NHTSA opens Tesla probe over Model Y steering wheel detachments

The Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration () has opened an investigation into following experiences of steering wheels falling off whereas on the highway. The company stated it is conscious of two experiences of the wheel fully detaching from the steering column within the Mannequin Y autos. It added that the autos had been delivered to their house owners with out the retaining bolt that retains the steering wheel connected.

In each instances, solely friction was holding the wheel in place till the drive exerted on it “overcame the resistance of the friction match whereas the autos had been in movement,” the NHTSA’s Workplace of Defects Investigation stated (). The autos every had low mileage.

One proprietor is claimed to have taken supply of their Mannequin Y simply 5 days earlier than the incident. When the wheel indifferent, there was no automotive behind the driving force, who famous on Twitter and in an NHTSA criticism that they had been safely capable of pull onto the divider. There have been no accidents within the incident, which the proprietor stated occurred on Route 1 in Woodbridge, New Jersey, in late January.

“Each autos obtained an finish of line restore requiring elimination and reinstallation of the steering wheel,” the NHTSA stated. The company’s investigation, which covers an estimated 120,000 mannequin yr 2023 autos, will “assess the scope, frequency and manufacturing processes related to this situation.”

Tesla, which now not has a communications division that may be reached for remark, has confronted a number of NHTSA investigations over the previous few years. Final month, the company that Tesla was recalling virtually 363,000 autos over points with the Full Self-Driving software program. The NHTSA stated the system may “exceed velocity limits or journey via intersections in an illegal or unpredictable method.” Tesla stated it might difficulty an over-the-air replace to resolve the problems.

Because the notes, Tesla has needed to difficulty 20 remembers since January 2022. A number of of the remembers had been mandated by the NHTSA. In November, as an illustration, the automaker over a rear gentle difficulty (one which was once more remedied by a software program replace). That was Tesla’s second recall in as many days.