China turns the hidden door handle into a defect, and every copier now owns one

Tesla and 10 other automakers have recalled nearly 4.3 million vehicles in China over concerns that hidden door handles may be hard to open in an emergency, according to Reuters; it is the country's largest automotive recall to date.

Remedies include warning labels installed free of charge to identify the handles, and software fixes that automatically lower a vehicle's windows after a collision.

TechCrunch reports 11 carmakers in China are issuing recalls over the problem, with nine including Tesla installing warning labels, and names Xiaomi, Xpeng and Geely brands Zeekr and Lynk & Co among those recalling EVs; all 11 will push software updates.

The mechanical door handles can be hard to identify because they are similarly coloured to the rest of the interior, and they matter most when the low-voltage battery that powers the electronically operated handles fails.

Bloomberg has linked at least 15 deaths to Tesla door handles failing in emergencies, and NHTSA is still deciding whether rules are needed.

Late last year the top US automotive safety regulator opened an investigation into Tesla's door-latching system after Bloomberg reporting, and the agency is also looking at creating a new rule for such systems.

One US lawmaker has proposed legislation that would require manual releases to be "intuitive to use and readily accessible for the occupant".

Rivian's manual release on R1 vehicles requires passengers to remove a panel and pull a cord; after customers and employees raised concerns last year, the company moved it to a more accessible spot on the cheaper R2, launched this year.

In 2025 Ford briefly stopped sales of the Mustang Mach-E and issued a recall to reduce the chances of its electronic door latches malfunctioning if the vehicles lost power.

Xiaomi is recalling 390,435 SU7 sedans, Leapmotor 371,200 cars, Xpeng 264,842 and Zeekr 92,658, alongside Chery, Dongfeng, Arcfox and FAW.

Tesla's electronic, retractable door handles have been imitated by plenty of competitors.

Three students died in a Xiaomi SU7 in 2025 after it hit a barrier and caught fire, with bystanders saying the retracted handles left them unable to open the doors.

Tesla design head Franz von Holzhausen said of a combined release: "The idea of combining the electronic one and the manual one together into one button, I think, makes a lot of sense. That's something that we're working on."

Tesla popularised the use of flush exterior handles and electronic latches and has said it is working on redesigning its door handles.

Tesla's roughly 2.98 million vehicles are about 69 percent of the near 4.3 million total, close to seven in ten.

Euro NCAP's 2026 protocol requires electrically powered exterior handles to remain operable after an impact, and gives credit for physical buttons over touchscreen-only controls.

A Euro NCAP requirement costs a manufacturer stars in a consumer test, while a Chinese national standard costs it the right to sell the car.

A handful of crash victims' families have filed lawsuits against Tesla alleging the door handle designs played roles in their relatives' deaths.

Tesla did not respond to Wired's request for comment.

The four individually disclosed domestic totals add up to 1,119,135 vehicles, about 1.12 million.

Nearly 2.98 million imported and locally built Tesla Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X cars are covered, with the recall starting on 25 September.

The State Administration for Market Regulation announced on Friday a recall of more than 2.9 million Model 3s and Model Ys built in China between 2019 and 2026, and simultaneously recalled more than 1 million vehicles from eight Chinese automakers (Beijing Automotive, Chery, Dongfeng, First Auto Works, Geely, Leapmotor, Xiaomi, Xpeng) over flush door handles.

China separately recalled nearly 50,000 imported Tesla Model 3s, Xs and Ss for insufficiently monitoring drivers using assisted steering, with some cars needing new in-cabin cameras.