Cars these days come with a plethora of features and gadgets, all designed to make driving both safe and entertaining. On the one hand, totally unnecessary high-tech features such as gesture controls or social media integration apps are relatively new, and few people know or want to know how to use them. On the other hand, features like the trusty grab handle have been around for centuries and can still be found in most new cars today because their practicality and functionality have stood the test
of time.
Still, not many people know what the grab handles above car doors are for. Many assume they're designed for holding onto when the driver starts driving more aggressively, but that's not the case. So, what are the handles above your car doors actually for? In practice, these grab handles are intended to help you get in and out of the car more easily and to help you stay in place while off-road, and here is everything you need to know about them.
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How To Use Car Grab Handles
As noted by the experts at Check This Car, "Grab handles provide support when entering or exiting the vehicle. This is especially helpful for elderly passengers [or] individuals with mobility challenges." They can also be used to help keep passengers stable while going off-road or as a point of support during more extreme braking. Since car grab handles also incorporate hooks, people use them to hang clothes or bags without worrying about wrinkles or dirt.
That said, it isn't particularly wise to always use grab handles as an anchoring point while driving because these can interfere with the deployment of airbags. For example, side-curtain airbags are typically stored in the same area where a grab handle sits. If a person were to grip the handle in the event of a side-curtain airbag deployment, their hand could obstruct the airbag and thus cause it to fail, or even cause severe injury.
Family Handyman cites Eric Ruble, a senior communications specialist with Nissan, as saying that grab handles were not originally designed for easy entry and exit, but rather to "help passengers find a comfortable seating position and provide extra stability on rough terrain." These also aren't designed as anchoring points or hooks, nor are they designed to bear the full weight of a grown adult due to the possibility of them failing under load.
Do All Cars Come With Grab Handles?
Not all cars come with grab handles, and even those that do offer them don't always place them above the doors. For example, the BMW 4-Series and some of the other BMW coupe models don't come with grab handles from the factory. The reason is that manufacturers want to lower the roofline to make their cars lower, a feature very important for coupes.
The expensive Mercedes-Benz G-Class comes with one grab handle above the door and a second one bolted directly onto the dashboard to provide the passenger with an additional anchor point while off-roading. Some cars also omit the grab handle on the driver's side, considering it redundant and unnecessarily costly since drivers are expected to keep their hands on the steering wheel at all times. The Porsche Cayenne comes with grab handles located in the center console. The Chevrolet Corvette has ditched a similar center console grab handle for the new C8, but it seems like the upcoming 2026 Corvette is bringing it back.
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Read the original article on SlashGear.
