by Gabrielle DeSantis

Over the years, there have been many automotive inventions that are extremely intelligent and useful and others that have not been. Take the extending sun visor, for example. It’s brilliant and it fills in that one spot of sun that never seems to get covered.

Soft-close doors, on the other hand, are only somewhat brilliant because they’re an answer to an issue not too many people have: passengers slamming your car doors. But that made us wonder: Is it bad to slam a “soft close” door?

What is a “soft close” door?

Soft-close doors are cars doors that close automatically and quietly. According to Autobytel, when the door is approximately a quarter-inch from being completely closed, a sensor activates an electric motor to pull the door closed. The system activates whenever a door is closed in order to ensure that it closes completely. 

The theory behind the mechanism is that all the doors will be able to close completely without any loud or unpleasant noises. As you can imagine, soft-close doors can typically be found in luxury cars like Mercedes-Benz and BMWs.

Issues with soft-close doors

Cars are sturdy and solid, however, slamming a car door repeatedly can cause a lot of wear and tear over time. According to Car Roar, slamming a car door can dent the metal and cause the whole door mechanism to malfunction. That’s essentially why soft close doors exist; to prevent damage to the door mechanism from slamming.

And while the purpose of a soft-close door is to prevent or curtail any damages from slamming, it is not without its faults. In fact, Car Complaints details a recall issue concerning over 45,000 BMW 7 Series models, produced from 2005 to 2007, that had issues with doors opening on the freeway due to failing sensors and latches. That goes to show that no car mechanism is perfect and even soft-close doors are prone to failure over time.

Another issue is that soft-close doors can also cause injuries. This story from Consumer Affairs discusses a lawsuit concerning an owner and her 2012 BMW 750Li. The plaintiff said that the door was allegedly halfway open when she rested her hand on the door frame. The soft-close door then activated and “mangled her thumb.” Her orthopedist went on to say that is was the “worst bone-crushing injury” he’d ever seen.

The main point here is that soft-close doors can be helpful in preventing passengers from doing damage from slamming car doors. But the irony is that the soft-close door mechanism can be damaged from slamming and even cause personal injury in some cases.

Is it worth it to have my car retrofitted with soft-close doors?

There are aftermarket companies that sell soft-close door mechanisms for older cars and even minivans with the intent that they will prevent harmful slamming. Unless you really want the “luxury” of having your car doors close softly every time, then we would suggest skipping this modification.

From what we can tell, they’re most likely not worth the money and effort of installing them and it’s possible that they can do some harm to you and your passengers.

RELATED: 6 Reasons You Rarely See Gull Wing Doors Anymore

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by Gabrielle DeSantis

For the electric future everyone thinks is necessary to save Mother Earth, we’ll need lithium for lithium-ion batteries. A lot of it. General Motors just threw down the gauntlet by putting together one of the most “out there” deals ever floated anywhere. Together with a mining company called Controlled Thermal Resources GM plans to take one of the earth’s most terrible mistakes; the Salton Sea, and turn it into lithium lemonade.

The GM lithium plan could help one of the worst environmental disasters on earth

If you don’t know about the Salton Sea in the California desert you need to. Just don’t go there. It is a nightmare on earth. The sights and smells will haunt you for the rest of your life, and we’re not kidding. You won’t believe such a place exists on earth. And in California, yet.

Created slightly over 100 years ago, this accident is the end result. A Colorado dam was breached with this spot, 200 feet below sea level, being where the water settled. Since then, farm runoff from Imperial Valley combined with the unnatural location outside of Palm Springs combines to make a reeking, hell hole. 

Lithium mining is mostly environmental rape, but that’s not GM’s plan

Water in the endorheic or “terminal” lake has no outlet. So it can only evaporate, leaving behind salt. Its water is 50 percent saltier than the Pacific ocean. An unnatural catastrophe considered one of the most polluted places on earth.

Once a recreation destination, it is now the opposite. Huge fish die-offs, flooded sections of Bombay Beach left to rot, arsenic, selenium, and pesticides make it a foul, feted, cataclysm. With what is essentially strip-mining being the ecological equivalent of rape, the location makes it something far more positive in this very unique plan.

GM wants to tap one of the largest lithium brine stores in the world

The Salton Sea has one of the largest lithium brine stores in the world. This scheme would use renewable energy to extract lithium. With 10 geothermal power stations already there, the power plants would pump brine from the lake, process it, then return the remaining water. 

The process is considered many times better than Australia, Chile, China, and Argentina currently do it. Those countries, which currently provide most of the lithium today, use open pits to evaporate the water. And it takes an unholy amount of the resource. It leaves the minerals left for processing. And incredible environmental devastation. 

CTR’s plan uses way less energy and water. “CTR will deploy a direct lithium extraction process to recover lithium from the brine using clean energy and steam and ion exchange technology. All brine is returned to the geothermal reservoir (minus the lithium) within one hour,” a CTR spokesperson told Vice. 

The Salton Sea is estimated to supply 40 percent of lithium needed

So there is no dredging and no water depletion. Power plants already circulate the water. This one extra step requires no additional energy to complete, leaves minerals to use, and returns the water with less salinity. There doesn’t seem to be much of a downside to the GM lithium idea. And the Salton Sea is estimated to contain enough minerals to supply 40 percent of lithium needed for vehicle electrification. 

Then there is the prospect of providing jobs to an area that sees 25 percent unemployment. Being as isolated as it is, employment would have to be locally procured. A proposed levy on mineral extraction would also provide needed capital for local economic and environmental needs.

The GM lithium mining idea is a complicated idea for a complicated location on the edge. The plans, proposals, and investigations into what to do about the Salton Sea make your head spin. Every year there seems to be a new plan and more money spent exploring the ideas. Then nothing. For decades it has been the same parade, or charade. 

This huge, complicated plan aligns with GM’s recent carbon footprint reduction goals

But there seem to be few downsides. And the benefits across many realms pose few arguments. Now GM is right in the middle with a plan that aligns with its recent carbon footprint reduction goals. 

But the GM lithium scheme is also intricate and complex. Let’s just say this is probably one of the biggest deals GM has ever been in the middle of. And let’s hope it is even better than it seems on paper. 

RELATED: Do ‘Clean’ Electric Vehicles Have Dirty Secrets?

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