China’s ban on flush handles opens door to cost, design shocks for carmakers

A passenger opens a car door with a concealed car door handle in Beijing on Feb. 3. [EPA/YONHAP]

 
China’s decision to ban flush car door handles is likely to affect global auto design.
 
Door handle design is an area where not only aesthetics but also functional factors such as aerodynamics are considered, meaning Chinese carmakers — as well as Tesla and Hyundai Motor Group — now need to come up with countermeasures to comply with the sudden regulation.
 

The country will implement new rules dictating the safety technical requirements for car door handles starting in 2027, according to China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Friday.
 
The move comes after concerns were raised that external door handles can be difficult to operate and that doors may not open after accidents.
 
Flush door handles protrude only when needed. Because they retract while driving, they reduce aerodynamic drag and visually create a more integrated look with the car body.
 
They generally come in two types: a version in which the entire handle rises when a driver approaches — as seen on Tesla’s Model S and Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 9 — and a version in which the door opens after pressing part of the handle or pulling it out, as on Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 5.
 
After Tesla adopted the design for the Model S in 2012, flush door handles became common on EVs, where reducing drag helps extend driving range.
 

A woman opens the door for a Tesla YL EV at a showroom in Beijing on Feb. 3. [AFP/YONHAP]

 
China moved to crack down on the design following an accident involving Xiaomi’s SU7 electric sedan in 2025. A fire broke out after a crash, but the occupants were unable to escape, and controversy grew after it was reported that the flush door handles failed to operate.
 
The government has now required vehicles to be equipped with exterior handles that can be opened physically. It also ordered the installation of a physical handle inside the vehicle in an intuitive location, citing concerns that interior controls can be inconvenient and may fail to operate in certain situations.
 
All EVs sold in China must comply. For models that have already received regulatory approval, authorities are granting a grace period until January 2029 to change the design. With China — one of the world’s largest auto markets — taking action, changes to door handle designs appear inevitable for global automakers.
 
Bloomberg reported that the cost of changing handles in China is expected to exceed 100 million yuan ($14.4 million) per EV model.
 
Issues with flush door handles have also drawn scrutiny in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been conducting a preliminary investigation since last year into exterior handle defects in 174,290 units of Tesla’s 2021 Model Y.
 

Tesla’s Model Y [TESLA KOREA]

 
The probe follows more than 140 incidents in which passengers were reportedly trapped because exterior flush handles failed to operate due to low-voltage battery issues, along with concerns that children may not be able to use manual release mechanisms easily.
 
“Changing handle designs isn’t as simple as it sounds, because various factors — including aerodynamics — are built into them,” an industry source said. “As China begins regulation and safety concerns grow in other countries as well, automakers will look for ways to meet the requirements by adding physical handles while minimizing design changes.”

This article was originally written in Korean and translated by a bilingual reporter with the help of generative AI tools. It was then edited by a native English-speaking editor. All AI-assisted translations are reviewed and refined by our newsroom.
BY KO SUK-HYUN [[email protected] ]