The relevant authority takes decisive action

"Most ride-hailing vehicles are now electric, and it's challenging to find the door handle when entering or exiting. Each brand has a different design, so I have to learn how to open the door every time I take a ride." "My car's door handle uses capacitive sensing. Usually, it pops out automatically when I approach, but during rain, I have to stand there for 3 seconds before it slowly emerges, leaving me soaked." "Out of 20 people, at least 12 struggle to open the car door." "This minimalist tech feel and reduced wind resistance are just marketing gimmicks. Getting stuck, power failure locking, and accident hazards have become real issues"...

After more than a decade of growth, electric vehicle sales and market penetration have continued to soar. However, as a "new force" driven by technological innovation, they've left car owners and passengers feeling like they're relearning how to open car doors.

In fact, over 100 years since the invention of the automobile, styling and interior design innovations have become scarce, and models in the market have long been severely homogenized. The rise of electric vehicles seems to have offered designers a fresh canvas to "show off their skills," with impractical designs emerging under the guise of "technological advancement".

Image source: Tesla

For instance, frameless doors often pose issues due to poor dust and noise prevention. Cars without physical buttons, relying solely on a large, heat-emitting screen, are another example. Notably, hidden door handles, which have been criticized for a long time but adopted by many automakers, are not only inconvenient but also pose serious safety hazards in the event of a power outage. In recent traffic accidents, it's common for hidden door handles to fail, hindering rescue efforts.

Recently, addressing concerns over the safety of hidden door handles, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued the "Public Consultation on the Plan for the Revision of Mandatory National Standards" (hereinafter referred to as the "Consultation"), aiming to revise the mandatory national standards for automotive door handle safety requirements.

The news immediately sparked widespread discussion. After all, "no matter how sleek the design, it's crucial to be able to open the door and escape smoothly in an emergency".

Safety Hazards

According to data from the China Passenger Car Association, in April 2025, the retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles reached 51.5%; for the entire year of 2024, the average retail penetration rate of new energy vehicles was 47.6%.

Nevertheless, many people still hesitate and ask questions when facing new energy vehicles and "hidden door handles" while hailing a ride: "Where should I pull?"

On e-commerce platforms, a plethora of related products like "hidden door handle reminder stickers" can be found, such as "Press and then pull," "Press here to open the door," "Pop out and then pull," etc. Each reminder sticker corresponds to a door handle with a unique opening method, including pop-up and lever-type.

Lever-type handles work through physical leverage, where pressing one end causes the other to pop up automatically. Electric pop-up handles use a power system for switch control, pushing out the handle via an internal motor when the vehicle is unlocked and powered on, and retracting it when locked.

Previously, some believed that the door handle was the first point of interaction between the car and the user. Hidden door handles offered a more ceremonial feel when opening the door, enhancing the sense of interaction. In new energy vehicle marketing, hidden door handles are often presented as futuristic, technological, and personalized selling points, also claiming to reduce wind resistance.

However, besides their sleek appearance, anyone who uses them knows how "anti-human" this design truly is. Every winter, countless car owners complain about frozen hidden door handles that fail to pop out. Sarcastic remarks abound: "This design reduces wind resistance and saves 50% of energy. If it freezes and you can't open the door in winter, you save 100%!"

Wei Jianjun, chairman of Great Wall Motors, once publicly stated, "Hidden door handles are heavy, have poor sealing, and make a lot of noise. They also need electricity to operate. In case of a power outage or collision, they can't be opened." Therefore, Great Wall Motors avoids hidden door handles. At least for now, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Li Shufu, chairman of the Geely Holding Group, has also emphasized that while a car's styling is important, and various configurations attract users, all this must be based on safety technology. When these aspects contradict safety, they must give way to safety needs.

To date, the biggest controversy surrounding hidden door handles revolves around safety.

If they fail to pop out after unlocking due to impact or deformation, or cannot be pulled out by pressing, external personnel cannot directly open the door for rescue. Additionally, current manual opening methods for hidden door handles lack uniformity. Even when they pop out, rescuers may not know how to use them correctly in an emergency. In contrast, conventional car door handles mostly unlock automatically after an accident, facilitating escape and rescue. Consequently, some new energy vehicle models are gradually adopting semi-hidden door handles.

A more pressing issue lies in the absence of a unified industry standard for the corresponding design, leading to significant differences among various products.

Unified Standards

Regarding the various issues with hidden door handles, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology recognizes the significance of revising new standards.

The "Consultation" highlights the need to strengthen the safety logic of outer door handles in accident scenarios like collisions and vehicle fires, add mechanical or power-off protection as safety redundancy, and ensure the door system can be opened in accidents like power failures and collisions, facilitating rescue and escape. It also aims to prevent misoperation of door handles in rollover and fall accidents, reducing the risk of occupants falling out. It standardizes easily identifiable safety markings for hidden and emergency inner door handles, ensuring visibility and reducing escape difficulty for occupants in emergencies. Furthermore, it ensures the structural strength of door handles to prevent the loss of function of the door lock operating mechanism after an accident.

From May 8 to June 7, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology sought public opinion on the plan to revise the mandatory national standard "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles," intending to regulate the layout, marking, safety functions, structural strength, etc., of electric and hidden door handles.

Specifically, the "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles" stipulates installation requirements for emergency inner door handles, marking requirements for hidden and emergency inner door handles, anti-pinch requirements and test methods for electric outer door handles, strength requirements and test methods for outer and inner door handles, and dynamic test requirements and methods for electric door handles.

The purpose of this public consultation on revising the "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles" is to further enhance vehicle safety and protect consumers' personal and property safety.

Industry insiders view the country's wide-ranging consultation on automotive door handle safety requirements as unprecedented. It not only fills a gap in industry development but also marks a more refined improvement in the formulation of automotive safety standards by relevant departments.

In fact, over the past month, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has successively addressed rampant "intelligent driving" and battery safety issues, curbing industry chaos. The continuous introduction of relevant policies and documents is guiding new energy automakers to shift focus from overly pursuing technological allure to reinforcing safety fundamentals.