China will require car doors sold in the country to have mechanical exterior handles that can be opened from either side, beginning in 2027, to make it easier to rescue people after crashes. The rule phases out flush, electrically powered retractable door handles—popularized by Tesla and used by many automakers—which sit flush with the vehicle’s body and pop out only when they detect a user. While the design was embraced for aesthetics and improved aerodynamics, authorities say it introduces safety risks if the mechanism fails after a crash or during a battery failure.
Investigations and reporting have highlighted incidents in which electric door handles became inoperable, forcing rescuers to break windows to extract occupants. A Bloomberg investigation detailed cases of Tesla exterior handles failing to open and linked a number of deaths to situations where occupants could not exit. Tesla has said it is redesigning its handles. In the U.S., the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened probes into reports of 2021 Tesla Model Y exterior door handles failing, is examining related issues in other models such as the Dodge Journey, and has influenced recalls over electronic-handle defects in past cases involving other manufacturers.
The Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology said in a Weibo post that new rules are meant to address “inconvenient operation of exterior door handles and inability to open them after an accident.” For interior handles, the ministry requires mechanical releases be visible and not obstructed by other parts of the vehicle, citing concerns that some manual releases are hard to find during emergencies. Some Tesla models, for example, require removing a speaker cover and pulling a cable to manually release rear doors.
The regulation will apply to vehicles sold in China and will require global automakers that sell there to redesign affected models for compliance, though it won’t directly change rules for the U.S. market. Most cars sold in China are made there, and U.S. import restrictions and tariffs limit Chinese vehicles’ presence in the American market.
Pressure to address electronic-handle safety has been growing elsewhere as well. Consumer Reports notes many brands—Audi, BMW, Chevrolet, Fiat, Ford, Genesis, Lexus, Lincoln, Maserati and Volvo—use some form of electronic door handles on some models. In the U.S., beyond NHTSA probes, lawmakers have introduced legislation that would require fail-safe manual interior door releases and ways for rescue workers to access vehicles from the outside.
Chinese regulators framed the new rules as a public-safety measure to ensure doors remain operable in disasters such as crashes or battery fires, following high-profile incidents, investigative reporting and public concern.