Tesla recalls nearly 3 million vehicles in China over door handle and monitoring system flaws
Tesla recalled nearly 3 million vehicles in China after regulators identified flaws in electronic door handles that fail to operate without power and a driver monitoring system that cannot reliably verify driver attentiveness during partial autonomous driving. The company planned to address both issues through software updates and hardware improvements.
What happened
Tesla recalled approximately 2.98 million vehicles in China due to safety issues with electronic door handles and a driver monitoring system. The recall affected Model 3, Model Y, Model S, and Model X vehicles produced between 9 March 2019 and 29 April 2023, as well as some imported models.
According to the Chinese National Market Regulation Administration, the electronic recessed door handles fail to operate when power supply is cut off following a collision, potentially trapping occupants and preventing rescue access. The driver attention monitoring system used during partial autonomous driving failed to properly verify that the driver was watching the road.
Reported impact
The door handle malfunction could prevent occupants from exiting the vehicle and obstruct external rescue efforts in collision scenarios. The driver monitoring system failure meant the vehicle could not reliably confirm driver attentiveness when partial autonomous driving features were in use.
Index analysis
Tesla planned to address the door handle issue by attaching warning labels to affected vehicles, lowering windows automatically upon detecting a collision via software update, and providing information about manual door release mechanisms. For the driver monitoring system, Tesla planned to upgrade the software and add an in-cabin camera-based driver monitoring function that detects and warns when drivers are not sufficiently focused on driving.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.