Tesla Recalls 3 Million EVs in China Over Door Handle Safety
Tesla Inc. and at least eight other carmakers are recalling millions of cars in China over safety concerns with their door handles, a major step to address flaws that have led to vehicle entrapment and multiple fatalities.
More than 4 million vehicles are affected as part of the broad crackdown, one of the most sweeping recalls ever in the world’s biggest auto market. Tesla accounts for the largest share, with just under 3 million vehicles included in the action announced Friday.
The Tesla vehicles have electrically controlled handles that can stop working in some crashes, which “could hinder occupants from quickly opening the doors to escape and impede rescue efforts by those outside the vehicle, posing a safety hazard,” according to a statement from China’s State Administration for Market Regulation. As part of the recall, the carmaker will update software to automatically lower the windows after an accident and will affix warning labels showing where the emergency door releases are located.
Vehicles designed with flush, electric handles have been involved in a series of incidents in which occupants have been trapped inside their cars after the vehicles lost power, including after a crash. In several instances, occupants of Tesla vehicles survived the initial impact of a high speed crash only to die or sustain serious injury from subsequent fires after being unable to exit.
Bloomberg News has reported extensively on the modern door systems, uncovering at least 15 deaths in a dozen incidents in which occupants or rescuers were unable to open the doors of a Tesla that had crashed and caught fire. Bloomberg also reported late last year that Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk insisted on electric doors even after potential safety concerns were raised internally.
China has taken a particular interest in the topic following fiery crashes involving Xiaomi Corp. vehicles, becoming the first country in the world to outlaw the design when it banned concealed door handles on electric vehicles earlier this year. The country has also been introducing regulations for driver-assistance technology, batteries and other standards to try to improve the safety of cars at a time when Chinese automakers have been developing cars in roughly half of the time as legacy carmakers.
This marks one of the largest vehicle recalls for the same kind of quality issue in China, according to Li Yanwei, an adviser to the China Automobile Dealers Association.
After Tesla, Xiaomi accounted for the next highest number of vehicles recalled in Friday’s action, with 390,435 of its SU7 electric sedans. Zhejiang Leapmotor Technology Co. Ltd. is recalling 371,200 vehicles, according to statements from the market regulator. The total number of EVs being recalled for door handle related safety risks from the nine carmakers reached about 4.27 million affected.
Tesla on Friday also recalled about 2.7 million vehicles to shore up its means for monitoring drivers using its driver-assistance technology and ensuring they pay attention to traffic and avoid collisions.
In the US, auto safety regulators said last month that they would begin the process to impose a new federal rule addressing concerns over unsafe door handles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also probing certain Tesla Model Y vehicles over complaints of door-related entrapment, and a US lawmaker has introduced legislation to require manual door releases in new cars and means for first responders to gain access to vehicles when power is lost.
Photograph: The doors and handles of a Tesla Model 3 electric vehicle at a pop-up Tesla Inc. store on its opening day in Riga, Latvia, on Friday, Aug. 21, 2026; photo credit: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg