Draft rules take aim at automotive safety

China is tightening safety rules for its automotive sector, with a focus on new energy vehicles, as part of efforts to promote the healthy development of the industry.

Among other measures, passenger vehicles would be required to start each journey in a mode where the time from 0-100 kilometers per hour is not less than five seconds.

This is one of the items in a draft national standard issued by the Ministry of Public Security and National Standardization Administration. The draft is now open for public comment and could take effect by 2027.

The release follows a spate of high-profile loss-of-control crashes involving high-performance new energy vehicles over the past two years.

Such accidents usually involve young inexperienced drivers and cars that are apparently too fast for them to steer safely.

The draft also introduces new protections in three areas: pedal misapplication, battery system safety, and cabin escape.

For NEVs, which include pure electric and plug-in hybrid cars, it mandates a pedal-misapplication suppression feature: when the vehicle is at rest or creeping, the powertrain must detect unintended acceleration, suppress output, and alert the driver via an audible or visible signal.

Battery safety requirements call for pure electric and PHEV models to automatically cut off the high-voltage circuit if a longitudinal or lateral speed change of 25 km/h or more occurs within 150 milliseconds, or when an irreversible restraint system deploys.

The vehicles must monitor individual battery modules, automatically record and issue warnings of thermal incidents, and provide directed pressure relief through reserved channels so that any battery venting does not compromise the passenger cabin.

For large battery electric buses (6 meters or more), the standard mandates that the external battery pack must resist ignition or explosion for at least five minutes of a battery-alarm event.

On driver-assistance systems, the draft requires vehicles equipped with combined assistance features to use biometric or account login to verify the driver has been trained.

Once active and above 10 km/h, systems must perform continuous hands-off/wheel-contact and gazemonitoring checks — a clear response to misuse of "hands-off" driving kits.

The draft also addresses door and escape safety. Each occupant must be able to exit via two separate doors, and all doors must have mechanical release handles even if equipped with electronic latches.

In launch deployments or battery-risk events, non-impact-side doors must automatically unlock and allow opening from outside without tools.