Retracting hideaway door handles have become more and more popular among automotive manufacturers in the past decade, but they have also been a source of controversy of late: Tesla is being sued over their handle designs; a U.S. congressman wants to ban them; and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration is investigating them. Now, China—which has been looking into the concept since last summer— has just gone one step further and banned the handle designs outright.
As Reuters brought to broader attention, starting in 2027, China is mandating mechanical releasing door handles on both the interior and exterior of cars. New regulations will be introduced that specify where handles should be located, how they should operate, and how manual interior releases should be designed so they can be spotted in an emergency.
The change comes after a high-profile incident involving a crashed Xiaomi SU7, which bystanders reportedly could not open after an accident. Similar situations have happened with multiple Tesla models in the United States. The Cybertruck, which features both a button-based door opening mechanism and hard-to-break windows by design, has been involved in two high-profile incidents: one that left NBA prospect Alijah Arenas briefly trapped in a burning truck, and another that reportedly resulted in two deaths and a lawsuit.
While the designs may seem to come only with drawbacks, the mechanized hideaway system popularized by the Tesla Model S does help decrease drag. That leads to relatively easy efficiency gains in an EV, which add up to a tangible increase in range that may be worth the added complexity of the system. That said, non-mechanized semi-hidden designs like those used by some Aston Martin models, some of which are not banned by the new Chinese ruling, offer a smaller benefit in reduced drag without adding as much complexity to the historically simple process of opening a door.
Fred Smith’s love of cars comes from his fascination with auto racing. Unfortunately, that passion led him to daily drive a high-mileage, first-year Porsche Panamera. He is still thinking about the last lap of the 2011 Indianapolis 500.
