Tesla and others begin record vehicle recall in China

Tesla and eight other carmakers will recall about 4.3 million vehicles in China over concerns that doors may be difficult to open in an emergency, marking the country's largest ever recall.

China has also said it will ban concealed door handles from 2027, making it the first country to phase out a design popularised by Tesla and widely adopted by domestic Chinese EV makers.

The recall remedies range from software updates to warning labels and improved markings around door handles.

Beijing has this year increased oversight of the EV industry and introduced tougher safety requirements, as carmakers, locked in a fierce price war, roll out technologies in the world's largest vehicle market.

Most of the actions, classified as product recalls under Chinese regulations, target emergency mechanical door-release handles that regulators say may be hard to locate or operate in a crash — a defect that has drawn scrutiny after several cases of passengers trapped inside burning vehicles.

Chinese state media reported in October that the driver of a Xiaomi SU7 sedan died after a crash and fire because bystanders could not open the doors to pull him out.

The scale of the recall reflects both the size of China's auto fleet and regulators' increasingly aggressive scrutiny of safety defects as vehicles become more software-driven.

The automakers, including Tesla and Xiaomi, will install warning labels to identify the handles, while most will also deploy over-the-air, or remote, software updates.

Tesla's recall of 2.98 million vehicles is the largest, reflecting how many vehicles it has sold with this type of handle.

The US carmaker said mechanical emergency door-release handles may be difficult to identify following a severe collision and electrical system failure, potentially hindering occupants' escape or rescuers' access.

Its remedy includes warning labels and an update delivered remotely that automatically lowers vehicle windows after a collision.

Apart from Tesla and Xiaomi, Leapmotor, Xpeng and Geely Holding, also announced their largest recalls on record.

The door handles — which open via a key fob, smartphone or touch-sensitive panel — have also drawn scrutiny from U.S. regulators.

Last month, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would consider new safety standards to address the risk of occupant entrapment in vehicles during electrical power failures.