Problems may extend beyond the project. The automotive industry operates on strict production schedules. While this process takes time to verify and test any recent features that come with each recent model, suddenly introducing a design change delayed in the process can disrupt the fine schedule.
During this decade, the Chinese auto industry shocked the world by overtaking incumbent automakers by rapidly developing, with government support, ever newer, cheaper and more technologically advanced vehicles on shorter production schedules. The country is the largest automotive market in the world; this is expected produce one third of the world’s cars by 2030. But quickly adapting to recent design regulations won’t be uncomplicated for domestic Chinese automakers either, Broglin-Peterson says. “Mechanical release requires mechanical assembly,” he says. “It’s not like you’re writing some code.”
The automaker’s door handle problems likely won’t end in China. The recent regulations could trigger cascading responses from other global regulators. It’s a familiar pattern today: China, once a country with lax security, has outpaced the rest of the world in setting guidelines for the safety and recycling of electric vehicle batteries and autonomous vehicle technology. “This is a classic example of China setting up barriers early: protecting consumers while quietly shaping global design standards,” Bill Russo, CEO of Automobility, a Shanghai-based consulting firm, wrote in an email.
Design handle
For many years, says Raphael Zammit, chair of transportation design at the College for Innovative Studies in Detroit, recessed electronic door handles were the centerpiece of futuristic concept cars. “Honestly, the fact that Elon Musk and Tesla put it into production was downright amazing,” he says. Their augment was associated with the increasing popularity of electric vehicles; sliding door handles into car doors was intended to reduce their drag coefficient, leading to increased battery efficiency. The theory went something like this: The math on the back of the envelope tells you amendment Maybe adds a mile of range. Maybe. Either way, door handles have become “a marker of luxury,” says Zammit.
Indeed, electronic door handles can be found on many luxury vehicles, including some made by Volkswagen, General Motors, Ford and Mercedes-Benz. Jake Fisher, senior director of Consumer Reports’ Auto Test Center, tested several electronic door handles of these vehicles. While all were equipped with emergency mechanical releases, as required by Chinese regulations, some were located in places that could be challenging to find in an emergency – on the floor, in the shade or, as in the rear seats of the 2021 Model Y examined by NHTSA, under a gap in the lower part of the rear door pocket. According to Consumer Reports, the best emergency lock openers were those that you simply had to pull a little harder than usual to open them as an intuitive response in an emergency situation.