Handle It, Again: Cars with Bizarre Interior Door Handles
Yesterday we brought you a post about some vehicles throughout history which featured exterior door handles with less than expected designs. Some were complicated for the sake of being different, some were genuine attempts at standing out from the crowd, and all (probably) added to the aero properties of the vehicle to which they were affixed.
Now you’ve managed to figure out how to open the door and climb inside, it’s time to try and paw yer way out of the thing. Not every vehicle has a dead simple lever to haul for egress; in fact, more than one can cause the type of puzzlement and furrowed brow generally encountered on people a few hours before their tax returns are due. Electric releases are becoming more common thanks to the downward trajectories of installation cost and ease of assembly. This post focuses mostly on mainstream models but there is an exotic in here as well.
[Images: Lexus, Ford, Sue Thatcher / Shutterstock.com, Sergey Kohl / Shutterstock.com]
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Modern Lexus
We’ll kick off this list with a series of vehicles whose impressive sales numbers are likely dented not one whit by the application of a new take on what should be the world’s simplest task - getting out of a car. Many new Lexus models now deploy a two-way handle on the door panel, designed to be used as either an electric release or as a physical one. Pushing this strip of silver unlatches the door and is decently straightforward given its location relative to where one would expect to find a traditional handle. What flummoxes some people is the emergency backup, required when electric releases are the main way to get out, since it employs the same handle as its muse. Instead of pushing, the user pulls on this chrome strip handle (2x in some instances because of cyclist/pedestrian considerations) which can make one wonder why Lexus didn’t just stick with that design in the first place.
2006 Ford Explorer
When the Blue Oval redesigned its mighty Explorer to produce the fourth-generation model in 2006, it shared many components with the third-gen truck including several body panels and just about all the powertrain. Its cabin was new, however, including a set of interior door handles which were certainly integrated quite neatly into the panel but caused consternation for some on the first encounter.
2006 Ford Explorer
Instead of yanking on a traditional hockey stick pull handle as found in Fords for decades, these handles were positioned at the leading edge of a bank of window buttons. They actually did approximate the curvature of a human palm, which was good, but one’s wrists are not exactly designed to bend upwards, which was the direction in which one had to pull with these things. Ford returned to a more traditional design in 2011.
TVR Chimaera
This wonderfully bonkers brand is a fixture on lists such as these - and for good reason. Designers at the company were given a wide berth (and probably encouraged) to take liberties with convention, an edict which extended into the cabin.
TVR Chimaera
Looking for an exit from a Chimaera? Forget peering towards the doors; what kind of dullard does that? Instead, look for an extravagantly styled dial in the center console and twirl it towards the door you wish to open. Naturally.
