Tesla has announced the recall of all Cybertruck units produced and sold so far in the United States, in its first 15 months in the market, due to a security problem that the automaker has not yet been able to solve completely.
According to the recall report sent to the US National Road Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Tesla estimates that 1% of the 46,096 affected vehicles have a defect. The problem involves stainless steel parts of the body that are fixed to the vehicle with an adhesive susceptible to environmental weakening, the company said.
Tesla said it will cover the costs to replace panels with versions that meet the durability requirements of the automaker. However, until March 18 – the date on which it sent the recall report – the company had not yet implemented a definitive solution on the production line. The expectation was to correct the problem until March 21.
“If Cant Rail’s stainless steel panel is detached from the vehicle while moving, it can be dangerous to other drivers and increase the risk of accidents,” said Tesla, who has identified 151 warranty requests that may be related to the problem.
Cybertruck has been the target of six recalls in the US since its release in November 2023. One case, recorded in June last year, involved pieces of the bucket body that could break free while the vehicle was moving.
Tesla’s shares operated stable around 10 am on Thursday in New York, accumulating a fall of more than 40% in the year.
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“Really sturdy”?
Since the first presentation of the Cybertruck prototype in November 2019, CEO Elon Musk has promoted the model as a robust and extremely resistant vehicle. “You want a truly strong pickup truck, not just a false impression of resistance,” he said at the Los Angeles launch event.
During the presentation, Musk showed Cybertruck videos resisting firearm shots and invited Tesla’s chief of design, Franz von Holzhausen, to test the body’s resistance with a sledgehammer. However, when he tried to demonstrate the “armored glass” of the vehicle by throwing a metal ball into the driver’s window, the glass broke unexpectedly.
Tesla jokes with the incident by launching Cybertruck in late 2023, selling $ 55 stickers that mimicked the shattered glass – and that run out quickly. However, the problem with body parts is not the only factor that raises questions about the durability of the vehicle.
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In August, Youtuber Cody Detwiler, owner of the WhistMiesel channel (with 9.31 million subscribers), published a video comparing the resistance of Cybertruck and Ford F-150, the best-selling pickup truck.
The video, which has already accumulated nearly 31 million views, shows Cybertruck’s structure departing in half during a resistance test in which the two vehicles were arrested for each other for the towing couplings.
Another recent video on Zack Nelson’s Jerryrigerything channel recorded the collapse of Cybertruck’s rear structure on a stress test.
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Musk, in turn, continues to defend the truck. Last month, he published in X that Cybertruck is “Apocalyptic level safe” after the model receives a five -star safety rating from NHTSA.
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