Chinese Recall Affects 4.3 Million Cars Over Door Handle Safety Flaw

On Friday, 11 car manufacturers announced a massive recall in China involving 4.3 million vehicles due to a critical safety issue with retractable door handles. The problem, first flagged by Beijing authorities, concerns door handles that may fail to operate during accidents, potentially trapping passengers inside burning cars. This defect was linked to fatal incidents over a year ago where Xiaomi vehicles caught fire and passengers could not locate or open the hidden handles, leading to deaths.

Chinese regulators have mandated that by 2027, all manufacturers must replace these door handles in models sold domestically. The recall now targets cars already on the road. Tesla pioneered these futuristic handles in 2012 with the Model S, designed to reduce drag and improve energy efficiency, often replacing traditional interior door handles with switches that can be hard to find in emergencies.

To address the issue, manufacturers will add warning labels to identify the handles and update their mechanisms, sometimes remotely, to ensure doors unlock and windows open automatically after crashes. Tesla recalled 2.975 million Model 3 and Model X vehicles, Xiaomi recalled 390,000, Leapmotor 371,000 (models C01 and C11 not sold in Israel), and XPeng 265,000 (including G6, P7+, and X9). Other recalls include ZEEKR (93,000 vehicles, including the ZEEKR X sold in Israel) and Hongqi (4,000 vehicles, including EH7). Models from Chery, Dongfeng, and BAIC are also affected but not yet sold in Israel.

The main risk is that the door handles may not deploy in a crash, preventing escape from fire or other dangers. This recall in China does not apply to European-standard vehicles sold in Israel. European authorities have been slow to respond, and Israel's Ministry of Transport has not independently ordered recalls for vehicles sold locally, despite tens of thousands of cars with these hazardous handles on Israeli roads. These include approximately 20,000 Tesla Model 3s, 11,000 XPeng G6s, and 3,000 ZEEKR Xs, alongside European models that have adopted similar door handle designs.