China To Ban Hidden Door Handles

Hidden door handles were almost nonexistent until Tesla made them the only option in all of the EV company’s cars. But they have become the norm among new electric vehicles since then, in China as well as in the US and Europe. It makes some sense, too, because aside from looking cool, door handles that are flush with the door are far more aerodynamic. They can reportedly add 5–10 kilometers of range as a result.

However, these door handles come with some safety concerns. It can be hard for emergency responders to get the door to open if the sensors of the door handle are broken, as they may well be if the car was hit in the side where the sensors are housed.

These days, with battery technology greatly improved, 5–10 kilometers isn’t as big of a deal as it was a decade ago. So, are the flush door handles really worth it if they might lead to people getting trapped and even dying inside of their vehicles?

Companies like Tesla that have shifted to using hidden door handles will have to shift again in China, though. The Chinese government is reportedly looking to ban such door handles. “The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology published a draft mandatory national standard on Wednesday, which among other things requires all car doors except the tailgate to have exterior handles,” China Daily shares. “The purpose is to enhance the safety performance of car door handles, continuously improve China’s overall vehicle safety, support the development of passive safety technologies, and protect people’s lives, said the ministry.”

Note that this comes after some reporting in the US around the safety hazard Tesla door handles have posed. I assume that’s just a coincidence, but one has to wonder if the US and Europe — especially the latter — would make a similar move and ban hidden door handles. I say especially Europe because the US doesn’t look like it’s going to take any steps to legitimately protect public health and safety with the current administration. We’re well beyond the foxes running the henhouse. We’re in the territory of rabid wolves and deranged gremlins running the henhouse.

Back to China: “It is stipulated in the draft that car doors should provide at least 60 millimeters by 20 mm by 25 mm of hand-operable space, and to include a mechanical release function. The ministry is seeking public comment before finalizing the rule.”

Of course, it’s not just Tesla that has hidden door handles these days. Most new energy vehicles (and even some gas-powered vehicles) have door handles flush with the door these days — reportedly, 60 out of the top 100 plugin vehicle models in China. So, it seems like most automakers are going to have to work out a solution and update their vehicle models. That may be hard, but it seems that China has determined it’s critical for human safety. The question one may ask is just: what took so long? “Some industry groups and engineers have long warned that hidden handles can jam or fail during collisions, fires, or power outages, complicating rescue efforts,” China Daily adds. Yes, I remember complaints about Tesla’s door handles going back a decade or so.

New models will have 7 months to comply, while existing models that already had safety approval will have 19 months. “A Toyota body engineer told the National Business Daily the company is preparing mechanical backups inside hidden handles to comply with the new rule. Geely, which was involved in the drafting of the new standard, said it has different technical solutions. Leapmotor said it will strictly follow the new rule.”

I’m curious to see what companies like Tesla, XPENG, NIO, Zeekr, and others come up with. More than that, I’m curious to see if this policy idea spreads beyond China.