Rectify Hidden Door Handles: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) Seeks Public Opinions

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) is publicly soliciting opinions on the mandatory national standard development and revision plan project for "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles."

On May 8th, according to the MIIT's official website, in line with the overall arrangement for standardization work, the application for the establishment of the mandatory national standard development and revision plan project for "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles" is now being publicized.

The drafting units include China Automotive Technology & Research Center Co., Ltd., Geely Automobile Research Institute (Ningbo) Co., Ltd., Beijing Chehejia Automotive Technology Co., Ltd., among others.

In terms of main content, the project proposal indicates that "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles" specifies installation requirements for emergency interior door handles of automobiles, marking requirements for concealed interior door handles and emergency interior door handles, anti-pinch requirements and test methods for electric exterior door handles, strength requirements and test methods for exterior and interior door handles, as well as dynamic test requirements and test methods for electric door handles.

This standard will fill the gap in the lack of specifications for concealed interior door handles and other aspects.

It is reported that there are currently no relevant international standards corresponding to this standard. Domestic standards related to automobile door handles have set technical requirements for their durability, strength, resistance to high and low temperatures, vibration, corrosion, etc. However, with the application of electric and concealed door handles, there are currently no standards setting technical requirements for their layout, marking, safety functions, and structural strength.

"Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles" focuses on potential escape and rescue risks.

The MIIT stated that in recent years, with the rapid development of automobile electrification and intelligence, concealed door handles have been widely used due to their aesthetic appeal and strong sense of technology. Door handle products on the market have shown a trend of diversification in working principles and forms, exposing the following issues during market application: insufficient strength, potential safety risks in control logic, difficulty in identification and operation (hidden without markings), power failure leading to ineffectiveness, hand pinching, etc., posing potential escape and rescue risks.

The aforementioned issues bring about potential escape and rescue risks. For example, in accidents such as collisions or fires, power failure can occur, causing electric exterior door handles and electric interior door handles to become ineffective, increasing obstacles to rescue and escape: the lack of obvious and uniform markings increases the difficulty of operation in emergency situations.

The MIIT emphasized that the revision of the new standard is of great significance.

Attachment: 1. Project Proposal for the Mandatory National Standard "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles"