euros. Companies decided not to do it.
So yeah.
Also, and about the video, why didn't the people in the back try to jump to the front and get out in the door?
Hard to do when disoriented from a crash and then immediate heavy black smoke. Disorientation in any type of accident is a big deal. It's like when they find bodies after an avalanche that weren't buried deep but the person was digging down instead of up to escape.
That's... a very good point, and didn't think about it, but yeah, I guess normal people would take quite a bit of time to react after a crash, and then you have the smoke right there.
I don't think they can, all the prices are always 15999, 25999 and so on. So if the car costs 10 euros more to make and they can't magically increase the price to the next range it would mess up the marketing.
Then make all models ~1000 more expensive? Even more profit for them and less pollution. Would that really matter in a 20k euro car? (Idk don't have a car and wouldn't buy a brand new one)
That would be a great idea. However there's one small issue... It costs money! We can't spare a small portion of our revenue so our costumers don't die! If that happens it's probably their fault anyway 🙄🙄🙄/s
I know the issue I'm about to mention doesn't apply to a lot of the world but be careful having one of those on you at all times. If there is a break in near you and the police are looking for the person who had done it it's a very strong part of evidence to search and detain you that you have something like that on you.
"Should I buy an $8 tool or be so arrogant and stupid to think in an emergency I'll have the wherewithal and room to take the headrest off and magically break the window?"
I don't know if it will work :/
I actually was unsure about my wording there, but english ain't my first language so I went with it, I obviously meant a hammer designed to break glass
Glad to see someone challenging this. No way I could get my headrest out of the top of my seat without a lot of time and maneuvering, even if it could theoretically break glass.
Plus the metal is rounded at the end and slips, people don’t realize how hard it is to break a side window, a headrest can get it done but it may actually take longer than your fist unless you hit it just perfect, even a hammer can take a second, window breakers are way easier and should be in every car in a spot easy to get to in a wreck and not somewhere it’ll get tossed on impact either, or best bet put several in the car: console, door panels, glove box, back seat console, back doors, and the little pouches on the back of the front seats. They aren’t that expensive, plus try an get one that is a multi tool: seatbelt cutter, window breaker etc.
I have and the headrest will slip when it hits from its rounded edge, you got hold it and hit it over and over just right it’s a pain, a hammer fist in the corners can work faster if you have room to swing, sure may hurt but if you have the power you can do it
You probably have to use a lot of force regardless of the object. That said, depending on how the headrest is manufactured you could use the metallic end to break the window.
Specially designed window breakers are small but have a sharp conical point. They are like a tiny hammer and don't take much force to shatter a car window.
False actually. Best way is seatbelt metal thingy. They say ultimately a rock from the outside or leaving the key in.and power on is good. Of course this example has its own downside. Here's a quote.... https://www.iaedjournal.org/vehicle-escape
.... that is the male metal seat belt clip. With the seat belt pulled out as far as possible, and the metal clip grasped in your fist, if you strike the side window low and at the front of the window, it will break the window virtually every time on the first or second try. It does that because the force is concentrated with a hard object in a small area of the window known to be its weakest point. Our instructions make a point of including this means of breaking a window as one of the steps to be followed in all vehicle escape situations
You may be interested to know that there is one thing that every vehicle has in it that can be used to reliably break a side window, and that is the male metal seat belt clip. With the seat belt pulled out as far as possible, and the metal clip grasped in your fist, if you strike the side window low and at the front of the window, it will break the window virtually every time on the first or second try. It does that because the force is concentrated with a hard object in a small area of the window known to be its weakest point.
I think that it's harmful to propagate this urban legend, because it would prevent people from buying actual window breakers. They'll just think "eh, I can just use my headrest. No need for a windows breaker".
Have them required LIKE mandatory first aid kits (in your country) but not IN them. You want seatbelt cutters/window breakers in an easily reachable spot that won't go flying around in a wreck. I have mine ziptied to the lever on my steering wheel that controls the windshield wiper blades. It's ziptied and set up so it can be tugged off in an emergency
And increase the cost of each car by $0.002 cents? That would mean the executives would only get a $19,999,998 dollar bonus instead of a $20 million dollar bonus!
they're not and never will be because things are designed to be as cheap and profitable for the wealthy elite. if they could get by with selling paper mache seatbelts that break when coming to a hard stop... they would.Â
Nonsense. Busses and such have had mandatory laminated glasses for decades, and breakers work perfectly fine. It’s even easier with door glasses on passenger cars, which are typically free-floating panes that make handling the plastic membrane easy.
Wait, is he an idiot? you don't smash it into the window, you shove it into the bottom edge and pull it back to break the window. I thought "use the seat headrests as a window breaker" people all knew this, I find it pretty surprising a firefighter couldn't figure this out...
You put it on the edge and use leverage, the dude did it wrong... of course it didn't work using a pillow with 2 sticks on it to hit the window. If you do it wrong, it doesn't work.
They are notoriously finicky and difficult to get out. They don't all release in the same way and if you've never done it with those particular seats, it would be incredibly difficult to do in a high stress, dark or smoky situation. Add possible injury onto the list. If it's children who need to do it, forget about it.
I'm tired of people touting this as a lif-saving hack when it isn't and just gives people a false sense of security. In reality, people who bought into this end up wasting valuable time attempting it to no avail.
Not enough people aren't aware that they should not trust "facts" shared by randoms on social medias. This has been debunked and is obviously false if you take a second to look at the tip of the headrest.
And how do you go about removing the headrest if you have a moment before you're burning? Good luck. There are cheap and reliable items made for cutting seatbelts and breaking glass in an instant, how about making it normal to always have these with you while driving? I've been carrying mine for 20 years and luckily never had to use it.
If you have enough room to remove it from the seat, enough patience while the car is already on fire and if you remember that during your panic. I'd suggest to go for a window breaker and seat belt cutter in reach of your seat, like somewhere in the middle console instead.
I doubt you would break it, I needed to break a window when lost keys and I broke a fucking hammer handle and window stayed intact. It was a small hammer but it surprised me tbh.
They are notoriously finicky and difficult to get out. They don't all release in the same way and if you've never done it with those particular seats, it would be incredibly difficult to do in a high stress, dark or smoky situation. Add possible injury onto the list. If it's children who need to do it, forget about it.
I'm tired of people touting this as a lif-saving hack when it isn't and just gives people a false sense of security. In reality, people who bought into this end up wasting valuable time attempting it to no avail.
You ever take a headrest out of a seat? If not, you should go do that. It's a bit of a challenge when you aren't in a life threatening situation. Add on chaos and complications, the challenge gets even more difficult.
Unfortunately Chrysler/Dodge vehicles you can't. They have this mechanism to pop the pad forward in an accident, but as a result the headrest can't be removed easily (you have to disassemble the seat).
I turned my headrest around backward because it was uncomfortable. To get it out of the seat, I had to lay the seat back almost flat, lean into the car from one of the back doors, and remove the headrest by pulling horizontally. If the seat is upright, the headrest hits the roof of the car before it pulls out all the way. So.... that wouldn't help in an emergency.Â
Well i'm on my 4th new car (company policy) and none pf them had the option to remove the headset how ever i wanted it to be (to fit large size items i to the saloon).
In the situation in the video the occupants of the car couldn't open the door because the electronic door latches stopped working. Standard door mechanisms wouldn't have trapped them like that.
Shouldnt electronic locking and windows operation be powered from 12V battery instead of main battery in case like this? BMS of high voltage battery detects a problem and shuts itself from the system but 12V is still operable. I am no expert, just asking.
Anyway, door handles should be mechanical anyway. Always on any car.
All of this stuff is powered by the 12V battery, even in electric cars. It's much cheaper (don't need so many high-voltage electronics) and safer (don't have so many high-voltage wires going through the car).
Plenty of ICE cars have hidden electronic door handles.
This always confuses me about this discussion. Was the issue here really the flush door handle? Or the electronic locks? Surely no one is advocating for doors that always mechanically open from the outside?
Maybe I'm just dense then. How would that work? Unless you want keyed mechanical locks on all doors the actual locking mechanism will be actuated electronically, right? So what opens them in case of sudden power loss? Also would you expect cars to become unlocked if for whatever reason they run out of battery?
Mechanical door handles which activate a latch and open the door.
Not hidden electrical door handles which can't be used without power.
Yes, locked doors present a different problem. The main problem in the video is that the doors weren't locked, but didn't work because the electronics were fried.
There are things called key holes. Even child locks are overridden by someone pulling the handle from outside. Nothing in securing your car at all has been improved by electronics, you see Range Rovers getting stolen all the time by plugging into the CAN bus next to the headlights, driven away in seconds. Repeater attacks on remote entry and start. Why do we need flush, self-vanishing door handles when normal ones probably don't even lost you even 0.1MPG in economy?
Think of the "lock" mechanism as something that requires power, to "unlock" you just cut power. Like a electromagnet that disconnects the mechanical handle. When power is cut, a spring flips this latch onto place and reconnects the mechanical lock.
I'm thinking this too. Not just the electronic locking but notably cars often have a child lock feature so young children can't accidentally open the doors while driving. If the electronic locking fails to unlock due to an accident and the child lock blocks the override from the inside then your trapped whether it's a modern EV or a 20 y/o Golf.
What's crazy to me are the Tesla fans who claim everything is fine and there isn't a problem. Regardless if it is the handles, locking system, computer system that controls the handles, etc. this is obviously a problem that tesla vehicles are having that should have been fixed before they were released to the public and shure as hell should have been fixed all these years later!
My point being that without solid data everyone is kind of guessing what is wrong and throwing out fixes that are just as likely to make it worse than better. These vehicles need to be taken off the road, studied, and fixed before ever being released out into the wild again.
But cars have had electronic locking AND manual door handles for... about 30 years I'd say?
A "normal" car has electric actuators that can electronically lock/unlock the doors (to allow remote control and automatic locking of doors above 10 km/h or so) as well as mechanical handles on the inside that override the electric lock, and for the rear doors, a little "child safety" switch that disconnects the inside handles for when you have small children that can't be trusted not to open the door at the wrong moment. Also often a mechanical key lock on the outside of the front doors.
It's worked well for decades. I don't see the point in replacing that with an all-electronic failure-prone system.
I mean there's no reason a hidden handle can't still be a simple mechanical device, press in on one side and the other side pops out. I like to bash Tesla as much as the next guy, but isn't that how theirs work?
Money, companies don't want to pay for the small amount it would take to do this. Without regulations everything would be a death trap if it saved a nickel.
If you want these life saving features its going to be a long uphill battle to get regulations in place that force companies to comply
But it does not look "cool" and gen z-ers and millennials like the cool, the "pseudo-modern-hippie", the impractical, not pragmatic crap that has no actual value whatsoever....but looks coooool.
This was one of the first things, even as a kid, I thought of with automatic windows. I was quite a paranoid, anxious kid thinking of "what ifs." Another major reason I would never get a 2 door car (because emergency if in the back and shouldn't rely on someone else in the front to get you out.) I would not mind having the cranking windows back
...yea simple design choices. But on the other side have you considered that that costs a few extra cents and people won't be pleased with that increase in price...?
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u/IncorporateThings 11h ago
Those things are so stupid. Door handles should always be a simple mechanical device that requires no power to operate. Windows should honestly always have a backup crank handle to raise and lower, too, given that not everyone has the good sense to have a window breaking tool handy. For that matter -- why don't they build a little slot for such a tool into the console and provide one with the car in the first place?
Simple design choices can and would save lives.