The Rashomon of Xiaomi SU7

Xiaomi's cars have stumbled twice when it comes to door - opening.

Why can't the doors of the Xiaomi SU7 open when they are most needed?

"The door really wouldn't open."

"I wrongly blamed Xiangxiang back then. After the collision of the Xiaomi SU7, the doors really didn't unlock. I'm here specially to apologize."

In August 2024, the blogger "Yuan Laishi Xiangxiang A" posted a video of a head - on collision between a Xiaomi SU7 and a Zeekr 007. In the video, the doors of the Xiaomi SU7 couldn't be opened after the collision.

However, the situation took a dramatic turn later.

It turned out that Xiangxiang's team tampered with the Xiaomi SU7 during the test, which led to the doors being unable to open after the collision.

All of a sudden, netizens launched a collective condemnation. Finally, in January 2025, Xiaomi's legal department issued a statement saying that they learned from the judicial authorities that Xiangxiang had been arrested in accordance with the law.

Image source: Internet

However, just when the first "door - opening incident" ended with a complete victory for Xiaomi, things changed.

On October 13, 2025, the Traffic Management Bureau of the Chengdu Public Security Bureau issued a notice about an accident that occurred on Tianfu Avenue in Chengdu. The driver, Mr. Deng, was involved in a collision with another car while driving a sedan. Then his car crossed the central median strip of the road and caught fire. Mr. Deng died in the accident.

Online videos showed that when the car was already on fire, many brave citizens tried to rescue Mr. Deng.

According to media reports, some citizens used a large wrench to smash half of the car window glass, and others reached out to open the car door, but the door:

Wouldn't open.

Meanwhile, there were obvious explosion sounds inside the car, and everyone had to step back. Later, someone brought a fire extinguisher to put out the fire, but they couldn't stop the car from burning and exploding.

Finally, after the firefighters arrived, they immediately put out the fire and used tools such as hammers and saws to break open the car door.

You must have already guessed that the car with unopenable doors was a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra.

It was precisely because it was a Xiaomi SU7 Ultra and the doors couldn't be opened after the collision that the famous scene at the beginning of this article occurred - netizens queued up to apologize to Xiangxiang.

In the face of such a tragic accident, I can understand the feelings of the netizens. But I still want to say that Xiangxiang himself admitted that he tampered with the Xiaomi SU7 during the test, so I hope everyone can express their opinions rationally.

It's worth noting that this isn't the first time netizens have queued up to apologize to Xiangxiang.

In March this year, in Tongling, Anhui, a Xiaomi SU7 was traveling at a speed of 116 kilometers per hour under the NOA assisted - driving mode. Unfortunately, an accident occurred, resulting in the death of three people.

A passing driver also went to the rescue and broke the car window glass with a stick. However, he found that the door of this Xiaomi SU7:

Wouldn't open.

Finally, he broke the rear window glass and pulled out one person, but it was too late.

Image source: Internet

It's not hard to find that in both the Tongling and Chengdu accidents, the doors couldn't be opened, which affected the rescue efforts.

However, many netizens believe that the nature of the Chengdu accident is different from that of the Tongling accident. The Chengdu accident wasn't a problem with the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra because the police clearly stated in the notice: "After testing, Deng was suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol."

The problem is that the accident and the unopenable doors are two different things. According to the current national standard "Occupant Protection in Frontal Collisions of Motor Vehicles":

After a collision, the vehicle should at least ensure that one door can be opened.

In September this year, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a draft for comments on the "Safety Technical Requirements for Automobile Door Handles", further clarifying that:

Each door (excluding the tailgate) should be equipped with an exterior door handle with a mechanical release function. The system should be designed so that when the locking device is in the locked state, after an accident such as the deployment of irreversible restraint devices or a thermal event of the power battery, the non - collision side doors should be able to be opened through the exterior door handle without the use of tools.

However, some netizens believe that in the Chengdu accident, the speed of the involved vehicle was likely to far exceed the collision test speed of 50km/h ± 2km/h stipulated in the national standard.

But according to the rescue driver at the scene of the Chengdu Xiaomi SU7 accident: The door didn't seem to be significantly deformed, but it just wouldn't open. Judging from the photos at the rescue scene, the crashed Xiaomi SU7 Ultra didn't show any structural deformation.

Of course, whether there was deformation or not should be subject to Xiaomi's official explanation.

After all, in the collision test results released by the C - NCAP in 2024, the Xiaomi SU7 achieved the highest rating of G+ in the three major safety test items: in - vehicle occupant safety index, out - vehicle pedestrian safety index, and vehicle auxiliary safety index.

So, why can't the doors of the Xiaomi SU7 open when they are most needed?

Where lies the problem?

As we all know, Xiaomi and Lei Jun have always had high standards and strict requirements when it comes to car - making. Whether it's the cockpit chip or the tissue box, they must all be automotive - grade.

So why couldn't the doors open in the accidents in Chengdu and Tongling?

The automotive industry blogger "Feizou de Yun 520" analyzed the working principle of the door lock of the Xiaomi SU7 for netizens in the latest episode of his program.

He pointed out that the door design of the Xiaomi SU7 is very special. Inside the semi - hidden door handle, there is a micro - switch similar to that of a mouse to control the opening and closing of the door. As long as one of the vehicle's high - voltage and low - voltage power supplies can keep working, the door can be opened.

However, if both power supplies fail after an accident, the door won't be able to open normally.

So, can't the Xiaomi SU7 be unlocked and the door opened through the mechanical handle?

The answer is yes.

However, Xiaomi's mechanical unlocking handle is inside the door. That is to say, regardless of whether there is an accident or not, as long as the vehicle is in a power - off state, to unlock the door with the mechanical handle, a person must be inside the car or reach their hand into the car.

Moreover, when the car is on fire, it's almost impossible for passing drivers to reach their hands into the car through the flames to pull the mechanical handle and unlock the door.

"Feizou de Yun 520"'s analysis is not without basis.

As early as when responding to Xiangxiang's video, Xiaomi's official team stepped in to provide a scientific explanation. In "Xiaomi SU7 Answers to Netizens' Questions (Episode Sixty - Seven)", Xiaomi gave netizens a detailed analysis of the location and usage method of the mechanical unlocking handle of the Xiaomi SU7:

1. There are emergency mechanical handles inside all four doors of the Xiaomi SU7. The location is as shown in the figure. In an emergency, you can pull the emergency handle to open the corresponding side door.

2. When the vehicle's low - voltage battery is dead, the door can only be unlocked and opened by pulling the emergency mechanical handle inside the door.

Image source: Xiaomi Auto

Perhaps this is why, after the two accidents in Anhui and Chengdu, external rescuers couldn't open the doors even after smashing the windows and pulling hard. Finally, they had to wait for the firefighters to cut or break open the doors to complete the rescue.

Finally, there is one more thing worth noting. "Feizou de Yun 520" also popularized a way to open the SU7 door in case of a power failure for netizens. He said that you can ask the after - sales service to connect an external power source to the Xiaomi SU7 from outside the car. After powering up the vehicle, the door can be opened.

Leaving aside whether the burning vehicle in this accident could be connected to an external power source, there should at least be Xiaomi customer service staff on - line.

But according to a report by The Paper, a Xiaomi Auto customer service staff member said that since the accident occurred at 3 a.m., there were no staff on duty during that period, and they didn't receive any relevant help or accident reports.

"Is there any car - making company whose maintenance customer service isn't available 24/7?" an insider in the automotive industry sighed.

This article is from the WeChat official account "Yiou Auto", author: Guo Huaiyi, editor: Hao Qiuhui. Republished by 36Kr with permission.