China is officially banning hidden car door handles and it could change EV design everywhere
Published on Feb 03, 2026 at 8:30 PM (UTC+4)
by Ben Thompson
Last updated on Feb 03, 2026 at 8:37 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Mason Jones
China is moving to ban hidden car door handles in a move that could change EV designs everywhere.
No longer will door handles pop out when pressed, when regulations come into effect in 2027.
These regulations were put forward by China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, and currently apply to all cars sold within China.
But this rule change could have a massive ripple effect across the world.
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Hidden car door handles are going to be phased out in China
This won’t come as a shock to people who have followed car news coming out of China.
The government has been considering a ban since last year, citing safety issues.
Under the new regulations, cars sold in China must feature a mechanical release for the door, inside and out.
Although it’ll come into effect on January 1 2027, cars that have already been approved for sale will have until January 2029 for their designs to be altered.
Two types of door handles will be prohibited starting in 2027.
One is the press-to-release design, in which one end of a handle is pressed to pop the whole thing out – as seen in cars like the Tesla Model Y.
Then there’s semi-hidden handles, which are mostly hidden within the car’s bodywork.
These are accessed with a small carveout where a driver would insert their fingers.
At any rate, both of these designs will be ancient history in just under a year’s time.
Why are these changes being brought in?
Well, there’s been a number of incidents in China, in which the hidden door handles have impeded rescue efforts.
In at least two instances, cited by Car and Driver, Xiaomi SU7 EVs crashed and caught fire, but outsiders could not open the doors to rescue the passengers due to the vehicle’s power failures.
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How will this affect the rest of the world?
While the regulations only affect cars sold in China, it’d be very shortsighted of us to think that’s where this would end.
Lest we forget, China is a massive car market, and it’s something the country’s government have a keen interest in – as documents from within the government make clear.
If manufacturers want their cars to be available to half a billion drivers, then they’ll play ball with the regulations of the Chinese government.
There’s also the very real chance that the US could move to face these door handles too.
So that could very well mean hidden car door handles are going the way of the dodo in the next few years.
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Following stints at LadBible, The Sun, The New York Post, and the Daily Mail, Ben joined the team full-time in February 2025. In his role as Senior Content Writer, his sparkling copy, the ability to sniff out a good story at 100 paces, and a GSOH quickly led to him becoming an integral and invaluable member of the writing staff.
