Having successfully banned flush-mount door handles, China may be about to eliminate another «feature» that Tesla has pioneered: the yoke style steering wheel. Inside EVs reports that new safety standards proposed by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) are pretty much impossible for this type of steering wheel to meet. This would effectively mandate the use of a traditional roundish steering wheel in the future if these proposed standards go into effect.
MIIT has published a draft of national standard GB 11557-202X, titled «Regulations for Preventing Injuries to Drivers from Automobile Steering Mechanisms» according to a Google translation of Autohome. The document covers several areas, including aligning China’s testing standards with international ones, setting new limits on steering column displacement in a crash, and removing all exceptions to human impact testing. The proposed standard also removes all references to «half-spoke steering wheels,» which means they will be held to the same safety standards as full steering wheels.
These standards require ten test points for head impacts, which must include the «midpoint of the weakest area» and the «midpoint of the shortest unsupported area» of the steering wheel. On a yoke steering wheel, these areas are nothing but air, which are certain to fail the test. This is likely the point. The top of a traditional steering wheel can stop the driver’s head or body from hitting the windshield or dashboard, while a yoke-style «wheel» lets them pass over the top of the steering column. While not a direct ban, making it impossible for them to pass the test has pretty much the same effect.
It’s not hip to be square
While Tesla has been the most visible brand in North America to push these yoke steering wheels, it is far from the only one. The Lexus RZ has one, as well as the Mercedes-Benz EQS. Many Chinese manufacturers have jumped on this trend as well. The new safety standards go into effect January 1, 2027, which doesn’t give manufacturers very long to do something about it, though an additional transition period may be allowed for models already in production to come into compliance. Tesla already offers an optional round steering wheel that it could make standard equipment to comply immediately.
A yoke steering wheel works well for Formula 1 because drivers don’t have to cross their hands to turn from lock to lock. The same is true of the aircraft from which this wheel derives its design. But the average street car has about 2.5 turns of rotation lock-to-lock. While the best position for your hands is on either side of the wheel (I learned nine and three o’clock for racing, but opinions vary), other areas are useful to grab onto briefly in the middle of a turn. The shuffle-steer technique requires this. So while a yoke steering wheel looks cool on «Knight Rider,» it’s actually horrible to drive in real life. No wonder Tesla sold out of round steering wheels to replace the yoke.
