"Can't put a lever on the outside without making it likelier that criminals can open your hood." I'm guessing you meant "door" vs "hood", but... why not?

Are you saying that a regular door handle makes it more likely that a criminal will open your door, so that's a problem with standard car doors as well?

Not that the door design is perfect, but there's no reason they can't:

- put a door handle on the outside, along with a keyhole (or possibly just a fingertip-lip on the window?)

- ...which would allow you to slide the window & door along their tracks manually if needed.

If you've ever had a powered garage door, it's more or less the same thing; sometimes the power will be out, so you have to be able to tug it up anyway (with a bit of extra drag from the motor, but hey, it's on springs so it's not too heavy).

We were talking about opening the hood, which is where the battery usually is.

Yup, I was confused because the real issue is that the door must be openable without power, and they must have a solution to that regardless of any questions about where the hood lever is.

They should just leave the hood lever inside the car; the door must be openable manually for a dozen other reasons.

But it looks like the window has to roll down first to avoid damage. It looks to me like out of power, out of luck.

Damn. I'll put a stop to my patent application.

I guess they'll just have to put a lock on the hood that unlocks with your key.

Ah, wait, you did actually mean "hood" above.

Nah, they need to solve the door problem, regardless (so the hood latch can be in the car). It's not just a question of opening the hood; you also have to open the door anyway, unless you want to replace the battery when a simple jump would do. (And electrical failures more serious than a dead battery happen as well on occasion...)