shakoomakoo

Hi there,
Are these handles safe if someone locks the doors and your fingers get stuck as they retract? Has anyone had experience with this. The other day my kid locked the door and I was barely able to pull my hand quickly.
I tried searching online but there is nothing that says its safe and it will stop if your hand/fingers are in.

Thanks

Crito

There's one way to find out for sure! But seriously, I wouldn't expect anything to say it's safe. I would expect there to be a warning if it could break your fingers though. I'm sure Mercedes pays lawyers to worry about that kind of stuff. Plus there would probably be posts here from three fingered Mercedes owners.

bytemaster0

There's likely no way MB would have added these without safety considerations. It would very much go against their long storied design philosophy. Nothing in owner's manual?

Crito

I was just watching a YouBoob video where the sunroof stops closing if your hand is in there, so I'm fairly confident the door handle will too. But like I said, there's only one way to know for sure and sounds like your kid just volunteered you for the experiment. Let us know if you retain all your digits.

Sportstick

...or just find a branch, twig, piece of dowel about the size of a finger to test?

icwhatudidthere

There was an autogefühl video where the handles retracted on Thomas’s hand. IIRC it looked spring loaded and he was able to pull his hand out unscathed.

bytemaster0

Per the user manual, the door handles can be pulled back with a screwdriver or lever to access the emergency unlock key port. So, it stands to reason that they have springs or have a mechanism that would prevent pinching of hands.

W205C43PFL

Well, here is a video of that exact scenario happening, skip to timestamp 19:48

shakoomakoo

Wow! Thanks for sharing. It looks like it can certainly happen but hopefully not painful or at least there was nothing broken.

W205C43PFL

You're welcome.

Crito

I accidentally did it to myself today. I guess I put my thumb on the rectangular outside sensor while opening the door with my left hand. Didn't hurt at all.

W205C43PFL

It is strong but it doesn't feel like an elastic band that you stretch between your fingers until it snaps, ouch.

Crito

Like bytemaster0 said, it's actually designed to be pulled open so you can access the backup keyhole. It's really a non-issue and Mercedes definitely doesn't need to worry about any personal injury lawsuits. In fact, I'd say if anyone has any doubts just try it yourself. You'll never worry about it again.

W205C43PFL

Unfortunately, it wasn't always the case https://www.12news.com/article/news/...3-2176ebd09e0a but you could also blame the man for not being careful, I am not on either Mercedes or that man's side, I think they both were responsible in one way or the other.

js_cls

I’ve seen this before, if I’m not mistaken, another person tried the same lawsuit on a BMW X5 because the soft close door disfigured their hand. Don’t remember what the outcome was though.

W205C43PFL

I see, looks like we never figured out who is really truly liable in this case? The customer or the company, their argue is that for a company like MB to care about safety should had included some sort of sensor to automatically open the door again and stop closing that type of thing...