Tesla will recall nearly 3 million vehicles in China beginning September 25 after regulators flagged 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, the world's largest, has ever seen.

Door handles trigger the recall order

Tesla's cars, like many EVs on the 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 vehicle's electrical system.

The regulator's statement described this as a major problem when a trapped occupant or a rescuer needs to open a door as quickly as possible.

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

China recall models and figures

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

In addition, the recall includes more than 35,000 imported Model 3s, roughly 8,000 Model Xs and about 2,000 Model S vehicles.

The imported vehicles in the tally were built in the United States, while the China-made cars come from Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory, the company's largest plant by output. China is Tesla's second-largest market after the United States.

The scale 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 in May that swept up more than 218,000 Model 3, Model Y and S/X cars.

More carmakers involved in the 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. Over-the-air updates have become a standard remedy across the EV industry, letting automakers correct software-related defects remotely rather than through service-center visits.

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

SAMR also directed 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 as well.

China to ban hidden door handles from 2027

After a two-year review, China announced in February that it would ban hidden, electronically operated exterior door handles from 2027. The move will make it the first country to discontinue a design that Tesla popularized and Chinese EV makers adopted. The 2027 deadline gives automakers selling in China a fixed date to move away from the design.

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

The scrutiny has also hit other EVs in the market. Rivian moved 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.