China has officially implemented new regulations banning folding and electric door handles on new cars. Bloombergreported.
Automakers have claimed the changes improve the car’s aerodynamic performance, but China has investigated the issue of increased system failures, particularly in crashes.
Reports have begun of cases where rescuers have difficulty accessing drivers and passengers after accidents due to hidden door handles.
There have also been cases where initially non-fatal accidents resulted in fires resulting from collisions and the death of passengers who were unable to open the handle due to electrical failures.
Recognizing this, China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) has implemented new regulations mandating car manufacturers to install operable mechanical opening devices on both the inside and outside of the doors.
This regulation will officially come into effect on January 1, 2027. For vehicles already approved for sale in China or those about to be launched, manufacturers are given a grace period so they do not have to make any design changes until January 2029.
This ban applies to two types of handles: It has a folding handle and an electric handle. The folding handle is hidden inside the door and opens when pushed. This type is Tesla Model YUsed in many modern electric vehicles such as.
China has also banned electric handlebars that automatically pop out of the car body. Let’s EV9The handle of is an example. Also subject to regulation are semi-hidden handles where the handle is flat against the car body but has a groove for inserting a finger.
The new regulations require there to be at least 6.1 cm × 2 cm of built-in space for gripping the handle. Additionally, there must be signs inside the vehicle showing how to open the doors.
Photo: Unsplash / Mercedes-Benz. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by our editorial team.
