China orders record largest vehicle recall affecting Tesla and others

Tesla is set to recall almost 3 million vehicles in China starting September 25 after regulators picked out emergency door releases that could be difficult for occupants to find after a crash, the largest recall in the automaker’s history and part of the biggest recall campaign China’s auto market has ever seen.

Door handles trigger recall order

Tesla’s cars, like a lot of EVs in the auto market, use electronic latches that open with a phone, an access card or a key fob, with a mechanical backup kept for emergencies. China’s State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) has stated that these manual handles can be difficult to spot or assess after a severe collision or accident knocks out the car’s electrical system.

This is seen as a major problem when a trapped occupant or a rescuer needs to open a door as fast as possible, according to the regulator’s statement.

Tesla’s proposed fix is to add warning labels at no cost to owners that will point to the precise positions of these. The company will also push an OTA software update that drops the car windows automatically once a collision is detected.

China recall models and figures

SAMR put the total at figure of cars set for recalls at about 2.98 million imported and China-built cars. This number covers 973,156 Model 3s built between March 4, 2019 and April 29, 2026, plus 1.96 million China-made Model Y units from November 16, 2020 through April 30, 2026.

In addition to these, there are over 35,000 imported Model 3s, about 8,000 Model Xs and about 2,000 Model S vehicles.

This amount surpasses any recall Tesla has faced in any single market before, according to Forbes. For comparison, the company has seen only five US recalls all year, including a 20,000-car notice this month over headlights that shine too brightly and a rear-camera fix that swept up over 218,000 Model 3, Model Y and S/X cars in May.

More car manufacturers involved in crackdown

Reuters reported that 11 carmakers were involved in the door handle crackdown, with nine of them agreeing to fit warning labels while most also rolled out software updates. Xiaomi, Xpeng, Leapmotor, and Geely’s Zeekr and Lynk & Co brands were among these EV recalls.

At least six of these companies, Tesla included, filed their largest recalls on record with China’s SAMR.

SAMR also told tesla to repair 2.74 million China-made Model 3 and Model Y cars built from March 2019 to December 2025, citing a driver-monitoring system that failed to prompt drivers to keep their eyes on the road. Tesla plans to handle this particular issue with an OTA update.

China to ban hidden door handles from 2027

After a two-year review, China announced in February that it would place a ban on hidden, electronically operated exterior door handles from 2027. This develpment will make it the first country to discontinue a design Tesla popularized and Chinese EV makers adopted.

Regulators in other countries also seem to have their eyes on this type of design. The top US auto-safety agency opened an investigation into Tesla’s door-latching system late last year , and it is now considering a new rule on such systems, according to TechCrunch.

The scrutiny has also hit other EVs in the market, with Rivian moving the manual release on its cheaper R2 model to a more accessible spot after owners complained about the hidden cord-and-panel setup on the R1. Ford also paused Mustang Mach-E sales in 2025 to recall cars whose electronic latches could misbehave during a power loss.

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