China is preparing to reinforce car safety standards with new testing rules and design requirements, after considering that some manufacturers launch models without adequate testing.
© Lusa
11/10/2026
by
Lusa
A China is preparing to tighten car design and testing requirements after considering that some manufacturers launch new models “following fashion” and without testing them sufficiently.
This is the result of a project prepared jointly by the Ministries of Information Industry and Technology, Public Security and Ecology and Environment, as well as the State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR).
The proposal, open to public consultation by November 10th, aims to prevent them from reaching the market “innovative designs with safety risks” and “products that have not undergone sufficient R&D testing and verifications”.
“ In recent years, technological innovation in the automotive industry of our country has been very dynamic (...). However, there have also been problems, such as the fact that some manufacturers launch new products only because they follow fashion or because tests and checks are insufficient, which has increased the safety and environmental risks of vehicles,” says the text.
In addition to prohibitions such as fully hidden door handles and flexible folding screens, the document provides that from 1 January 2027 manufacturers applying for approval of new models must provide more technical details on “innovative projects”.
In the case of such models already approved, manufacturers will have to send to the Ministry of Industry the additional technical parameters and verification materials before 1 July 2027.
“If, after that date, a product continues without having declared such parameters or delivered such materials (...) and involves safety risks, the manufacturer should immediately suspend production, record a collection plan with SAMR without delay and carry it out on his own initiative,” the bill warns.
In addition, the text requires physical controls to be included in the “critical driving safety” and emergency functions and establishes reliability tests of at least 30,000 kilometres and environmental adaptation tests of at least one year, among other things.
The initiative arises a month and a half after the Chinese authorities launched a campaign to improve the quality and safety of domestic cars, just days after SAMR announced the largest collection campaign in the country’s history, which covered more than 7 million vehicles.
Tesla, the US company led by Elon Musk, was the most affected, with more than 5.7 million units subject to ‘recall’, due to difficulties in identifying the mechanisms for opening the doors and failures in the driving assistance systems.