# What would happen if someone closed an electric car window on someones hand? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914 "2011-10-17T14:13:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Candyman74](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Candyman74](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Candyman74)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/21 "2011-10-17T22:31:15Z")
As people have said, the motors aren’t very strong. So the answer is “not much”. It doesn’t hurt in the slightest - I’ve managed to do it several times. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2011, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/22 "2011-10-17T22:54:08Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > As people have said, the motors aren’t very strong. So the answer is “not much”. It doesn’t hurt in the slightest - I’ve managed to do it several times. I think there are far to may different designs to make a blanket statement like this. The windows in my ’86 Mustang used a scissors jack to lift them, and the combination of mechanical advantage and a powerful motor made me not want to get my finger (or neck) stuck in the window when it was being closed. ---
**Author:** ![constanze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@constanze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/constanze)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 10:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/23 "2011-10-18T10:14:57Z")
> [@Candyman74](#): > > As people have said, the motors aren’t very strong. So the answer is “not much”. It doesn’t hurt in the slightest - I’ve managed to do it several times. And as other people have said “the motors are strong enough to cut an apple in half, make children loose fingers or choke toddlers to death”. Did you skip most of the thread or do European reports not count? ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/24 "2011-10-18T10:54:03Z")
[Keep you cat away from your Ford KA](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHf96L5NmYY) Note for the humourless - no cats harmed in the making of this video. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/25 "2011-10-18T11:43:43Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > The argument the car makers use is that the sensors are expensive and unreliable. I would rather get my fingers caught in a window with an unreliable sensor than one which had no sensor at all. At least in the first case there is a _chance_ that the motor will stop before I suffer serious injury. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 11:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/26 "2011-10-18T11:59:28Z")
When we got auto up windows I experimented with the feature. Using the auto up the window would encounter my fingers, the control unit would see an unexpected spike in current the window would then reverse. No harm done. Same applies to the sunroof. However if you were manually using the switch there are no safeties and you can smash the he’ll out of your fingers. Yes I tried it and yes it hurts. ---
**Author:** ![aerodave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f08c70/32.png) [@aerodave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aerodave)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/27 "2011-10-18T13:12:46Z")
So it’s clear that the modern standard is to have some sort of pinch protection, but the range of implementations varies widely between nothing and quite sophisitcated. The responses so far do a good job of showing the outliers on the “dumb” side of the mean, but the cars we currently own fall more on the “smart” side. We have two late-model Audis and another late-model VW. All of them have a multi-stage pinch protection that responds quickly and pretty much eliminates the possiblility of an accidental injury. If resistance is detected when raising the window, the window reverses motion. The threshold for this is pretty low, and in fact one of the cars had a misaligned bit of weatherstripping whose additional friction was enough to trip the pinch protection. So at first, it can be quite sensitive and is unlikely to cause any type of injury to even the most delicate fingers. If after after a first attempt to close against resistance, a subsequent attempt is made soon thereafter (within 10 seconds or so), it is done with a higher threshold of resistance detection. On this second attempt, a finger caught between the glass and the door will still cause motion reversal, but the window might leave a mark or cause some strong momentary discomfort. However, it’s not going to sever anything. Then, if a third attempt is made in a short time, the car basically says “ok, if you say so!” and rolls the window up with the full force of the regulator motor and no pinch protection. I assume that severing a small finger is possible in this case, but it’s not like the car didn’t give you plenty of chances to spare the digit. ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/28 "2011-10-18T14:34:51Z")
Every garage door opener has this feature. I find it hard to believe the tech is expensive or unreliable. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/29 "2011-10-18T14:50:59Z")
Big difference between a garage door opener and a power window. You can activate a garage door opener out of the line of sight of the garage. In the car you are right there. Different scenario different levels of safety required. ---
**Author:** ![skdo23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a5b964/32.png) [@skdo23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/skdo23)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/30 "2011-10-18T17:29:09Z")
> [@aerodave](#): > > We have two late-model Audis and another late-model VW. All of them have a multi-stage pinch protection that responds quickly and pretty much eliminates the possiblility of an accidental injury. If resistance is detected when raising the window, the window reverses motion. The threshold for this is pretty low, and in fact one of the cars had a misaligned bit of weatherstripping whose additional friction was enough to trip the pinch protection. So at first, it can be quite sensitive and is unlikely to cause any type of injury to even the most delicate fingers. I have a 2005 Audi A6, before that I had a 2001 A4. When I purchased both cars the salesperson actually demonstrated the safety feature you describe by sticking his arm through an open window and closing it until the window met resistance and immediately stopped closing. Both salespeople seemed perfectly calm the entire time. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/31 "2011-10-18T17:36:41Z")
> [@Rick](#): > > When we got auto up windows I experimented . . . with . . . my fingers . . . :smack: It made my dog yelp when it pinched his snout. It was probably more fear than hurt. Now I tap the button to close the window when the dog is looking out the window. :smack: at me for not checking the dog before trying to close the window. ---
**Author:** ![Rick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2011, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914/32 "2011-10-18T18:18:27Z")
> [@Bearflag70](#): > > :smack: > > It made my dog yelp when it pinched his snout. It was probably more fear than hurt. Now I tap the button to close the window when the dog is looking out the window. > > :smack: at me for not checking the dog before trying to close the window. 🙂 Yeah I wasn’t too sure about this the first time I tried it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-would-happen-if-someone-closed-an-electric-car-window-on-someones-hand/599914.md?page=1)