How We Open Trunks And Rear Hatches Has Sneakily Become Standardized And I Don’t Like It

I have a complicated relationship with standardization. On one hand, I love it. And think there should be a lot more standardization of car parts, especially for things like EV battery sizes, or perhaps how sometimes I long for the days when there were only two kinds of headlights, round or rectangular, and they were dirt cheap.

But then when I think about what rampant standardization could mean, I get horrifying visions of everything inexorably marching towards sameness, and that sounds like a nightmare. So I appreciate a world where problems have wildly different solutions. Sometimes, though, standards just seem to happen, and I think we’re at a point where a huge standard has definitely taken root, and no one is talking about it. Except me! I will remain silent no more! I’m officially decreeing the way we open trunks and hatches by feeling blindly around under the lip over a license plate hereby standardized!

That’s right! This has been happening, quietly for decades, right under our noses, and the time has come to just call it. This method of opening a hatch has won. It’s finished. So let’s take the time to note this, name it, examine it, and accept it.

First, let’s look at the World Before, when there were many ways to open the rear hatch or trunk of a car. Let’s just look at some examples from one automaker, Honda. Here’s a few samples of Hondas from the 1970s to 1980s, and where they had their trunk- or hatch-opening handles or latches:

Look at all that dazzling variety! Latches and handles of all manner of shapes, some metal, some plastic, some emblazoned, proudly, with the Honda logo, some chromed, some large, some tiny – it was really a time where anything went.

Of course, sometimes, a bit more rarely, you’d even see these on the fronts of cars:

And now, look at these Hondas from more recent times (and one from the 90s, when all of this really got started):

See that? All the tailgate latches are now in the same basic place: under the lip, above the license plate, sharing a space with the license plate lights. In fact, I’d be willing to bet that the incidents of people physically touching license plate light lenses has increased dramatically since the 1990s, and shows no signs of stopping, as we’re always letting our fingers roam and explore under those little lips, fingering the license plate lights, as we feel for the little rubberized or plastic buttons that will get our hatches and trunks open.

I’m trying to think of modern-ish exceptions to this rule, and while I think there are some, they’re quite few, and some of these exceptions have pretty large mitigating circumstances. For example, consider the Ford EcoSport, which we got here in America from around 2018 to 2022. This little crossover had its rear door handle integrated, strangely, into the right side taillight:

… but that was only because the hatch opens sideways, like a door, not a hatch. The Mitsubishi Mirage is another example, and I think it enjoys the freedom to have an actual, visible handle still because it stubbornly remains one of the cheapest cars on the market.

Pickup truck tailgates also tend to retain their prominent, visible handles, at least in part because license plates tend not to be mounted on truck tailgates.

Speaking of truck tailgate handles, I really feel like the Jeep J10 tailgate handle is worth remembering here because it was just a repurposed AMC door handle, in a beautiful example of AMC cheapskate-creativity:

 

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But for the vast majority of the current automotive world, the Hidden Handle (okay, let’s call it that) has won. And it’s across the spectrum of cars, too. Here’s the handle hiding under the chrome strip of a Rolls-Royce Cullinan and the same damn basic thing lurking under the lower lip of that Nissan Versa trim strip or under the lower edge of the tailgate on that Mercedes-Benz EQS:

The point is, the Hidden Handle has become near-ubiquitous. It’s everywhere. And, visually, it’s nowhere. Which leads to my big issue with the Hidden Handle:

Sure, it’s slowly and stealthily crept onto almost every car, but do any of us really like these things? Really? Don’t we all spend way too much time sliding our fingers under those often dirty lips and edges, feeling around for which little lumpy bit is the button to open the trunk?

How often have you tried to push on a license plate light to get a hatch open? How often have you gotten frustrated and craned your head low to look under there, to see if you can spot just where you need to get your fingers to make the damn trunk open? Wouldn’t you rather have a latch you can see and satisfyingly operate, especially if it’s interesting, or fun, or both?

I suppose the thinking is that with so many key fobs having trunk- or hatch-open buttons, the physical handle on the car just doesn’t matter as much. And that may be true. Until you need it.

I’m guessing these sorts of hatch or trunk releases are cheaper to install, as they don’t really need to be as robust? Maybe? I’m just not sure how they’re better than an actual handle or latch you can see.

Sure, designers may appreciate the cleanliness of not having to design or install another component, but come on, they could figure out some nice solutions, too!

I’m just bitter that this has sneakily become the default, and I wasn’t consulted. Not even once.

Oh well. I think this is likely here to stay, the Hidden Handle, so I really should make my peace with them. But I don’t think I’ll ever like them.

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