China Could Crack Down On Huge Interior Screens, After Pop-Out Handle Ban

China is weighing new restrictions on the oversized infotainment screens that have become a signature of modern car interiors, a move that follows its recent ban on fully pop-out door handles. The thinking behind both measures appears to be the same: features that look impressive in a showroom can turn into a safety problem when they fail or distract the driver. Chinese regulators have not set out exactly what limits might apply, but the direction of travel is clear — screens that dominate the dashboard are now under scrutiny.

The door-handle rule came first, prompted by concerns that electrically operated handles can leave occupants trapped or rescuers unable to open a door after a crash. Large screens raise a different set of worries. Automakers have shifted climate controls, drive-mode settings and even the glovebox onto glass panels, which means a driver may have to look away from the road and tap through menus to do something that once took a single physical button.

For Saudi shoppers this matters more than it might first appear. Chinese brands have taken a substantial share of the local market, and their cabins typically lead with a big central display as a selling point. If Beijing tightens the rules, export models could arrive with more physical switches, smaller screens or redesigned layouts — changes that would ripple through showrooms in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam within a model cycle or two. Rivals from Japan and Korea, along with established Chinese players competing against models from Toyota, Hyundai, Kia and Nissan, would face the same design questions.

Buyers should pay attention to usability rather than screen size alone. Check whether the air conditioning has a real knob or button, how the display copes with harsh sunlight and summer heat, and whether the interface responds quickly without smudging into a fingerprint-covered mess. A short test drive in daylight, with the air conditioning and navigation running at the same time, says more about a cabin than any specification sheet.