Tesla Recalls Over 5 Million Vehicles in China Over Safety Concerns

The State Administration for Market Regulation identified that the mechanical emergency latch inside Tesla vehicles is often camouflaged by interior trim colors, rendering it difficult to locate during critical situations. This recall affects 2,975,910 units, including locally manufactured Model 3 and Model Y vehicles alongside several imported models. Rather than physical repairs, Tesla intends to resolve the issue by applying warning labels and deploying an over-the-air software update to trigger automatic window lowering following collisions.

Simultaneously, the regulator flagged Tesla’s driver monitoring system as insufficient for failing to track eye movement, relying instead on steering wheel pressure sensors. This second recall encompasses 2,740,642 China-built Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. Tesla plans to address this through a remote software update that aligns Chinese market vehicles with the eye-tracking standards already deployed in other regions. While this marks a significant regulatory challenge for the company, similar safety recalls for door and monitoring issues have also been issued by competitors including Xiaomi, Xpeng, and Geely.