From 2027 onward, the Chinese government will prohibit the registration of new cars with fully retractable door handles and electric unlocking systems, while existing models will be subject to a transitional arrangement. The Chinese ban is likely to have global repercussions.

A potential ban has been discussed for months; now it has been decided. The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has announced that it will update approval regulations to enforce this change. Meanwhile, parallel investigations and legislative proposals are underway in the US and the EU.

From 1 January 2027, all new vehicles introduced to the market must comply with the updated requirements. Models that have already been approved or are nearing approval may continue to be sold with existing door handles until 2029, by which time they must be retrofitted to meet the new standards.

Safety concerns

Concealed car door handles date back to the 1940s and ’50s, where they were used on road cars to simulate the aerodynamic features and overall style of many race cars. In the modern era, they were popularized by the Tesla Model S, both to boost EV range by reducing aerodynamic drag and to create a ‘futuristic feel’.

That design ethos quickly spread across the rest of the industry, especially with EVs, as did the idea of removing a mechanical linkage to the door locks while relying on electronic switches to reduce costs.

But this design shift carried several unfortunate consequences, mainly because flush-mounted electronic door handles can fail to pop out or unlock the doors if a car loses power.

Over the past few years, Tesla and other automakers that use them have come under fire for passengers struggling to get into their cars or escape them in the event of a crash.

The new regulations address safety concerns associated with flush-mounted door handles integrated into the vehicle body. These handles typically rely on an electric door unlocking system rather than a mechanical one. In accident scenarios, they can fail to open if the electrical circuit is disrupted, as mechanical redundancies are often absent.

First responders have often struggled to access the cars in emergencies as well. Bloomberg’s investigations have found more than 140 consumer complaints to US auto safety regulators about door handles on various Tesla models, and the outlet has linked them to 15 traffic deaths.

In China, power failures reportedly prevented emergency crews from opening the doors of two Xiaomi EVs, leaving their passengers to die in fiery crashes.

Mechanically operable

To address this, the new regulations require that car doors be mechanically operable from both the inside and the outside. Additionally, sufficiently large recesses for gripping, as well as small instructional labels indicating the door-opening method and handle location, will likely be required.

This aims to resolve issues such as cumbersome operation and door failures after accidents, as reported by the state news agency Xinhua. Such door handles are particularly common in battery-electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids (referred to as New Energy Vehicles in China), but the new regulation applies to all powertrain types.

It is still unclear how these regulations will be implemented in practice, or more specifically, what exact requirements will be set for mechanical door opening. No specific vehicle models with door systems that will become non-compliant have been named. Given that manufacturers have already developed a variety of retractable door handle designs, not all variants may be banned under the new rules.

Worldwide consequences

By 2027, car manufacturers will need to adapt the door handle designs of their new models. As China is a critical market for electric vehicles, it is likely that door handles for models sold there will conform to Chinese standards. Developing different variants would simply be too costly.

So, the auto industry has to pivot. Bloomberg estimates that entire model lineups in China could incur tens of millions of dollars in costs to change the designs on existing and upcoming models. And automakers may not have a choice but to do the same elsewhere if European and US regulators crack down as well.

More regulations may be on the way: A new bill in the US Congress, the SAFE Exit Act, was introduced last month to push for federal standards for electronic door handles.

“Profits and, least of all, style, should not come before people’s lives. Elon Musk and his Tesla designs are not safe, nor efficient, and they have cost people’s lives,” said Rep. Robin Kelly, D-Ill., the bill’s author. “When crashes or power loss leave drivers and passengers trapped inside their own cars, that is not innovation, it’s a safety failure.”