Recently, the mandatory national standard "Technical Requirements for Safety of Automobile Door Handles" (GB 48001-2026) organized by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has been officially released and will be implemented from January 1, 2027.According to the requirements of the new national standard, each car door should be equipped with an exterior door handle and an interior door handle that can be opened mechanically, and the exterior door handle must reserve space for mechanical operation.Many people wonder: Why do small car door handles need a mandatory national standard?
Experts said on a CCTV program that data show thatAmong the top 100 new energy models in the Chinese auto market in April 2025, about 60% are equipped with hidden door handles.
However, when a vehicle encounters a serious collision and causes a power outage to the entire vehicle, the hidden dangers of the hidden door handle will become apparent.
An online video showed a car losing control and sliding into a roadside ditch, followed by thick black smoke and flames.
The car owner tried to open the rear door after getting out of the car, but the door could not be opened from the outside. Someone came forward and smashed the window, and the rear passenger was rescued.
Another online video showed that the car door was difficult to open after the hidden door handle was frozen in the snow.
Zhang Hong, a member of the expert committee of the China Automobile Dealers Association, said that in a serious traffic accident, if the internal wiring of the vehicle is damaged, the door handle will not be able to be opened.
In addition, hidden door handles rely on electricity to operate. If the battery loses power, it will directly cause the door handle to be unable to be opened, thus hindering rescue and escape.
To this end, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has issued a mandatory national standard: "Technical Requirements for Safety of Automobile Door Handles", which will be officially implemented on January 1, 2027.
The new national standard clearly outlines three mandatory requirements:
First of all, the hand must be able to reach in, and the minimum size of the hand operation space of the door handle must be 60 × 25 × 20 mm, focusing on solving the problems that trouble consumers such as the inconvenient operation and difficulty of identification of electric door handles. This also means that hidden door handles will no longer be used in the future.
Secondly, it must be able to open even if the power is cut off, and a purely mechanical emergency unlocking device must be retained. Even if the entire vehicle is powered off and the electronic system is paralyzed, the door can still be opened manually.
In addition, the chain must not be dropped in extreme situations, such as collision, fire, low temperature freezing...the door handle must also be reliable in the most dangerous moments.
