Tesla Sued After Another Person Burned To Death Because Rescuers Couldn't Open Their Door
Good morning! It's Monday, November 24, 2025, 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, Tesla is hit with another lawsuit after its poorly designed door handles allegedly led to another death, Bollinger officially closes its doors for good, General Motors is planning to infuse an additional $550 million in U.S. production by 2027 and, oh look, Ford is recalling about a quarter-million vehicles.
1st Gear: Another door handle-related Tesla lawsuit
Tesla has been sued over a brutal and fiery January 2023 crash in Washington state that ended with one person dead and another severely injured because first responders allegedly couldn't open the Model 3's doors. It's the latest in a growing number of lawsuits Tesla is facing over the door handles — both inside and outside — on its vehicles.
Jeffery and Wendy Dennis, a married couple, were running errands on a Sunday afternoon when their car "suddenly and rapidly accelerated out of control," according to the lawsuit filed in Washington state federal court. It then hit a utility pole and burst into flames. It said Tesla's "unique and defective door handle design" left the doors inoperable and hurt the rescue process.
Wendy died at the scene, and Jefferey suffered severe injuries, including burns to his legs. From Bloomberg:
"Several bystanders ran to the vehicle and attempted to assist Jeff and Wendy Dennis but the Model 3's door handles would not operate," lawyers representing Jeffery Dennis and the estate of his wife said in the lawsuit. "Several good Samaritans even attempted to use a baseball bat to break the car windows to help."
[...]
The new lawsuit accuses Tesla of negligence and misleading customers, arguing that Elon Musk's company knew the door handles could become inoperable after a crash and was aware of fire hazards from the lithium-ion battery pack, but did nothing to address either issue. It also claims that the Model 3 involved in the crash had a defect that caused the vehicle to suddenly accelerate out of control and that the automatic emergency braking system failed.
Tesla vehicles have two batteries: one for low-voltage power to interior functions like windows, doors and the touchscreen, and the high-voltage pack that propels the car. If the low-voltage battery dies or is disabled — which can happen after a serious crash — the doors may not unlock and must be opened manually from the inside. While there are mechanical releases inside Teslas, many owners and passengers are unfamiliar with where they're located or how to operate them.
Tesla is already facing a slew of lawsuits over its door handle design. Just weeks ago, a suit was filed in Wisconsin over a Model S crash that killed all five occupants inside, who became trapped after a fire engulfed the car and the doors wouldn't open. Back in October, Tesla was sued over claims that defective doors on a crashed Cybertruck in California made it a "death trap" and prevented three college students from getting out before they died of smoke inhalation.
I don't know how Tesla gets itself out of this one.
2nd Gear: Bollinger couldn't pull it off
Welp, that's it for Bollinger, the once-promising EV truck start-up is no more after a few years of crappy performance and an overall failure to launch. Apparently, its last official day of business was Friday, November 21, according to emails sent by the automaker's human resources director, Helen Watson.
Just last week, we told you that Bollinger was struggling to meet its payroll obligations and that the company currently has 59 claims of unpaid wages pending with the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity. We knew it wasn't long for this world, but we didn't know it would all end so soon. From the Detroit Free Press:
"We received word late last night that the day has arrived, we are to officially close the doors of Bollinger Motors, effective today, November 21st, 2025," the email from Watson said.
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Watson told employees in the email that David Michery, the CEO of Bollinger Innovations (Bollinger Motors' parent company), will "make us whole with regards to the remaining monies" that went unpaid as the company missed payroll for the last two pay periods.
"I am working on creating checks for the 10/31/2025 payroll and believe they will be in hand on Monday," Watson wrote. "It is the end of an era but one you should all be very proud of."
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In March, the company's founder and namesake, Robert Bollinger — who had left the company — sued over a $10 million loan he gave the company the previous October. Robert Bollinger alleged the company was broke and sought a receivership to handle repayment of his loan. The company exited the receivership in June.
At least six suppliers have taken legal action against Bollinger this year to settle more than $5 million in overdue bills, according to Crain's Detroit Business.
Michery, the CEO of Bollinger's parent company, took over as the leader of Bollinger Motors in June. Michery rebranded his own California-based EV start-up, Mullen Automotive, to the Bollinger name, pulling all brands under the "Bollinger Innovations" umbrella.
Right now, Bollinger Innovations is still open for business. Of course, Bollinger, the maker of its chassis trucks and SUV prototypes, is gone, so I don't know what the plan is. I'm not much of a betting man, but if I had to guess, Bollinger Innovations isn't terribly long for this world either. I don't know. I've been wrong before.
3rd Gear: GM is investing half-billion dollars in U.S. production
General Motors plans to expand U.S. vehicle production in 2027, and to do that, it's going to spend about $550 million at two component plants in Ohio and Michigan. About $250 million is going to the Parma Metal Center near Cleveland to make sheet metal stampings and assemblies. A further $300 million will be spent a the Romulus Propulsion Systems plant outside Detroit to increase production of its 10-speed automatic transmissions. It's expected that they'll largely go in GM's full-size pickups and SUVs. That's exactly what America needs more of.
Both of these investments are related to the nearly $4 billion GM is spending at its Orion Assembly plant in Michigan, Fairfax Assembly plant in Kansas and Spring Hill Manufacturing plant in Tennessee. From Automotive News:
"Our commitment to Parma Metal Center isn't just about upgrading equipment — it's about investing in the people who make it all happen," Mike Trevorrow, GM's senior vice president of global manufacturing, said in a Nov. 20 statement. "Our manufacturing teams are the driving force behind GM's success, and we're committed to giving them the tools and training they need to excel in today's advanced manufacturing world."
GM in June laid out a plan to increase U.S. production of internal-combustion vehicles. Orion Assembly, which has been down for retooling since late 2023 and was slated to make electric pickups, now will build gasoline versions of the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra and the Cadillac Escalade SUV.
Fairfax Assembly will build the electric Chevrolet Bolt alongside the combustion Chevy Equinox, which will continue to be made in Mexico as well. GM also said the Fairfax plant is set to build affordable EVs in the future.
GM is moving the gasoline version of the Chevy Blazer out of Mexico to the Spring Hill plant in 2027, joining the Cadillac XT5 and two Cadillac EVs, the Lyriq and Vistiq.
These new investments raise the total spending GM has tied to production increases to nearly $5.5 billion. That includes $888 million at an engine plant near Buffalo, New York, which is slated to build next-generation V8s.
4th Gear: Ford recalls 230,000 Broncos
Oh, Ford. Never stop being you. The Blue Oval is recalling about 230,000 Broncos and Bronco Sports because of a software issue with the instrument panel display that can prevent everything from warning lights to vehicle speed from showing up in the gauge cluster. I don't have to tell you why that's not ideal. From CBS News:
The recall affects 2025-2026 Bronco and Bronco Sport vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in a notice posted on Nov. 18. All recalled vehicles are believed to contain the defect.
The government agency said Ford will fix the issue with a software update, which can be installed for free at a dealership or delivered wirelessly through an over-the-air update.
As of Nov. 7, 2025, Ford said it was aware of 12 warranty claims potentially related to the display issue, NHTSA documents show.
Ford still very much leads the way when it comes to recalls. So far this year, the automaker has issued 138 recalls. That's more than Stellantis, General Motors, Volkswagen, Honda and BMW combined — and they're in places two through six.
Reverse: Dammit, Jack
I know it's unlikely, but maybe if Ruby hadn't done this, there wouldn't have been as many conspiracy theories about the JFK assassination. If there weren't as many conspiracy theories, then perhaps we could have been spared that dogshit Oliver Stone movie. Oh, you like that movie? Get real.
On the radio: One Direction - No Control
My girlfriend (which makes it sound unserious — we've been together for, like, six years) is a day one 1D fan, and she's opened my eyes to some true bangers in their discography. This is one of those songs.
