Tesla had a pretty terrible time last week. They laid off 14,000 employees (10% of their workforce), had two high-profile execs resign due to unspecified “[b]ig overall changes,” and asked shareholders to re-vote on Elon Musk’s proposal for his own compensation plan. They also had to recall all 3,878 of their Cybertrucks because the accelerator pads were getting stuck, which puts drivers at a greater risk of crashing. After getting customer complaints, Tesla confirmed that the issue with the pads was they could get dislodged from the pedal, causing them to slide up and get stuck in the footwell trim in an a downwards, acceleration position. So. Much. Winning.
They’re being “very cautious:” Reports of problems with the Cybertruck’s accelerator pedal started popping up in the last few weeks. Tesla even reportedly paused deliveries of the truck while it sorted out the issue. Musk said in a post on X that Tesla was “being very cautious” and the company reported to NHTSA that it was not aware of any crashes or injuries related to the problem.
The pedals can dislodge: The company has now confirmed to NHTSA that the pedal can dislodge, making it possible for it to slide up and get caught in the trim around the footwell.
Blame it on the lube: Tesla said it first received a notice of one of these accelerator pedal incidents from a customer on March 31, and then a second one on April 3. After performing a series of tests, it decided on April 12 to issue a recall after determining that “[a]n unapproved change introduced lubricant (soap) to aid in the component assembly of the pad onto the accelerator pedal,” and that “[r]esidual lubricant reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal.”
They’ll use new pedals moving forward: Tesla says it will replace or rework the accelerator pedal on all existing Cybertrucks. It also told NHTSA that it has started building Cybertrucks with a new accelerator pedal, and that it’s fixing the vehicles that are in transit or sitting at delivery centers.
This is its second recall: While the Cybertruck only first started shipping late last year, this is not the vehicle’s first recall. But the initial one was minor: Earlier this year, Tesla recalled the software on all of its vehicles because the font sizes of its warning lights were too small. The company unveiled the truck back in 2019.
That is so dangerous. Any car, let alone a giant truck, that’s stuck in acceleration mode is pretty terrifying. I don’t understand how an unapproved change like that could even happen. Tesla did do a fix that allowed some locations to resume shipments. The fix entailed re-enforcing the pad to the pedal, using a rivet at the pedal’s base. I don’t know if that’s a long term solution, but I really hope that anyone driving a Cybertruck, as well as everyone on the road with one, remains safe and incident-free. From what I understand, drilling the pads down is a safe way to ensure the pads and pedals stay connected, so I wonder if the way the Cybertruck’s pads were designed to stick together was a result of trying to get them out quickly or cheaply.
Oh, and that’s not the only problem that the Cybertruck is having! Apparently, they also cannot handle a car wash. One owner tried taking his for a cleaning recently and it made the whole truck shut down. It ended up finally working again after a five-hour system reboot, yikes. Tesla warned drivers not to wash them in “direct sunlight” because it could corrode its stainless steel. They recommend using something called “Car Wash Mode” and going to “touchless car washes.” And of course, we already know that the truck also can be defeated by a little snow. I guess the Cybertruck is “durable and rugged enough to go anywhere,” except for snow, water, and sunlight. I actually live about a mile from a Tesla dealership. We see people test driving them all the time, including the Cybertruck. They look just as ridiculous in person as they do in pictures. My six-year-old thinks they look cool, but he’s six, so there’s your audience for these trucks.
