China’s automotive sector is entering its toughest era of safety regulation. The Ministry of Public Security has released a draft revision of the safety specifications for operating motorized vehicles, adding new requirements for passenger cars. Among them, regenerative braking deceleration must be capped at 0.8 meters per second squared, and vehicles may no longer use window sun films. One provision in particular, which states that a car’s default driving mode must not accelerate from zero to 100 kilometers per hour in under five seconds, has stirred heated debate.
According to the drafting notes, incidents of uncontrolled rapid acceleration in battery electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles have increased in recent years. Many cases, the notes say, arise from drivers’ lack of preparation or control when handling high-performance acceleration modes. The five-second limit was chosen because training cars and most internal combustion passenger vehicles usually accelerate more slowly than that.
Fast cars, limited driver training, and a higher likelihood of accidents form a shared understanding among consumers, automakers, and regulators, yet laws in this area have been sparse. Countries such as Australia restrict new drivers from operating high-horsepower cars through tiered licensing systems. Germany requires a more demanding driving exam with more than 40 minutes of on-road testing in complex scenarios, including highway driving, overtaking, and emergency braking.
China’s current licensing tests, by contrast, focus largely on low-speed maneuvers at five to ten kilometers per hour, such as turning or parking, along with public road driving capped at 50 km/h. For new drivers who have never driven above 50 km/h, managing a car capable of reaching 100 km/h in under five seconds carries significantly elevated risk. Even skilled drivers can encounter the unexpected. In motorsports such as Formula One, driver ability matters, yet engineering often determines the winner. If the goal is to prevent loss of control, limiting acceleration alone is not necessarily the most effective tool.
Restricting the default driving mode may not prevent accidents caused by sudden loss of control during initial acceleration. Loss of control often refers to fishtailing, when rear wheels lose grip and begin to slide. This is common in high-horsepower, rear-wheel-drive vehicles. “The most direct fix is simply better, wider tires to increase friction,” a tire development engineer told 36Kr.
China’s national standards for tires currently focus on durability, with performance measured by top-speed reliability such as sustaining a uniform ramp-up to 160 km/h without a blowout. “For high-output performance cars, tire selection is still very much a do-the-right-thing decision by manufacturers,” the engineer said.
Many cars that surpass the proposed acceleration cap, including the Tesla Model 3 Performance, Xiaomi SU7 Max, and Xpeng P7 Performance, use all-wheel-drive systems that reduce instability by distributing power across all four wheels. However, 36Kr found that Tesla’s Model 3 and Y Performance allow users to freely adjust power distribution, stability control involvement, and other parameters in a setting known as “track mode.” A driver can direct the full 460 horsepower to the rear wheels and disable the electronic stability program, or ESP. Tesla labels the mode as intended for experienced drivers and warns against its use on public roads.
The Xiaomi SU7 Max offers similar customization with even higher output of up to 673 horsepower, but its interface does not explicitly label such settings as track mode or warn against public-road use. An experienced ESP developer told 36Kr that ESP adjusts power, braking force, and steering inputs in real time to maintain stability. “Cars typically have comfort and sport modes, and we calibrate ESP for each to preserve stability within the widest possible margin,” the engineer said.
ESP often conflicts with “fun” handling characteristics. In track-oriented settings, some automakers reduce ESP intervention to emphasize sportiness. Without ESP, the responsibility for preventing a slide rests entirely on the driver. Yet China’s driving school curriculum does not train drivers to handle such situations. Only racetrack-specific licensing programs or performance-driving courses teach these skills. 36Kr also found that Xiaomi labels ESP as “neutral” in the explanatory notes for its customizable sport modes.
Electric vehicles have ushered in an era of affordable high horsepower. Cars priced between RMB 200,000–300,000 (USD 28,000–42,000) now deliver output once limited to high-performance gasoline cars costing RMB 500,000 (USD 70,000). In the first three quarters of 2025, new energy vehicles in this segment sold about two million units collectively, yet consumers are not required to complete high-performance driver training.
ESP should serve as a safety foundation for everyday drivers, but automakers are increasingly offering options to disengage or weaken it. A senior R&D engineer from Germany told 36Kr that high-horsepower engines are core to German automotive identity. Local regulations and public sentiment do not restrict consumers from accessing such power. “Our only requirement is that the car’s engineering quality must match its horsepower. We put tremendous effort into ESP calibration. As cars get faster, suppliers in tires, brakes, and other systems are forced to upgrade as well. That is why German cars symbolize performance.”
Improving engineering quality and safety features during product development may ultimately deliver greater safety benefits than limiting how consumers use their cars.
Beyond acceleration, one-pedal driving is again under scrutiny. In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued new technical requirements and test methods for passenger car brake systems. These mandate that in default driving mode, a vehicle must not be able to come to a stop simply by releasing the accelerator. In other words, regenerative braking may not bring an EV to a full stop. EVs must retain some form of idle creep.
The Ministry of Public Security’s proposed safety specifications go further. For battery EVs and plug-in hybrid cars, the revision states that when a driver releases the accelerator in drive mode on a concrete or asphalt road with a friction coefficient of at least 0.7, deceleration from regenerative braking must not exceed 0.8 meters per second squared. This poses no issue for models such as the Volkswagen Passat and Buick GL8, while Tesla vehicles and many EVs typically exceed the new limit.
Existing regulations already require brake lights to activate when deceleration exceeds 1.3 meters per second squared. Several engineers told 36Kr that the new limit essentially removes the pronounced drag sensation many EV drivers associate with strong regenerative braking.
Regenerative braking has long been controversial. It converts kinetic energy into electricity during deceleration, which is why many EV owners find that range increases slightly in stop-and-go traffic. Industry engineers told 36Kr that most EVs can recover enough energy to add five to ten kilometers of range per 100 kilometers, with aggressive systems exceeding 15 kilometers. “In principle, faster deceleration yields more energy in a shorter time. But if deceleration is too strong, the brakes engage. Each car has its own point of best efficiency, usually around 1.5 meters per second squared,” one engineer said.
This means regenerative efficiency and the sensation of drag are inherently linked. Once the new regulation takes effect, regen strength will weaken, and EV range will likely decrease. “Range is at the center of every EV program. If regen is limited, competition will intensify in batteries, charging, and everything else,” another engineer said.
Beyond acceleration and regenerative braking, the proposed revision introduces several rules aimed at improving safety. Cars will no longer be allowed to use window sun films. Previous national standards required certain levels of visible light transmission: above 70% for the windshield and mirror zones, and above 50% for all other windows.
According to aftermarket specialists, sun film manufacturing focuses on brightness, reflectivity, and durability. “Many films today are extremely tough and adhere so well that they barely peel. Some reinforced ones even embed metallic wires,” one specialist said. In emergencies requiring window breakage for rescue, these films complicate access. “A normal window breaks with two or three hits. With certain sun films, it may take seven or eight strikes, or you might open only a small hole instead of shattering the panel.”
Taken together, the revision aims to reduce accidents and make emergency rescue easier. This year, the sector has seen multiple collisions, battery fire incidents, and quality-related recalls. Beyond vehicle safety, evacuation and rescue challenges have become major consumer concerns.
As national standards evolve, the automotive sector is entering its most stringent regulatory environment. Building safer cars requires extensive testing and repeated validation, which adds cost and lengthens development timelines. Tighter rules may delay model launches and squeeze already thin margins. But as regulations and consumer expectations rise, safety will become the baseline for competition. Only with sustained investment and genuine commitment can the sector achieve steady, healthy growth.
KrASIA Connection features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This article was written by Xu Caiyu for 36Kr.