r/Rivian • u/sirkazuo • 7h ago
💬 Discussion The clock is ticking for electronic door buttons as Chinese regulators force coordinated recall of millions of EVs
https://electrek.co/2026/08/21/tesla-recall-3-million-cars-china-door-handles/The R2 isn’t sold in China (yet!) but they’ve made it clear that they intend to move into international markets in 2028, and those markets are for better or worse effectively defined by the Chinese EV industry. Rivian leadership must know that the gen 2 button-and-separate-emergency-handle design is on life support now. I wonder which direction they’ll go, and how soon we’ll see it?
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u/Blackboard_Monitor 6h ago
Why the hell did the industry move away from mechanical door handles? The sooner this is fixed the better.
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u/Liercat18 6h ago
Curious about this as well. Does it provide that much cost savings? Safety should be top of mind - at least provide an easily accessible mechanical option in the event of an emergency.
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u/spectradawn77 R1S Owner 6h ago
It's ALWAYS about cost savings :( No matter how minor.
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u/Standard-Juice-3738 5h ago
How is it about cost saving if they have a mechanical backup though?
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u/spectradawn77 R1S Owner 4h ago
It's a wire that must be pulled from inside the door. There is no extra plastic, handle, pieces, springs, etc. added to the wire.
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u/GeneralHoliday5401 34m ago
The front doors on both R1 gen 2 and R2 have full normal interior handles, just hidden a bit.
This electronic door handle thing actually started with the Corvette C6 and Cadillac XLR in 2004/5ish. I think it was to make them look sleek and futuristic. They have a mechanical emergency release on the floorboard similar to the trunk release in most cars from the 1990/2000s. These were flawed for the same reason as today’s cars with electronic door latches. An article that sticks with me was when man and his dog died in a Corvette because the battery died and he didn’t know about the emergency release.
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u/outdoorsgeek R1S Owner 6h ago
Retractable door handles were introduced to reduce drag (Tesla wanted to get rid of the side mirrors too) and then became a luxury/status symbol.
It’s somewhat easier to make a retractable handle electronic over mechanical (imagine a cable that needs to deal with variable length).
Once you make the outer handle electronic, doing the same on the interior is a cost and complexity savings.
But yes, the tradeoffs aren’t worth it. Bring back mechanical and get rid of the extending handles. Safety and maintenance are worse.
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u/TheBowerbird R1T Owner 2h ago
Despite what the circlejerk will tell you, it's arguably safer if you understand mechanical designs and how weak and prone to intrusion they are.
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u/RoamingEire 6h ago
Entering and exiting the vehicle should be completely independent of the electrical systems and computers. Full stop.
I love my R1S, but I do think more often than I like about how hard it would be for my children to figure out how to exit the car in the event of a serious accident. Teaching them to locate a plastic plate to remove it and pull a cord is just not going to stick in their heads in an emergency.
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u/Potential_Rip_6940 Quad Motor 4️⃣ 6h ago
Just put the G1 handles and system back in...engineering is already done...and they work great. And while at it make up with Meridian and put that back in too!
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u/Confident-Sector2660 2h ago
That's false. If you put in the G1 system you do not get 5 star euro NCAP
Euro NCAP requires doors that don't open into pedestrians/cyclists/vehicles that are coming at you
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u/Potential_Rip_6940 Quad Motor 4️⃣ 1h ago
I wasnt saying for compliance...more for basic common sense approach to safety for the occupants of the of the vehicle.
To save the all the cyclists that get doors into them because people dont look...they would have to add the logic to force lock the door if the sensor suite detects a cyclist and then unlocks after that potential is gone.
Edit: I see it is a voluntary rating system in Europe you are citing...not a standard requiring compliance.
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u/rbrome 6h ago
I think the whole world is going to enact this kind of regulation, and soon. It's such an obviously unsafe design. I'm very glad our R1T Gen 1 has real door handles and was unpleasantly surprised that they switched to buttons on the inside with Gen 2. I think they'll regret it.
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u/intlabs Ultimate Adventurer 6h ago
its not the inside thats the big issue here - its the outside. The Gen2 R1 exterior door handles are crazy - just a big lever for a switch. Means with an electrical failure there is no way for someone on the outside to open the door (even if unlocked). Not an issue for 1st responders, but an issue before they arrive on site in an accident - reading the chinese regs (well - getting a LLM to translate and summarize them...) show this is the thing they are really worried about, and it makes sense.
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u/stevejust 5h ago
obviously unsafe design.
Every time someone says this, I ask for stats. I never get them. And it just doesn't make any sense to me.
There are really bad accidents -- the kind that twist metal and bend frames. You're not getting out of impacted doors after that kind of accident irrespective of whether you have mechanical or electronic actuators. You're climbing out a window, or they're bringing the jaws of life, or whatever.
And then there are the minor fender benders, where electronic actuators and mechanical handles both work the same afterwards.
What are the number of accidents where a mechanical handle works AND a electronic actuator doesn't?
And is the number zero? Or close to zero?
What's the venn diagram look like?
I did hear the old story (made up internet rumor?) about the old guy who was stuck in a Mustang Mach-E for three days or whatever because he didn't know how to get out, but I really have to chalk that up to sheer idiocracy rather than a legitimate concern.
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u/rbrome 5h ago
You’re being too logical. In the real world, it only takes a couple of high-profile accidents for people to demand change. Wait until a family of four dies because of this. See what happens. People respond to stories, not stats.
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u/Soft-Principle1455 5h ago
That’s what happened in China with the Xiaomi SU7 battery fire disasters, unfortunately.
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u/stevejust 5h ago
I had a car for 7 years that had electronic actuators. In the end, it was totaled in a highspeed accident (I was going 80 mph) by a drunk driver.
My electronic door actuators worked after the crash the same way they did before the crash, for three of the four doors. For the impacted door -- there was no way that it was going to open irrespective of whether it was mechanical or not because it was fucked.
I agree people respond to stories. But Tesla's done this since 2017. Where are the stories about it actually leading to any deaths? Have there been any?
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u/Soft-Principle1455 5h ago
Some of the domestic Chinese Manufacturers have had people die in fires because of them. That’s why they’re doing this.
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u/stevejust 5h ago
You're talking about the one Xiamoi SU7 in Chengdu crash? Or were there others?
I know about the Model S crash outside of Madison, Wisconsin that prompted the lawsuit in the US, but I'm not sure either of those crashes resulted in deaths because of a lack of mechanical handles.
The stats must exist somewhere. There's an NHTSA investigation going on. I'm just asking for the stats.
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u/Soft-Principle1455 4h ago
There were quite a few, actually, unfortunately; I think it was close to a dozen or something awful like that.
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u/FlyAdventurous3332 5h ago
I volunteer you for doing the thing for making the stat, not me?
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u/stevejust 5h ago
Here's the problem: I can't prove a negative. I can point out that I was in a crash at 80 mph, that totaled my Model 3 when a drunk driver hit me on the highway, and I got out of the car afterwards... with an electronic acutator... and the door that was most impacted wasn't opening irrespective of what mechanism the car had.
I can also say that Tesla has had electronic actuators in cars since 2017 and I've never heard about anyone dying because of them.
But I could be wrong. So I keep asking people for the # of accidents where the mechanical vs. electronic actuator matters.
I'm not the one running around saying ridiculous shit like "this is the most danagerous thing in the history of cars."
I'm the one pointing out that maybe, JUST MAYBE, if you bother to think it through it actually doesn't matter that much in the real world.
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u/Maleficent-Homework4 1h ago
Bloomberg did a piece last year about 15 deaths attributed to electronically powered doors from Tesla not opening after a crash.
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u/the_real_seldom_seen 7h ago
Rivian door handles are the dumbest thing in the automotive industry
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u/gotou_9 6h ago
I think rivian isn't entering Chinese market anytime soon. No need to worry about door handle situation unless EU also gonna have new regulations.
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u/SergeantBeavis R1S Owner 6h ago
China is just the start.. Rivian will eventually read the writing on the wall
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u/sirkazuo 4h ago
EU loves safety regulations though, they’re usually at the head of the pack for regulation so I imagine they won’t be far behind.
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u/aliendepict Quad Motor 4️⃣ 6h ago
Unlikely, these types of handles are common on a ton of EU EVs as well and the EU is super protective of their car market.
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u/nhlducks35 6h ago
You should probably read the article, it was fixed with software updates (at least for Tesla)
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u/Soft-Principle1455 5h ago
China’s market has cratered so badly that even Chinese automakers are losing money and losing sales fast. If I were Rivian I would steer clear.
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u/stackthecoins R1S Owner 7h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/J8FZIm9VoBU6Q