China Moves to Rein In Touchscreen-First Cockpits With New Design Safety Draft

Chinese regulators have taken a step that could reshape how quickly the country’s automakers bring new models to market. A draft regulation issued on 10 October 2026 by four government departments, led by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, proposes a set of vehicle design safety requirements aimed at curbing features that officials say are adopted for style rather than proven safety.

The most visible target is the fully concealed door handle, a design flourish that has spread across Chinese EVs in recent years. The draft would prohibit them outright, along with folding screens. It would also require physical switches for core functions: lights, wipers and demisting systems would need dedicated controls in addition to any touchscreen interface. Passengers would be blocked from using voice or gesture commands to operate headlights, doors or the bonnet.

Several cabin features would be restricted while a vehicle is in motion. Zero-gravity seats, swivelling seats, bed modes and pop-up cabins would be locked out during driving. The rules would also demand that automakers declare as many as 51 technical parameters per model, covering details from steering wheel geometry to seat rotation.

The testing burden would grow substantially. New passenger cars would need to complete at least 30,000 km of reliability running, plus a climate programme lasting a full year and spanning two winters and one summer. That timetable stands in sharp contrast to the compressed development cycles that have allowed Chinese brands to refresh models at a pace Western rivals have struggled to match. Models already approved with unconventional designs would have until 1 July 2027 to supply the required data, with production stoppages or recalls possible where hazards are identified.

The proposal also takes aim at marketing. Claims that overstate a feature’s capability, or that encourage drivers to treat safety systems as a substitute for attention, would be banned. Penalties range from fines to suspended or revoked type approvals. The consultation is open, and the outcome will be watched closely by global automakers whose own interiors have drifted toward screen-heavy layouts.