BREAKING: China's biggest auto recall hits Tesla, Xiaomi, Leapmotor and others over door escape risk

• Multiple automakers, including Tesla, Xiaomi, Geely, Leapmotor and Xpeng, filed recall plans on the same day, covering more than 7 million vehicles in total.
• The defects center on interior emergency mechanical door releases that are hard to identify.

Chinese regulators on Friday disclosed the largest single round of recalls in the auto industry's history, covering more than 7 million vehicles.

Tesla (NASDAQ: TSLA), Xiaomi (HKEX: 1810), Leapmotor (HKEX: 9863), Xpeng (NYSE: XPEV), Zeekr, Chery (HKEX: 9973), Geely Auto (HKEX: 0175), Dongfeng, Arcfox and FAW have filed recall plans, China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR) said.

The vast majority of the issues point to the same design: interior emergency mechanical door releases that are close in color to the surrounding trim, making them hard to identify and operate.

In extreme situations such as a severe crash that disables the vehicle's low-voltage system, this could hinder occupants from opening the doors to escape and also impede rescue efforts from outside, according to SAMR's announcement.

Tesla is the largest participant in this round of recalls, with 2 recalls covering a combined 5,716,552 vehicles.

Of those, 2,975,910 vehicles are being recalled over the emergency mechanical door releases, effective September 25, 2026, including 973,156 domestically built Model 3s and 1,956,713 domestically built Model Ys.

Imported models account for 35,590 Model 3s, 8,328 Model Xs and 2,123 Model Ss.

Tesla will add warning labels free of charge and update the window control software via OTA to add a post-crash window-lowering strategy. Some vehicles that already carry the labels will not need them applied again.

Tesla also filed a separate recall covering 2,740,642 domestically built Model 3s and Model Ys related to driver attention monitoring for its assisted driving system, effective immediately.

The regulator said the existing mechanism is not sufficient to alert drivers when their eyes leave the road, which could increase the risk of a crash. Tesla will use an OTA update to add in-cabin camera monitoring on top of steering wheel torque monitoring.

Xiaomi is recalling 390,435 units of the 2024 SU7 series, and in addition to adding labels will use an OTA update to optimize the center console unlocking logic and the window-lowering strategy.

Leapmotor is recalling 322,575 C11s and 48,625 C01s, for a total of 371,200 vehicles.

Xpeng is recalling 264,842 vehicles from August 22, including 134,588 G6s, 94,688 P7+s and 35,566 X9s, with the remedy limited to adding warning labels.

Geely's Zeekr is recalling 92,658 units of the 007 and X models from August 24.

Chery is recalling 57,688 iCar 03s and 10,800 Fulwin X3s from September 18, and will replace the covers of the emergency mechanical door releases with improved ones.

Dongfeng is recalling 53,452 vehicles across the Nammi 06, Aeolus L8, eπ007 and eπ008. BAIC BluePark Magna is recalling 46,850 Arcfox Koalas, and will replace the covers with ones carrying text labels.

FAW is recalling 7,873 EH7s and 4,035 Tiangong 08s.

The recalls come as China tightens regulation of car door handles. The mandatory national standard GB 48001 — 2026 was released in February this year and takes effect for new models from January 1, 2027.

The standard requires all doors to be equipped with a mechanical release mechanism, effectively ending purely electronic hidden door handles. Models already on sale with type approval have a 2-year transition period, through January 2029.

Multiple cases in which doors could not be opened after severe crashes drove this regulatory shift.