Tesla has issued two recalls on the Cybertruck, its third and fourth, since the model was introduced late last year.
Currently, the Tesla Cybertruck is only sold in North America, as the region has less stringent design standards than Europe and Australia.
The latest recall, which includes almost all of the nearly 12,000 trucks on the road so far, involves the truck’s huge single windshield wiper and a piece of plastic trim along the edge of the truck bed.
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A piece of black plastic trim that runs along the edge of the truck’s angled bed wall can come loose and may detach from the vehicle while it’s being driven.
“If the applique separates from the vehicle while in drive, it could create a road hazard for following motorists and increase their risk of injury or a collision,” according to documents posted on the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration website.
The problem emerged when the piece was missing on a Cybertruck that had been transported to a delivery centre on a car hauler truck, according to NHTSA documents.
An investigation by Tesla revealed that the piece had not been properly installed.
Further investigation revealed more cases of the trim pieces coming loose because of improper installation. Some of these cases were on Cybertrucks that had been delivered to customers.
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Cybertruck owners will be asked to bring their trucks to a Tesla service centre where the trim piece will either be replaced or installed properly with “adhesion promotor” and pressure-sensitive tape. Tesla will begin notifying owners of the recall in mid-August.
The trucks are also being recalled for a separate issue in the electric motor that powers the truck’s single huge windshield wiper.
Some of the motors were damaged during testing in a way that can allow excessive electrical current to run through the motor, causing it to fail.
Tesla has previously recalled the Cybertruck for other issues. In April the trucks were recalled because the accelerator pedal could become stuck down.
In January, Tesla issued a software recall for 2.2 million vehicles, including Cybertrucks, because letters on warning lights were too small to easily read. That problem was fixed through an over-the-air software update.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk this week ruled out exporting the Cybertruck to Australia in a speech to investors, EV Central reports.
“We did design the car to North American requirements, because if you start going with the superset of international requirements, it forces a lot of constraints on the Cybertruck that would make the product frankly worse,” Musk was quoted as telling investors.
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