Should you wanted one other reminder that Tesla automobiles won’t have the very best of high quality management requirements, the US Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration mentioned it’s investigating steering wheels falling off of two low-mileage 2023 Tesla Mannequin Ys.
In its preliminary analysis notice [PDF], the NHTSA’s Workplace of Defects Investigation mentioned it was conscious of two stories of “full detachment of the steering wheel from the steering column whereas driving.”
Whereas solely two incidents have been reported, the NHTSA mentioned its investigation issues some 120,000 2023 Mannequin Y automobiles that will additionally undergo from the identical concern.
In each situations, the NHTSA mentioned the Mannequin Ys have been delivered to homeowners with out the inclusion of a reasonably vital retaining bolt that prevented such rapid unscheduled disassembly of the wheel. That left friction becoming between the wheel and column splines to carry every part collectively, the NHTSA mentioned, and “when the pressure exerted on the steering wheel overcame the resistance of the fiction match” a minimum of one of many homeowners ended up with a wheel proper in his lap.
Though particulars of the incidents weren’t included within the Company’s PE discover, the doc did include a hyperlink to an NHTSA complaint [PDF] filed on January 29. That grievance seems to have been filed by Prerak Patel, who tweeted at Tesla and its CEO Elon Musk on January 29 concerning the incident.
Patel mentioned in his grievance that his household acquired their 2023 Mannequin Y on January 24, and simply 5 days later Patel “was driving on freeway and all of the sudden steering wheel f[e]ll, was fortunate sufficient there was no automobile behind,” the NHTSA grievance doc summarized, indicating that he was capable of pull onto the divider and name police.
Photographs included in Patel’s put up present the wheel sitting in his lap, having indifferent proper on the prime of the column.
Tesla homeowners: Time to bolt?
It is price noting this is not the primary time Tesla has handled points from unfastened or lacking bolts – nor even the primary time the issue has dogged late-year Mannequin Y automobiles.
Late final month Tesla recalled [PDF] 4 % of its 2022 and 2023 Mannequin Y fleet – round 3,470 vehicles – by which the bolts holding the second-row seats weren’t correctly screwed in. Because of this, Tesla mentioned in its recall discover, “the seat belt system might not carry out as designed in a collision, which can improve the chance of an damage for occupants seated in affected second-row seating positions.”
In 2018, the corporate additionally recalled Mannequin S automobiles manufactured earlier than 2016 resulting from steering bolts that have been constructed from aluminum topic to corrosion from street salt utilized in chilly climate.
Bolts are the least of Musk Auto’s issues, although, because the NHTSA has been doing a deep dive into security issues round Tesla’s Autopilot and full self driving software program that has brought on a lot of accidents, together with frequent collisions with roadside emergency automobiles.
That probe, which started in 2021, was upgraded to a proper engineering evaluation final yr, resulting in the software program being “recalled” by way of an over-the-air patch to deal with issues that Tesla software program made the automobiles behave unsafely round intersections.
That investigation and related recall have been again within the information currently, as yesterday NHTSA officers mentioned they have been launching a probe right into a deadly February 18 Tesla accident after discovering the Tesla Mannequin S that slammed into a hearth truck was probably utilizing Autopilot software program on the time.
That probe will probably be a part of the NHTSA’s bigger continued investigation into Autopilot and FSD security claims, the AP reported. The crash, which killed the driving force and injured a passenger and 4 emergency responders, occurred when the Tesla slammed into a hearth truck that was parked diagonally throughout a street to dam lanes whereas responding to a different accident.
The NHTSA said final yr that Autopilot was concerned in 70 % of accidents by which automated driver help software program (ADAS) was getting used. Tesla drivers might wish to be careful for dangerous windows too. ®
