China Is The First Country To Ban Tesla-Style Door Handles Over Safety

Happy Monday! It's February 2, 2026, and this is The Morning Shift — your daily roundup of the top automotive headlines from around the world, in one place. This is where you'll find the most important stories that are shaping the way Americans drive and get around.

In this morning's edition, we're looking at China's ban on pop-out door handles, Tesla's continued European collapse, as well as an NHTSA investigation into F-150 transmission issues. We'll also look at Hyundai ditching its former Russian plant for good.

Automakers have been big fans of flush-mounted door handles recently, much to the ire of rideshare riders the world over. Now, one country is pushing back: China, which just banned electronically-actuated handles on EVs. From Bloomberg: 

China banned concealed door handles on electric vehicles, the first country in the world to outlaw a design popularized by Tesla Inc. that is now facing global regulatory scrutiny due to a spate of deadly incidents.

Cars sold in China will be required to have mechanical release both on the inside and outside, according to new safety rules issued by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology on Monday.

The ruling will take effect on Jan. 1, 2027, the ministry said. Models that have already been approved by the regulator and are in the final stages of launching in China have until January 2029 to change their designs.

Given that Tesla's electrically actuated handles have reportedly caused at least 15 deaths, it's smart for China to ban them. It is still possible for manufacturers to product flush-mounted handles that have a mechanical linkage, but hopefully they won't. Were regular handles so bad? 

Tesla's sales have been cratering ever since CEO Elon Musk decided to openly embrace far-right policies and politicians worldwide, but the company has always had one holdout market in Europe: Norway. Now, with January's numbers, it seems even the Norwegians are also abandoning Tesla. From Reuters:

Registrations of new Tesla (TSLA.O), opens new tab cars in some of its largest European markets showed little signs of recovery in January, one of the lowest-volume months, rising in Sweden and Denmark but falling in France and Norway.

Elon Musk's full-electric brand, whose market in the continent shrank 27% last year, registered 26% more cars in Sweden and 3% more in Denmark in January than in the same month of 2025, with 512 and 458 cars sold respectively, official data showed on Monday.

Its registrations, a proxy for sales, fell 88% to 83 vehicles in Norway, one of the most brand-loyal countries in Europe which has been at the forefront of EV adoption, and by 42% to 661 in France.

Of course, January is only one month, and a month where Norway is generally too cold for folks to go wandering around car dealer lots. Still, 88% is a truly massive drop for sales — even if it does seem to be one of Musk's favorite numbers, it's not a great sign for the company's longevity. 

F-150 owners have been dealing with an unnerving problem recently: Their trucks will downshift at speed, locking up the rear end and sending the vehicle skidding out of control. This is what we in the business call "bad." Time for another Ford recall, it sounds. From Reuters: 

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said on Monday it had expanded a safety-related investigation into 1.27 million Ford (F.N), opens new tab F-150 pickup trucks following reports of unexpected downshifts with rear-wheel lockup.

The investigation covers vehicles from the 2015–2017 model years, NHTSA said.

The probe follows a preliminary evaluation the agency opened on March 21 last year, after receiving complaints related to 2015–2017 Ford F-150 pickups equipped with the '6R80' transmission.

The U.S. auto safety regulator said owners had reported that the trucks would abruptly downshift without warning or driver input, causing sudden deceleration and, in some cases, brief rear-wheel lockup or skidding, raising the risk of a crash.

In its response to NHTSA's information request, Ford said the alleged defect in the 2015–2017 F-150s differs from the issue that prompted four safety recalls covering 2011–2014 models.

Ford added the earlier recalls were caused by manufacturing problems with a part supplied by an outside vendor, which led to loss of signals from a speed sensor.

This sort of downshift-based rear-wheel skid might actually be fun if it were planned, but you don't normally get NHTSA investigations into planned maneuvers. Maybe Ford can add a toggle for Drift Mode in the F-150. 

When Russia invaded Ukraine, most multinational corporations ducked out of the country to save face — even Ural got out of dodge. Hyundai left its Russian plant in 2024, but it left an opening to buy its way back into the country if things settled down. They haven't, so Hyundai allowed the buyback option on the Russian plant to expire last month. From Reuters:

South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor did not exercise a buyback option for its former manufacturing plant in Russia, the company said on Monday, amid the continuing war in Ukraine.

...

In 2024, Hyundai sold its plant to Russia's AGR Automotive Group for a nominal 140,000 won ($97) and agreed to an option to repurchase it within a fixed timeframe. The buyback option expired in January.

I could definitely find $97 worth of use for a defunct auto plant. If anyone has one of those in Brooklyn they want to get rid of, let me know. My dream apartment is some converted office space above a warehouse, and I think I could make a car factory work. 

I don't always love passing through Grand Central, due to the tourists who seem content to amble through and gawk at every possible sight while blocking the way for those of us who actually need to get places, but it sure is a pretty building. 

I slept unbelievably badly last night, thanks to Brooklyn's freezing temperatures and my unheated room, and I'm relying on Isaac Brock to keep me going today.