Abstract: After the elevator traction steel strip runs for a long time, the steel wire inside the steel strip will appear damages with different cross-sectional areas, such as broken wires, broken strands, and abrasion. These damages will seriously affect the safety of elevator operation. For this reason, magnetic flux leakage (MFL) detection of steel wire damages with different cross-sectional areas in elevator traction steel strip is investigated. A finite element model of elevator traction steel strip containing steel wire damages with different cross-sectional areas is established, and the spatial distribution state and variation law of leakage magnetic field at the defects with different cross-sectional areas are obtained. Under laboratory conditions, magnetic flux leakage detection of different steel wires defects in steel strips is carried out. Theoretical prediction and experimental results show that the MFL detection method can effectively detect steel wire damages with different cross-sectional areas of the elevator traction steel strip. This provides a certain decision basis for the operation and maintenance of the elevator traction steel strips.