China is banning Tesla-style retractable door handles as America looks into safety issues too

China is banning retractable car door handles – or flush handles, as most people call them – for a reason that should have perhaps been obvious a long time ago.

Flush retractable door handles have popped up on more and more cars in recent years, mainly because they look cool and they make the car a little more aerodynamic.

But then something happened, and China decided to accelerate the bureaucratic process that led to the ban.

Other countries may soon follow China’s example.

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Flush door handles will probably go down in history as a short-lived (and bad) idea

Several car companies have introduced retractable car door handles in recent years.

It’s a very long list, including both international manufacturers like Tesla and Land Rover, and Chinese ones like Deepal, Zeekr, and Geely.

Manufacturers started this trend because they made the car more aerodynamic, and more importantly, because they looked cool.

The problem is that looking cool came with a cost that could (should?) have been foreseen years ago, but wasn’t.

There are several drawbacks to fully retractable handles, including cost and reliability, as well as being prone to issues during extreme weather, such as freezing over.

Data confirms that accidents caused by door handle failures are on the rise.

Last year, roughly 80 percent of all door handle-related failures involved retractable handles.

And then something truly tragic happened, and ultimately it led to this decision.

Why China accelerated its decision

Earlier this year, a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra collided with a barrier at high speed on the highway and immediately burst into flames.

The vehicle’s electronic door handle system malfunctioned due to the impact, and the doors simply wouldn’t open.

With ‘normal’ door handles, you could have tried opening the door using brute force.

But that’s not an option with retractable door handles, and we don’t need to spell out what that meant for the driver of the Xiaomi.

This accelerated China’s decision to ban flush handles outright.

Traditional and semi-retractable car door handles are still allowed, but they have to include a mechanical backup that means doors can be easily opened in emergency situations.

China isn’t the only country that’s worried about this issue.

The US is also looking into it, and for the same safety-related reasons.

But maybe the US won’t have to ban it simply because China’s ban means several automakers will simply redesign cars and, maybe, the flush door handle trend will simply die away.

But not everyone is going to have that problem.

Some manufacturers, like Volkswagen, don’t really use flush handles.

Speaking to Deutsche Welle at the IAA Mobility Show in Munich, Volkswagen CEO Thomas Schäfer didn’t sugarcoat it when he explained why.

“It’s all nice if you have these flush door handles, but they are terrible to operate,” he said.

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