American electric vehicle (EV) juggernaut Tesla is recalling several million vehicles in China under two separate recalls deemed necessary by the country’s market regulator.
According to a filing with China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), Tesla will recall almost 3 million vehicles, including domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y EVs and imported Model 3, Model X, and Model S EVs.
The two recalls appear to at least partly overlap, muddying the exact number of vehicles Tesla will be dealing with.
The recall attracting the greatest amount of attention places Tesla amongst a group of nine automakers recalling a total of around 4.3 million vehicles over concerns that their internal mechanical emergency door release is too difficult to identify and open in an emergency.
China’s SAMR explained in the recall notice that the emergency mechanical door handles “are difficult to identify and operate because their color is similar to the interior trim.”
“In extreme situations such as a severe collision causing the vehicle’s low-voltage system to fail, this could hinder occupants from quickly opening the doors to escape and impede rescue efforts by those outside the vehicle, posing a safety hazard.”
Popularised by Tesla, electronic door handles employ buttons on the inside to open rather than a traditional mechanical system. Doing away with the mechanical system also allows the exterior door handle to fit flush with the door, only extending at a light press on the handle or automatically when the car detects a phone key or key fob nearby.
This has led to a more stylish and aerodynamic look but has conversely raised concerns with several country’s regulators over the risk for passengers in the event of a crash or accident which causes the car to lose power.
Several recent media reports have specifically identified this issue as the cause for fatalities. In Germany last year, a 43-year-old man and two nine-year-old children were reportedly unable to exit their Tesla after it crashed into a tree and burst into flames, with local reports saying the victims were unable to open the doors from within, and local residents were unable to open the door’s from outside.
Two similar incidents in China involving Xiaomi SU7 electric sedans claimed a total of four lives, three female university students in March and a single male driver in October, all of whom were unable to exit their vehicles, dying in the resulting fires.
Tesla is one of nine carmakers involved in this massive recall aimed at addressing these issues, along with Xiaomi, Leapmotor, Xpeng, Geely, Chery, Dongfeng, BAIC BluePark, and FAW.
According to the Tesla recall notice, the company will affix warning labels to vehicles as well as complete an over-the-air upgrade to the window control software to add a “post-accident window lowering strategy”.
The recall anticipates a new standard previously unveiled by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology which will come into force in January 2027 and require every door to have an external door handle with mechanical release functionality. The same standard also requires internal handles to be easily identifiable, clearly visible, and positioned within 300mm of door edges.
The same recall notice published by China’s SAMR also reports a second recall for Tesla vehicles which do not have sufficient driver attention monitoring when a car’s assisted driving system is activated.
This follows findings by the regulator that simply checking for a hand on the wheel was not enough to guarantee drivers were actually paying attention to the road. Tesla will provide a free over-the-air upgrade to add in-cabin camera monitoring to combine with the existing steering wheel torque monitoring.
The recall notice says that the recall effects 2,740,642 domestically produced Model 3 and Model Y electric vehicles manufactured between March 4, 2019, and December 7, 2025 – which overlaps with the previous recall.
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