I want physical handles, buttons and knobs.
this post was submitted on 06 Sep 2025
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So tired of big screens in vehicles, and fewer buttons
I love screens as long as there's still physical buttons. My current car has a nice big screen for Android Auto and gps but still has full buttons for climate and audio.
Exactly. Both are nice. Big screen and buttons.
This is the way
Yep. Sometimes it's better to just use the old way.
Retractable handles are still physical. The ioniq 5 is a good example. It just tucks in flush when the car is driving or locked
It just seems like a hazard to me. If there's a malfunction or fire or something, and it doesn't work, wtf would happen. Seems just like a bad idea in general, for very little gain, if any.
The IONIQ 5 handles are still mechanical, and aren’t any more likely to malfunction than any other mechanical door handle. While they’re recessed, they’re effectively like a see-saw, in that you push down on one end to pop out the handle on the other end (a purely mechanical operation — it’s just hinged in the middle with a small spring). When you pull on the handle, it’s still just a mechanical operation to unlock and open the door. Now there is a motor that can auto pull that handle in and out — but even if the car battery is dead as a door nail popping it out by pushing on one side and pulling out the other is quick, easy, and works 100% of the time as it’s purely mechanical.
So there is no hazard — or at least, not any more than any other mechanical door pull.
You can see a video of the process here. The video is more based on how to open the door when the keyfob battery is dead, but it also applies if the car itself is dead.
That sounds like a smart design.
Yup, thank you, I got lots of replies. 🙂
That wouldn't be an issue at all, at least with the Kia EV3 I use. You can still use them in their retracted state, just push the other side of the handle to get them out.
That makes sense, if they can be mechanically extracted in a panic. That's fine then. 👌
Yeah Kia’s handles are nice with it being just a pivot you can always manually open. I think the Ioniqs are like that too but when I rode in one it always popped out at me before I could test it
Ioniq is the same way
I'm not familiar with this, so I watched a video. It shows that after pressing to lever the handle out of the way of the key hole you have to wedge the key cover (or any object, I assume) into the gap to prevent it from closing itself again. Is that right? Because it sounds annoying for me and impossible for some disabilities/injuries.
Edit: The Ioniq 5 video shows the demonstrator using both hands to unlock the door: one to hold the handle in the open position and the other to do the key. How is a one-handed person meant to operate this vehicle?
I mean you could do that if you want to access the keyhole, but you can also just push it open with one hand and then insert the key with the other. If you only had one hand or something, sure, it could be complicated. But other than that, it's really no big deal, especially considering it's only something you need to do if your key's battery ran out.
Ok, in the case of a complete power failure, a one handed person may have a hard time.
This is not a problem for the vast majority of people and times
They can be purely just physical with zero electronics where it acts like a lever so you push in with your thumb and it causes the handle on the other side to push out.
It doesn’t even need to be any harder to use than a conventional door handle.
It doesn’t really help much for aerodynamics on the micro scale where it saves around 0.6 kWh per 100 km but in the U.S. alone that correlates to around 29 tWh per year at 3 trillion miles driven per year
According to this the average EV uses just under 18.9kWh for 100km. 0.6kWh is over 3%.
I find it really really hard to believe that regular door handles cost 3% of your energy. I suspect that's a massive over estimate.
I got the number from here
“Engineers say that drag reduction due to flush handles amounts to just 0.005-0.01 Cd, saving about 0.6 kWh per 100 km.“
Huh.
I guess it's costing me about 5p per 100km and it's not going to bankrupt me, but it's definitely a lot more than I expected. Thanks for the link. There are some interesting articles in there.
Still think the ones with 8lb motors in them are a complete waste and can fail too easily but them being flush doesn’t seem like as much of the problem as it being motorized which is the part I personally believe they should correct
Absolutely
You can still use them
My two cents (and, no, I've not read the article): things like retractable door handles are fine if they're designed to function completely standalone with no power, etc. Like, having a door handle that's flush with the body looks great and is one less thing to cause noise in a quiet car, but I don't see why it couldn't be completely mechanical and self-contained. The issue is that every little fucking thing has to be motorised and controlled through a touch panel, an app, or some utterly inscrutable "AI" without opt-out.
Now you can opt in to having door handles for just $5.99 per month.
citing safety hazards and functional deficiencies
"Functional deficiencies"? As in, under Chinese law, they can ban products just because they suck?
Damn, we need some of that here in Canada.
I feel like feature that can trap you inside your car if it fails is a little worse than one that just 'sucks'
North American car manufacturers have been getting a little too loose with their R&D testing recently - a little regulation would definitely be welcome
Interesting design from the 80's I found:
He demonstrates the flush handle at about 3:50.
I'm curious what the failure rate of these were, but I'm guessing they can't be too terrible if folks are still using the same car some 40 years later.
What I like about it is that you don't have to worry about a spider being under it.
don't have to worry about a spider being under it.
Is this a common problem?
The worry is the common problem, not the actual spiders.
I see visible spider webs on a lot of cars in my neighbourhood, so I imagine there would also be plenty of non-visible webs behind those handles. My parents live in a different area that doesn't have as many bugs and spider webs on cars are rare there.
I mean, I've had full webs built on the side mirrors, seen jumping spiders on the sides/roof, even occasional half-assed webs started inside on the dash when I've not driven for a while.
But I've never had a spider or a web under any of the handles.
I almost bought one of these Subaru's used in 1995 but I went with a Hyundai Excel. The Excel got me across the country a few times and its final straw was the fuel filter and the bolt that holds the shift knob in place. But I drove that car across the country multiple times and it was reliable until the end.
The fuel filter was halfway down the engine block next to the firewall, I just couldn't do it myself and I had the funds for a new car so I said goodbye to that old workhorse. I always wondered if the Subaru would have done better...