Fears of the wheels falling off at Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) have been confirmed, sort of, with the electric vehicle (EV) giant being investigated over reports of steering wheels disconnecting from its Model Ys.
Steering wheels completely fell off in two cars while they were being driven, according to, prompting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration it to inspect over 120,000 models, it said on Wednesday.
Cars were delivered without retaining bolts, designed to firmly hold the steering wheel in place, the administration added, with the investigation possibly preceding another Tesla recall.
@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 & Neha Patel (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
If so, it would add to the wave of issues affecting Tesla cars in the past year, causing a recall of over four million vehicles since January 2022.
Many of these issues have been fixed with software updates though, including issues with self-driving systems and rear lights, meaning cars didn’t have to be physically returned.
“The word ‘recall’ for an over-the-air software update is anachronistic and just flat wrong,” chief executive Elon Musk tweeted in response to reports of the recalls in February.
Regardless, scores of issues with its cars pushed Tesla’s share price 65% lower last year, alongside worsening investor confidence caused by Musk’s Twitter takeover, for which he sold off Tesla shares to partially fund.
Tesla shares have since rebounded, but returned to negativity on Wednesday, falling 3.2% to US$181 following the news.