Shares in Chinese tech giant Xiaomi plummeted after an accident involving an SU7 electric car whose doors failed to open after catching fire, killing a man. The tragedy drew the attention of the country's authorities to the problem of electronic door handles that can fail in a fire or power failure.

Details

Xiaomi shares fell 5.7% in trading in Hong Kong on October 13 after reports of a fatal accident with an SU7 electric car whose doors failed to open after a fire, CNBC reported. At the moment, the company's securities were falling 8.7%, the sharpest decline since April.

Photos and video of a burning Xiaomi SU7 sedan have spread in Chinese social networks: the footage shows passersby trying but failing to open the doors of the burning car to save the driver. This is confirmed by eyewitness testimonies, CNBC reports.

Police in Chengdu city, where everything happened, said that SU7 collided with another sedan. The result was the death of a 31-year-old man who was allegedly driving under the influence of alcohol, the TV channel reported.

Xiaomi did not respond to CNBC's request for comment.

What's next?

The accident in Chengdu may draw attention to electronic door handles - a solution made popular by Tesla and widely used in modern electric cars, CNBC writes. Unlike mechanical handles, such handles operate on sensors and power, so they can fail in case of fire or power failure, the channel explains. According to Chinese state media, Chinese authorities are considering banning such devices.

In mid-September, the U.S. regulator began investigating about 174,000 Tesla Model Y cars after reports of faulty door handles, CNBC writes.

This isn't the first crash involving Xiaomi's SU7: another fatal accident in April raised questions about the electric car's smart driving system and also caused the company's stock to plummet.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor

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