Tesla Recalls 2.7 Million Cars in China to Add Eye-Tracking Driver Monitoring

Tesla is recalling 2,740,642 vehicles in China to strengthen driver monitoring on its assisted-driving system. The trigger: regulators decided that checking for a hand on the steering wheel isn't enough proof that a driver is actually watching the road. The fix is an over-the-air software update that puts the cabin camera to work tracking the driver's eyes.

If you drive a Tesla anywhere in the world, this one is worth understanding — because the standard China just adopted is the same one North American owners have been living with since 2023.

What the recall actually covers

According to a filing with China's State Administration for Market Regulation (SAMR), the action covers domestically built Model 3 and Model Y vehicles produced between March 4, 2019 and December 7, 2025.

• Vehicles affected: 2,740,642 China-built Model 3 and Model Y
• Build window: March 4, 2019 through December 7, 2025
• The defect: When Autosteer is active and the car enters "combination driving assistance" — China's regulatory term for Level 2 systems — SAMR says Tesla's "existing attention-monitoring mechanism is insufficient to provide the driver with alerts when their gaze leaves the road," raising crash risk
• The remedy: An over-the-air software update, effective immediately. No service center visit

Tesla's own recall notice describes the change plainly: it adds "cabin-camera monitoring on the basis of the existing steering-wheel torque monitoring." In other words, the car goes from asking are your hands on the wheel? to also asking are your eyes on the road?

Torque monitoring wasn't enough — and the camera got fooled

The regulator's objection was about method, not intent. For standard combination driving assistance in these cars, Tesla relied on steering-wheel torque monitoring, which detects a hand nudging the wheel. A nudge is not attention. SAMR ruled it insufficient.

Tesla does have camera-based monitoring, and it started using the cabin camera in China this year as it rolled out its supervised "Tesla Assisted Driving" features — the system it previously marketed as Full Self-Driving. But drivers beat it fast. Within weeks, owners were mounting cheap plastic doll heads near the rearview mirror to convince the camera someone was paying attention. One Model 3 owner reportedly drove for 30 minutes eating sunflower seeds behind a Dwayne Johnson figurine.

A $20 plastic doll head defeating a driver-monitoring system is a good reminder that these features are supervision aids, not autonomy. The car still needs you.

There's history here too. Tesla long resisted using the interior camera in China at all. In 2021, amid government scrutiny of its cameras and data practices, the company stated that its China-market vehicles had "not turned on their in-vehicle cameras," citing privacy and Chinese law. This recall pushes camera-based attention monitoring across the entire combination-driving-assistance fleet.

China is catching up to a standard the US already set

North American owners have seen this movie. Tesla's cabin-camera driver monitoring in the US was itself the product of a recall — NHTSA's December 2023 Autopilot action covering roughly 2 million vehicles, which forced stronger driver-engagement safeguards. China had been moving in the same direction, tightening rules on automated-driving features and how they're marketed after Tesla launched its assisted-driving system there.

This was also one of two recalls Tesla filed in China on the same day. The other, larger action covers nearly 3 million vehicles over an interior emergency door release that regulators say is too hard to find after a crash. Together, the two cover 5,716,552 cars — Tesla's biggest recall total ever in its second-largest market.

What this means for you as an owner

If you're in North America, nothing about your car changes today. But the direction of travel is unmistakable: cabin-camera attention monitoring is becoming the global baseline for Level 2 assisted driving, and regulators on two continents have now decided that hands-on-wheel detection alone doesn't cut it.

A few practical takeaways:

• Keep the cabin camera lens clear. If your monitoring system depends on seeing your eyes, a smudged or blocked lens can mean nuisance alerts. A quick wipe with a clean microfiber cloth during your regular interior detail is all it takes
• Rethink mirror-area accessories. Anything mounted near the rearview mirror — phone mounts, dash cams, radar detectors, decorations — can sit in the camera's field of view. Choose mounts that route around that zone rather than through it
• Sunglasses and cabin glare matter. Eye-tracking works off your gaze. Heavy tint, low sun, and dashboard reflections can all make the system's job harder
• Don't try to defeat it. The doll-head trick is funny until it isn't. These systems exist because supervised assisted driving requires a supervisor, and regulators are now actively closing the loopholes
• Emergency egress is worth knowing cold. The companion China recall is about drivers being unable to find the manual door release after a crash. Wherever you live, take two minutes to locate the manual release in every seating position of your car and show your passengers. It costs nothing

The bottom line

A 2.7 million–vehicle recall sounds dramatic, but the fix is a software update that lands over the air — no appointment, no downtime. The more meaningful story is regulatory: driver monitoring is converging on eye tracking as the standard, and the era of nudging the wheel with your knee is closing. Set up your cabin so the camera can do its job, keep your own eyes where they belong, and treat assisted driving as what it is — a very good copilot that still expects you to be the pilot.