It’s been a tough month for Tesla, and it keeps getting worse. The carmaker issued a recall this week for over 46,000 Cybertrucks because of an issue that can result in stainless steel exterior panels becoming detached from the vehicle and falling off.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) explained in its recall report that the cant rail is an assembly along the exterior of the Cybertruck comprised of a steel stamping joined to a steel panel with structural adhesive, which is then affixed to the massive vehicle via fasteners. The issue is that on some vehicles, the cant rail is delaminating at the adhesive joint, which could cause the stainless steel panel to separate from the vehicle in motion. That would obviously create a serious hazard for other drivers on the road.
As noted by TechCrunch, this is Tesla’s eighth Cybertruck recall so far. A majority of the issues could be fixed with over-the-air updates, but two have also involved parts of the vehicle coming loose and requiring owners to take their trucks in.
So far, Tesla says it has identified 151 warranty claims that may be related to the problem. The good news is that the carmaker is not aware of any collisions, fatalities, or injuries related to the issue, despite the troubling number of claims.
To address the recall, Tesla will replace cant rail assemblies with new ones that meet durability testing requirements at no charge to affected customers. The new component will use a different structural adhesive that isn’t as prone to environmental damage, as well as “a stud welded to the stainless panel with a nut clamping the steel panel to the vehicle structure.”
YouTuber Reid Tomasko posted a video about the issue over a month before the recall:
