‘So many instructions’: Cars with the most complicated door handles

Modern motoring has seen the reinvention of many features, from buttons and dials to gear shifters and tail-lights – and now the humble door handle has landed in the spotlight.

Increasingly, manufacturers are swapping traditional door handles for hidden handles, flush handles, pop-out handles, buttons, levers and even 'winglets'.

RELATED: Hidden door handle ban confirmed for China poised to affect the world

In fact, car door handles have become so high-tech that it's starting to cause problems, with China moving to ban power-operated retractable door handles from the start of 2027.

Under the legislation, these handles – which sit flush with the car's body but pop out when the vehicle is unlocked – will require an easily accessible physical release.

The move comes in response to concerns the handles could prove dangerous in the event of an accident, where first responders may struggle to gain access to victims, or the handles could be rendered inoperative if a vehicle loses power.

Safety concerns aside, there are plenty of cars with door handles that are perfectly functional and safe, but a little bit confusing. While the majority of consumers have grown accustomed to pop-out door handles that behave like handles, there is still confusion around door handles that don't look or behave like door handles.

Below, we've collated a list of the cars with the most confusing, bizarre and baffling door handles, according to the Drive team and consumers.

Tesla was one of the first car brands to rethink door handles on a broad scale, with flush-fit exterior door handles that require a two-step process to open, and an electronic push-button in place of an interior door latch (with a physical release also fitted as a back-up).

However, the electric car maker is looking to redesign this system after US safety authorities received complaints about the handles malfunctioning.

Tesla’s design chief, Franz von Holzhausen, told the Bloomberg Hot Pursuit! podcast: "The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together into one button, I think, makes a lot of sense. That’s something that we’re working on”.

In 2022, Lexus began rolling out its e-Latch system across its range of cars in the name of safety. The e-Latch system replaces the traditional internal door handle with a push-button switch next to the arm rest in the door.

Lexus explains the e-Latch is "linked to the car's Blind Spot Monitor to provide Safe Exit Assist, which automatically cancels the door opening if vehicles or cyclists are detected approaching from the rear".

However, confusion can arise because the e-Latch looks like a handle you pull, but actually operates as a button you push. Users can also override the button by pulling the latch like a handle twice.

"Anybody else have friends and family who struggle to use the e-Latch when exiting the vehicle?" asked one Reddit post from early 2026.

"Looking for some creative self-explanatory ways for them to figure out how to use it, to save me the trouble of having to explain how a button works as they awkwardly panic and fumble with the door. I’m considering just printing a label saying “press here” at this point."

One commented responded: "When I test-drove one I just kept mashing the door until something happened". Another added: "When you design a door button in the shape of a door handle and you wonder why people struggle with its operation!".

Another Reddit post argued: "If you need to provide so many instructions for a car door handle, that means the design sucks".

The top-spec variant of the Zeekr 7X electric SUV features power-opening doors that are operated by buttons on the B-pillars for the front doors, and on the rear windows for the rear doors. On the inside, doors are opened and closed by buttons (with a manual over-ride under the handle).

The trouble is that on this variant, the 7X appears to have door handles, but they are non-functional and unable to be pulled, which could cause confusion.

Ford has also made opening a door a two-step process on its Mustang Mach-E electric SUV, asking owners to push a button and then grab a handle to open the door.

"The Mustang has circular buttons on each door to open them, and won’t open if you don’t push them, even by pulling the grab handle – which caught me out, no matter how many times I reminded myself that was how it worked," wrote Drive journalist Kathryn Fisk in her review.

"The front doors have little handles for ease of opening, but the back doors don’t. It seems like a change for change's sake, and really is a feature that just has to go. It’s the new way of opening doors that nobody asked for."

The next generation of BMW's X5 SUV features plenty of innovative technology, but one of the more divisive elements has been its redesigned 'winglet' door handles.

These handles feature small door release buttons on the inside face of the handles, while the doors themselves are electrically powered to open using this door release button and shut themselves with a small tap on the door.

Drive's own Emma Notarfrancesco found the winglets fairly confusing to operate at the global reveal of the new BMW X5 and iX5 – you can watch her figure it out below.

The upcoming Volvo EX60 all-electric medium SUV features 'shark fin'-style door handles for the sole purpose of aerodynamics and efficiency.

"One big thing about this car is the range and the efficiency – so the important thing is to keep the body side clean," Volvo’s senior interior design manager, Louise Temin Annermalm, has previously told Drive.

"We designed the door handles to be intuitive, easy to use and in a good position so you can easily reach them."