It happened only one week after the owner took delivery.
The steering wheel on a brand new Tesla Model Y detached from the steering column while the owner was driving on the highway with his family onboard. Twitter user @preneh24, who took delivery of the EV crossover on January 24, posted pictures of the aftermath on the social media platform.
The incident took place on January 30. Fortunately, no one was injured when the steering wheel fell off, and the driver could safely pull over to the side of the highway.
“[I]Was driving on [the] highway and all the sudden steering wheel fall off. [Luckily] enough, there was no car behind, and I was able to pull on [the] divider,” the owner tweeted. It's notable to point out he also addressed the tweet directly to Elon Musk.
So far, the Tesla CEO has not responded.
Tesla Service initially billed the owner $103.96 for the repair. Following some back and forth, the automaker removed the charge. But it didn't end there. The owner also posted a screenshot of his conversation with the service department and requested that Tesla take the car back and give him a full refund.
“Am I responsible for manufacturing defect?” his latest tweet reads. “It's not even [one] week, and [I'm] getting [a] bill for [the] faulty steering wheel. Isn't it [the] company's responsibility to fix it? We lost trust in Tesla and would greatly appreciate this car [being] taken back and a full refund [being] issued. I feel safety is more important than [a] tech car,” he told Tesla on the company's app.
As of this writing, Tesla has yet to respond to the owner's latest request.
Tesla, in addition to slashing prices which has sparked an EV pricing war, has been making significant efforts to boost production, specifically at the Texas Gigafactory, where the Model Y is built.
But boosting production cannot result in quality control issues, such as in this case. This is not the first time we've heard about a new Tesla's steering wheel falling off.
Back in 2020, a then-brand-new Model 3 saw its steering wheel come off after only one month following delivery. Tesla managed to fix and return the vehicle in only 24 hours. How this latest steering wheel incident will be resolved remains unclear.
Keyword: Week-Old Tesla Model Y's Steering Wheel Fell Off On The Highway