*Updated 2/8/2023 If you’re driving on the highway with a load of passengers, and you are driving your brand new Tesla Model Y, your only concern should be range. Except in this case. Because a week after taking delivery in mid-January, the steering wheel fell off in his lap while cruising down the highway with a bunch of passengers. 

Have other Tesla EVs lost steering wheels?

Twitter user Prerak made the post with images and a short video to, we assume, horrify his family and friends, and we hope Elon Musk. We mention Musk because he is tagged in the tweet. And the bad news is that this has happened before. 

The only difference between this steering wheel incident and one reported in 2020 is this one still had the nut holding the wheel on. In the first falling steering wheel incident, there never was one. So in this case, the nut holding the wheel on backed out. We know that Tesla wants its Autopilot self-driving system to eliminate steering wheels, but not this way. 

The warranty took care of replacing the Tesla steering wheel, right?

Then just yesterday, adding insult to injury, he took his Tesla in to get the steering wheel attached and received a bill for $103.96. With that, he tweeted back that he and his family lost trust in Tesla products and wanted them to take it back and refund his money. That’s when Tesla said it “does not have a return policy,” and he will need to discuss it with Tesla’s sales and delivery teams. 

One would think that a tech or service writer could have kept the Tesla charging mechanism from sending a bill. Or even better, doesn’t the warranty cover cases where assembly issues happen? Is Tesla the only company that doesn’t cover improper assembly? 

Other manufacturers have seen this happen to their cars too. So we don’t mean to pick on Tesla. But this could have had a semi-happy ending. If Tesla fixed the steering wheel and then offered a power increase or FSD. It is really not costing them anything and it makes for a happy customer. Now, the owner is mad and sites like MotorBiscuit spread the bad news around. 

Other components that have fallen off of Teslas

But, hey, we don’t own Tesla nor have any control over how it and its customers interact. However, it does seem like things keep falling off Teslas. Things like rear windows, rear bumpers, exploding sunroofs, and other assorted components. 

And there are numerous complaints about frunk lids unlatching, obscuring the driver’s vision. Or performance spoilers detaching from truck lids. And then there’s the one where the front tire fell off in the owner’s driveway. The owner’s wife now won’t use the car for fear something else might fall off.

So things falling off of Teslas is a thing.

*Update 2/8/2023: Tesla decided to replace the owner’s entire car. Though it hasn’t given any details, it did say it was prioritizing building the replacement Tesla.