Tesla has been under the gun lately as far as the drivability and safety of their self-driving cars. Not all of their cars offer that feature, of course, but with this recent issue with the steering wheels, it seems as if they can’t really catch a break.
Following two accounts of drivers who claimed their steering wheels actually fell off while they were driving, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is launching an investigation into Tesla’s 2023 Model Y SUV.
@elonmusk @TeslaOwnersWW @BLKMDL3 Family was excited to receive Tesla Y delivery on 1/24/2023. Was driving on highway and all the sudden steering wheel fall off, was lucky enough there was no car behind and I was able to pull on devider #SafetyFirst #Fixit #TeslaModelY #help pic.twitter.com/4UMokFA2cv
— Prerak & Neha Patel (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
The investigation will cover around 120,000 vehicles, and will look into a faulty retaining bolt that connects the steering wheel to the steering column – which, I don’t know. Seems important.
The driver of the Tesla who tweeted the account above was safe, by the way, since no one was behind him and he was on a straight stretch of highway at the time.
He claims their customer service wanted to charge him for the repair, once reported, which understandably shocked and dismayed him.
@elonmusk Am I responsible for manufacturing defect? It’s not even week and getting bill for faulty steering wheel. Isn’t it company’s responsibility to fix it? I would greatly appreciate refund and keep the car as we lost trust and family is not feeling safe driving it back. pic.twitter.com/7ZsO4ZiXNu
— Prerak & Neha Patel (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
He had only had the car for a week and wanted a refund and to be able to return the car, since he no longer had trust that the rest of it would not fall apart, either.
The company, as mentioned above, is already under investigation for several other potential manufacturing defects, a few of which would be life threatening on the open road.
Since Tesla has no communications department, don’t look from a statement from them any time soon, though.
