On 21 August, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued a cluster of recall notices. Dongfeng, XPeng, Leapmotor, Chery, Geely, Tesla, Xiaomi, BAIC BluePark and FAW, nine carmakers in total, recalled about 7.0164 million vehicles.
Of these, about 4.2757 million vehicles, or 60.94 per cent, were recalled over emergency interior mechanical handle issues. Separately, Tesla recalled about 2.7406 million vehicles over an imperfect attention-monitoring mechanism in its assist system, about 39.1 per cent of the 7.0164 million total.
Eight brands recalled over handle colour visibility, one over missing text labelling. The nine carmakers’ specific recall scales and shares for the handle issue were: Tesla about 2.976 million, 69.6 per cent. Xiaomi 390,400, 9.1 per cent. Leapmotor 371,200, 8.7 per cent. XPeng 264,800, 6.2 per cent. Geely (Zeekr) 92,700, 2.2 per cent. Chery 68,500, 1.6 per cent. Dongfeng 53,500, 1.3 per cent. BAIC BluePark (Arcfox) 46,900, 1.1 per cent. FAW 11,900, 0.3 per cent.
Most reasons were tightly clustered, hard-to-identify emergency mechanical handles. Dongfeng, XPeng, Leapmotor and FAW stated it identically: the emergency mechanical handle is close in colour to the interior trim and hard to identify and operate, and in extreme cases such as a severe crash that fails the low-voltage system it may slow occupants from opening the door to escape, a safety risk. Chery’s wording added “cover” to “handle cover close in colour to the trim”. Geely, Tesla and Xiaomi added “and outside rescuers” after the escape-risk clause. BAIC BluePark (Arcfox Kaola) differed, citing a missing dedicated text label on the rear sliding-door handle cover.
The nine carmakers offered six remedy approaches. Xiaomi and FAW add a warning label at the handle. Geely (Zeekr) and Tesla add a label and an OTA window-control update that lowers windows after a crash. Leapmotor is similar. Dongfeng’s OTA covers only some models. Chery adds a label and replaces the handle cover. BAIC BluePark replaces the labelled cover and adds OTA. Xiaomi adds a label and OTA optimising central-lock and window logic. For the assist-system attention issue, Tesla will OTA update the software, adding in-cabin camera monitoring on top of existing steering-wheel torque checks to cut collision risk.
The episode shows how minimalist interior design and software-driven safety functions can concentrate risk in ergonomics and driver attention. The fixes are mostly cheap, a label and an OTA, but the signal is clear: as cars hide mechanical safeguards and shift safety to code, the weakest link can be the handle you cannot see.
Editor’s note: This is an adapted translation of the original Chedongxi report. It has been trimmed and restructured for readability for an international business audience.