One of the design features that has become synonymous with Tesla has been banned in China.
With new safety rules published on Monday by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, cars sold in the country must have mechanical releases on their door handles. The new rules, which take effect on January 1, 2027, will ban the hidden, electronically activated door handles popularized by Tesla — and now found on many other electric vehicles in China.
The new rule dictates that every door (excluding the rear door) must be equipped with a mechanically released exterior door handle. Vehicles must also have a mechanical release inside the vehicle. Bloomberg mentioned earlier about the new security policy.
Numerous high-profile fatal incidents in which passengers have been trapped in their vehicles have raised concerns among safety regulators and advocates worldwide. China is the first country to issue a ban.
A research by Bloomberg Last September it revealed problems with hidden door handles in Tesla vehicles, citing several accidents in which first responders or passengers were unable to open the doors because the electronic door locks were not drawing enough power from the vehicle’s battery system to operate properly. Then the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened one defect investigation on some Tesla Model Y and Model 3 door handles. While Tesla has manual overrides in its vehicles, federal investigators noted that the overrides can be difficult for children to access and many owners are unaware of their existence. Some US lawmakers have proposed setting which requires manual door releases on all new vehicles.
Fatal incidents in China, including an accident involving a Xiaomi SU7 electric sedan, prompted regulators there to propose changes to EV door handles last year.
The Chinese government began the process in May 2025 with more than 40 domestic vehicle manufacturers, parts suppliers and testing institutions participating in the initial investigation. More than 100 industry experts held multiple rounds of discussions to define the standard framework and form a draft standard of what will be Technical safety requirements for car door handles rule, according to the standards agency of the Chinese government.
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This included dozens of automakers, including Chinese companies such as BYD, Geely Holdings, SAIC and Xiaomi, as well as foreign automakers including General Motors, Ford, Hyundai, Nissan, Porsche, Toyota and Volkswagen. Tesla, however, was not listed as an official “author,” according to information posted on the standards agency’s website.
