After announcing a ban on electric and retractable door handles, China is working to introduce more safety rules for vehicles sold in the country.
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The latest regulation concerns yoke-type steering wheels, which have become popular in vehicles such as Tesla Model S, Tesla Model X and Lexus RZ. According to the Chinese government, this type of steering wheel is considered an “unsafe” solution.
According to the Chinese website Autohome The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) plans to ban yoke-style steering wheels from 1 January 2027.
The authority has recently published the approval of a draft mandatory national standard GB 11557-202Xwhich describes “provisions to protect drivers against damage from the steering mechanism of motor vehicles”.
The new safety rules will replace the current Chinese standard (GB 11557-2011), which has not been updated in over a decade. Under these new guidelines, Chinese safety authorities will require crash tests at ten specific points on the steering wheel rim.
This includes several points, such as “center of weakest area” and “center of shortest unsupported area,” that simply cannot be found on a yoke-style steering wheel.
According to data published by Chinese authorities, 46% of driver injuries stem from the steering mechanism itself. A yoke-style steering wheel provides a smaller protection zone for the airbag than a traditional steering wheel, increasing the risk of serious injury in an accident.
As with similar regulatory changes in China, Chinese brands will have 13 months to adapt their models to the new rules, assuming no further changes are made before the proposed January 2027 effective date.
Photo: Tesla / Lexus. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editors.
