Tesla to Recall 3 Million Vehicles in China Over Door Handle Safety Concerns

[Anchor]

US electric vehicle maker Tesla is rolling out a massive recall of approximately 3 million vehicles in China. The measure is aimed at addressing safety issues regarding flush door handles that do not protrude outward.

Reporter Kim Minpyo has the details.

[Reporter]

Bloomberg News reported that Tesla is recalling about 3 million vehicles following Chinese authorities' pointing out safety issues with its flush door handles, according to reports.

It is known that Tesla will add software to automatically lower the windows following an accident, as well as labels indicating the location of emergency manual door releases.

The flush electronic door handles equipped on Tesla vehicles offer a sleek design, but concerns have been continuously raised that if power is cut off during an accident, they fail to operate, preventing occupants from escaping and making outside rescue difficult.

Reports have also emerged that at least 15 fatalities occurred because rescue workers were unable to open the doors at Tesla vehicle fire scenes.

Following similar successive accidents in other electric vehicles such as those made by Xiaomi, Chinese authorities banned flush door handles entirely early this year and requested a recall from the automotive industry.

The total recall scale reaches 4.27 million vehicles across nine automakers, including Tesla and Xiaomi.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also devising improvement measures for the flush door handle issue, including investigating entrapment incidents in Tesla Model Y vehicles.

Additionally, a bill has been introduced in the US Congress requiring new cars to feature manual door release mechanisms and to establish means for rescue personnel to enter vehicles.

As the recall of flush door handles takes place in China, the world's largest automobile producer, similar recalls are expected to follow in other countries.

(Video Editing: Cho Moo-hwan)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.