Another Reason I Hate Pop-Out Door Handles: They Snitch On You To Thieves

There are many reasons to hate pop-out electronic door handles. They are often slow to respond. They can be unreliable when there's ice or snow on the car. They can trap you into a certain death. They are a critical feature that can break or glitch. These things have been well covered.

Yet I will now add my own grievance atop this towering pile: Pop-out door handles are, at their core, dirty little snitches.

This may seem unfair. But I've seen it myself. Picture this: A beautiful afternoon walk, not a cloud in the sky. I traipse along the streets of San Diego, a few blocks from my house, without a hint of criminal intent. (Or maybe a hint: I love me some jaywalking. Nothing more.) But upon passing a neighbor's house, I notice their Hyundai Ioniq 5 has its electronic door handles popped out.

A giant, neon sign screaming "I'M UNLOCKED." What a feature!  

Another con for electric door handles: The bit of give the mechanisms always have make them feel cheaper than solid, traditional handles.

I think of how easy it'd be to have myself a snoop. Of course I wouldn't do it—I'm an upstanding young blogger, after all—but just the awareness that something is utterly unprotected invites the devil on the shoulder to muse aloud. 

Fast forward two weeks. I've got a Mercedes CLA EV on test, and an important meeting scheduled for the exact timeframe when the fleet guy is coming 'round to collect it.

The one or two times a year this happens, the solution is fairly tame: Chuck the keys in the car, leave it unlocked, and trust in luck and human nature that nobody's wandering around trying door handles in the 45 minutes during which the car will be unsupervised. But as I drop them in the CLA, I see the door handles sticking out, and suddenly I'm not so sure of everyone's good nature.

To be sure, this is a minor issue, and not entirely a new one. In the past, the nub-style locks that were up when unlocked and down when unlocked could be seen from close to the window. Peer into some cars and you'll see a visible indicator inside the door, or a small light atop it. 

In defense of the CLA's door handles: They were some of the most responsive electric door handles I've used. They almost never failed to deploy when needed. Yet this still puts them behind the traditional door handles on my Blazer EV, which literally never fail to be where I expect them.

Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

But this is exactly my point: Anyone wandering down the street peering into windows or trying random door handles looking for an unlocked mark is sure to be noticed and accosted. Yet if you're targeting Tesla Model S's, Mercedes EQ cars, and Hyundai Ioniq 5s, you barely have to glance to know who's got their guard down.

In a practical sense, this means I'd be hard-pressed to leave my car fully unlocked while schlepping camping detritus to my back yard or loading up for a big road trip.

The only real justification for pop-out door handles is that they are more aerodynamic. But the flush-mounted handles on the Model 3 prove that you can get that benefit without a complicated, expensive, and inconsistent power-deploying mechanism. I still prefer traditional handles, but these are better than anything with a motor.

That's a shame, too, as these are the cars where I'd be most tempted to do so. After all, I don't really want to wait for the handles to pop out every time I walk up, and trust that with a dozen comings and goings that the system will keep up. In my experience, they rarely do, getting confused after too many walk-up and walk-away events. With full hands and a bunch of loading to do, I'm rarely in a patient mood when they inevitably require a few jabs to open.

Frankly, it's these situations that make me wonder who exactly these systems benefit. Now, though, at least I have two answers: petty thieves and snooping neighbors.

Contact the author: Mack.Hogan@insideevs.com.