Electric car: Tesla steering wheel suddenly falls off while driving – authorities are investigating

Once again Tesla has come under the scrutiny of the US Transportation Safety Administration NHTSA.

Electric car: Tesla steering wheel suddenly falls off while driving – authorities are investigating

Once again Tesla has come under the scrutiny of the US Transportation Safety Administration NHTSA. This time it's about the Model Y, which has been delivered in the USA since 2020. Two cases are known in which the steering wheels of electric cars are said to have simply fallen off while driving. Apparently the fastening screw was forgotten in the vehicles.

A Tesla driver posted pictures and a video on Twitter at the end of January showing the problem. Clearly recognizable: The steering wheel had come loose from the bracket. According to their own statements, the owner had only received the electric car a few days earlier. While he was driving with his family on the highway, the steering wheel suddenly fell off, he wrote: "Fortunately there was no other car behind me and I was able to pull onto the hard shoulder."

It was a "terrible experience," the user wrote to Tesla. His family no longer felt safe with the car. The company's customer service apologized in a direct message released by the vehicle's owner. Nevertheless, Tesla initially billed him for the repair and only waived it after another complaint. Meanwhile, the driver got a new car from Tesla.

Now the traffic safety authority takes on the cases. According to NHTSA, 120,000 specimens born in 2023 could be affected. The agency has launched a preliminary investigation to find out more about the background and frequency of the problem. Tesla itself has not yet commented on the incidents.

In February, the NHTSA ordered the autopilot software for 360,000 Tesla vehicles to be updated. The autopilot can drive too fast and cross intersections illegally, thereby increasing the risk of accidents, the NHTSA complained. In other cases, too, the authority had already requested recalls from Tesla, which in practice are carried out with software updates.

Sources: Prerak

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