A Tesla Model Y lost its steering wheel while driving
A Twitter user, Prerak, tweeted that his Tesla Model Y, which he had just purchased less than a week after delivery, had the steering wheel fallen off during a highway drive.
According to Priorak's post, he was driving his Tesla Model Y on the highway pulling his family along when the steering wheel came off in his hands. Fortunately, there were no cars behind him and he was able to move the Model Y to the side of the road without causing any further accidents, and the vehicle was later towed away. The released images show the steering wheel's wiring exposed and the steering wheel appears to be detached from its mounting point, hanging on by wires only.
@elonmusk @TeslaOwnersWW @BLKMDL3 Family was excited to receive Tesla Y delivery on 1/24/2023. Was driving on highway and all the sudden steering wheel fall off, was lucky enough there was no car behind and I was able to pull on devider #SafetyFirst #Fixit #TeslaModelY #help pic.twitter.com/4UMokFA2cv
— Prerak (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
This is a typical quality control issue. The steering wheel came loose on the steering column and the worker must have forgotten to add the nut or tighten it so that the nut came off quickly - just as the steering wheel eventually did.
@elonmusk Am I responsible for manufacturing defect? It’s not even week and getting bill for faulty steering wheel. Isn’t it company’s responsibility to fix it? I would greatly appreciate refund and keep the car as we lost trust and family is not feeling safe driving it back. pic.twitter.com/7ZsO4ZiXNu
— Prerak (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
After interacting with police and a tow truck, Priorak had their vehicle towed to the Tesla Service Center where the incident was investigated. Screenshots of the conversation between the owner and Tesla service show Priorak asking for a full refund and return of the vehicle because they felt it was no longer safe to drive it. Tesla service personnel appear to have ignored this, and further screenshots show that the owner made an appointment for repairs and owes a fee, which they now further posted on their Twitter account earlier today in protest of the incident. Tesla has since cancelled the service fee, but has not taken direct responsibility for the incident.
@elonmusk Steering wheel fell of today! Concerned that the rest of the car will fall to bits too! Can this be looked into as to why it’s happened to a car just over 1 month old! #TeslaServiceIssues pic.twitter.com/w103imxnbA
— Jason T (@JasonTuatara) April 26, 2020
This is not the first time something like this has happened to a Tesla product. on April 26, 2020, Jason Tutara also tweeted that the steering wheel came off his Model 3 after just over a month of use. He tagged Elon Musk and wondered if the rest of the car would "fall to pieces too."
