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 mean the entire goal of Tesla's design was to minimize drag coefficient. It's important in EVs because with ICE you just burn more fuel which takes 5 minutes to refuel, with EVs you have tedious charging stops more often - particularly with older EVs like the Tesla Model S that popularized this.
Say what you will about Tesla, but their Cd is pretty darn impressive especially if you consider that every car in the table that beats the Model S, save for the EV1, is newer than the Model S. That and the powertrain are the two things they absolutely nailed in their otherwise pretty mediocre EVs.