Author | Xiao Choi Edit | Juice
According to foreign media The Verge, NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) received two complaints about Tesla's steering wheel falling off, NHTSA has intervened, and more than 120,000 vehicles have been investigated.
On March 8, local time, NHTSA released a document saying that it had received two accident complaints about Tesla's steering wheel falling off, and the owner was driving the 2023 Model Y when the steering wheel was off the steering column, and one of the owners only picked up the car for 5 days.
▲Screenshot of NHTSA file
First, the Model Y steering wheel fell off Tesla fell into the investigation storm
The Model Y steering wheel fell off as early as the end of January, and as the frequency of this situation increased, NHTSA received more complaints about Tesla.
Recently, there were reports that the steering wheel of the Model Y fell off while driving. It is understood that in both incidents, the brand new vehicles delivered did not fix bolts to fix the steering wheel to the column, and the vehicle had a relatively low mileage at the time of the incident.
According to the Associated Press, one of the complaints stemmed from a now-viral Twitter post documenting the family falling off the steering wheel while driving the new Tesla Model Y.
▲Twitter screenshot
At first, the Tesla service center also asked the owner for 103.96 US dollars (equivalent to about 718 yuan) for the repair fee, although Tesla later apologized.
When the owner responded that he had lost faith in Tesla and asked to return the vehicle, the service center said Tesla did not have a return policy, but he could contact the sales and distribution teams. However, the follow-up situation was that Tesla gave the owner a new car.
At present, NHTSA has communicated with Tesla and found that both affected vehicles have undergone an offline repair and need to be removed and reinstalled the steering wheel.
In addition, NHTSA is still investigating Tesla, by investigating the frequency of accidents to determine the scope of the problem, and conduct safety recalls as needed. According to NHTSA, the initial assessment began on March 4 with more than 120,000 vehicles surveyed.
Second, frequent problems Tesla safety is worrying
In addition to the steering wheel falling off issue, Tesla is also under investigation for other safety issues.
On February 18, an accident occurred in the Contra Costa County Fire Department in the United States, and a 2014 Tesla Model S crashed into a fire truck due to the imperfect recognition function of Tesla's Autopilot system. The driver died on the spot, one passenger was seriously injured, four firefighters were slightly injured, and the ladder truck worth US$1.4 million (equivalent to about 9.75 million yuan) was damaged.
On March 8, local time, NHTSA announced that it would set up a special accident investigation team to investigate the accidents involved in the Tesla Model S.
In addition, this is not the first time that Tesla's Autopilot Autopilot system has crashed into an emergency vehicle parked on the side of the road due to a failed recognition.
▲Tesla accident site
Over the past year, NHTSA has been tracking Tesla for safety and has repeatedly announced investigations into certain model recalls.
In February, NHTSA pressured Tesla to recall nearly 363,000 vehicles equipped with fully autonomous driving software because the system could violate traffic laws.
Over the past three years, NHTSA has also launched an investigation into Tesla's unprovoked sudden braking, suspension issues and other issues.
Conclusion: Safety issues are important, and Tesla should not be taken lightly
With the steering wheel falling off, Autopilot identification failures, and the back seat not connected to the base, Tesla still faces many urgent problems to solve when it comes to safe driving.
If Tesla does not solve the safety and quality problems in time, it may have an irreversible negative impact on its brand.