Power-operated retractable car door handles could soon face a production ban if China prohibits their use due to safety concerns.

Power-operated handles that sit flush with car doors have become a growing feature of modern vehicles thanks to electric vehicle designers seeking to chase aerodynamic efficiency and improved driving range.

However, concerns have been growing around their safety and their ability to perform under extreme conditions.

According to the Chinese media outlet Mingjing Pro, an anonymous source from a local automaker’s R & D department has revealed that Chinese regulators are considering a ban that would outlaw both fully concealed mechanical lever-type handles and electronic retractable units in new cars starting in July 2027......

.....As ArsTechnica points out, flush handles reduce drag by around 0.01 Cd, far less than the 0.03 figure claimed by some brands.

On top of that, Mingjing Pro claims electronic door handles cost three times as much to manufacture and have a failure rate up to eight times higher than mechanical units.....

... Chinese regulators are considering a ban...

US safety regulators have opened a probe focused on Tesla's electric-powered door handles, responding to reports that they suddenly stopped working, leaving children trapped in the cars.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Tuesday that it had received nine complaints about the handles in Tesla's 2021 Model Y cars, the company's flagship model.

In four of the cases, the car owners resorted to breaking the window to resolve the issue.

Tesla did not immediately comment on the investigation, which is the first step toward a potential recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told NBC News that it had spoken to Tesla about mishaps at train crossings.
Italo Frigoli was trying out the Full Self-Driving software of his Tesla one evening in June when he came upon a railroad crossing. The arms were descending and lights were flashing as a train barreled toward the intersection.

For most human drivers, the gate arms and lights are clear signals to stop, but for Frigoli’s Tesla, which was driving in a semiautonomous mode, the potentially deadly situation didn’t seem to register.

“It felt like it was going to run through the arms,” he said. “So obviously I just slammed on the brakes.” He stopped just a few feet from the crossing near his home in North Texas, barely avoiding disaster.

Video from the car’s cameras, reviewed by NBC News, appears to support his account. And this month, when NBC News accompanied him to the same railroad crossing, his Tesla software had the same problem. While cameras were rolling, his Tesla’s software failed to detect an oncoming train, forcing Frigoli to manually brake.

The highest court in India has strongly criticised the country's aviation authorities for their handling of the aftermath of the Air India plane crash that killed 261 people in June.

Leaving only one survivor, the flight bound for Gatwick airport from Ahmedabad crashed shortly after taking off, killing 242 passengers on board and 19 others on the ground.

The court said it was "irresponsible" for the aviation authority to suggest, through leaks to the media, that pilot error had caused the disaster.

It called on Indian prime minister Narendra Modi for the government's response before it rules on a case filed by activists demanding an independent investigation.

The court said the way the aviation body released its preliminary report in to the Boeing Dreamliner's crash was "selective and piecemeal".......

A Chinese automaker has demonstrated a battery ejection feature with the potential to do more harm than good.

In a video shared on X, the China Vehicle Collision Repair Technical and Research Centre demonstrated how an vehicle built by FAW can explosively jettison a damaged battery pack in the event of a serious fault.

The safety system works in a similar fashion to airbags, which erupt out of interior trim propelled by small explosive charges.

According to the research centre, the tech could safely remove batteries that are beginning to overheat or enter “thermal runaway”, a reaction that can cause fires. This approach protects passengers and reduces the risk of damaging the rest of the car.......

China’s explosive solution to EV fires....

According to the research centre, the tech could safely remove batteries that are beginning to overheat or enter “thermal runaway”, a reaction that can cause fires.

I thought typical EVs contain not a single isolated battery pack but their whole platform is densely packed with a large custom battery filling any voids... or they are modular packs connected by high-amp cables/connectors.

... Then... Where to eject the pack to? If I remember correctly most EVs thermal runaways don't occur while driving but without obvious reasons in car parks, garages, aboard car carrier ships...

A big rig crash sent beer kegs across several lanes of the 210 Freeway in the San Gabriel Valley, causing major traffic delays Tuesday morning.

The incident involving at least one big rig and multiple other vehicles was reported shortly before 3 a.m. on the westbound side of the freeway near Vernon Avenue, according to the California Highway Patrol

Video showed the big rig trailer had split open, scattering beer cans and kegs into lanes of traffic. Several of those cans and kegs were run into by the oncoming vehicles.

It appeared that only one minor injury resulted from the incident, but officials have not yet confirmed the report.

First responders were seen clearing the cans and rolling the kegs to the shoulder of the freeway, allowing several of the lanes to reopen.

Heavy delays were already being seen on the freeway as of 4:30 a.m.

The incident took seven hours to clean up and investigate before the final lanes were finally reopened around 10 a.m.

State troopers detained a 13-year-old accused of driving in the wrong direction while intoxicated on Interstate 40 near Flagstaff, according to the Arizona Department of Public Safety's Highway Patrol.

The agency posted on its Facebook page that troopers received a call reporting a wrong-way driver about 1 a.m. Sept. 30. Law enforcement saw a vehicle drive driving west in the eastbound lanes of I-40 before correcting itself and driving eastbound at over 100 mph, the post said.

The vehicle later drove into a guardrail and "rode" across it before rolling over several times and crashing into a tree, according to the post.

Takeaways by Bloomberg AI

• US auto safety regulators are investigating Tesla Inc. over incidents in which its vehicles drove through red lights and violated other traffic laws while using the company’s partial-automation software.
  
  
• The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it’s aware of 58 examples involving the driver-assistance system known as Full Self-Driving, and the probe involves an estimated 2.9 million vehicles.
  
  
• Several of the incidents cited in the new probe resulted in crashes and injuries, but none of the incidents in the scope of its current investigation involve a fatality.
  

Should we be blaming the "computer" or the dolts that think the computer won't fail them in autonomous drive mode?

Should we be blaming the "computer" or the dolts that think the computer won't fail them in autonomous drive mode?

There are laws about selling defective products, Elon says it works, so it must.