In a terrifying Twitter post, UK Tesla owner, Jason Tuatara, shared an image of his new Model 3’s steering wheel, detached from the rest of the car. He claims that the vehicle, which he received just over a month ago, fell apart at the end of his commute. To make matters worse, the vehicle was in motion!
@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
The vehicle, which had its delivery delayed due to Covid, had only 340 miles put on it by the owner. Luckily, he didn’t have this happen at high speeds, but instead in his driveway as he was pulling in. The idea of your wheel disconnecting from the steering column is something straight out of a slapstick comedy, but not funny at all in real life.
According to the NY Post, “Tesla confirmed that the steering wheel was not fixed to the body of the car with a bolt, and they are looking into what happened on production. The Driving and Cecile standards agency here in the UK is also doing a full investigation.”
Please check your @Tesla to make sure this doesn’t happen to you! It just came off whilst driving! I know they can drive themselves but this takes it to another level! @TeslaOwnersWW @Teslarati #SelfDrivingCars #SafetyFirst #StaySafe #Tesla pic.twitter.com/WCqUeAJ4sE
— Jason T (@JasonTuatara) April 26, 2020
This is far from the first time that Tesla has received flak for their lack of quality control. It seems like every vehicle they release has a rocky start in the QC department. Where most of the negative attention centers around the self-driving gaffs or body panels being misaligned, this incident is unique.
From now on, I wouldn’t think anything of giving the steering wheel a quick tug before departing on a drive.
