Brand new Tesla Model Y's steering wheel falls off, owner charged for repair

When there are machines, there will be mishaps. But a steering wheel coming out of its place is probably insane and scary at the same time. This is exactly what happened when a Tesla owner was driving his brand new Model Y crossover on the highway, and its steering wheel suddenly fell off and came off in his hands. While Tesla eventually decided to replace the entire car, the interesting part is how the story unfolded.

Initially, Tesla didn't recognize the issue as a manufacturing defect. Also, adding salt to the injury, the Tesla service centre held the owner responsible for the mishap and charged him $104 for the repair. Surprisingly, the automaker still claims that there was no defect, and it is not liable.

After being charged by the Tesla service centre for what was likely a manufacturing defect from the automaker's end, the owner tweeted at Tesla CEO Elon Musk and included screenshots of his interaction with the service centre. He also attached the initial bill. After that, the service centre eventually reversed the charges for the repair. Eventually, the Tesla service centre looked into the affected Model T in greater detail, and the automaker decided to replace the whole car with a new Model Y. The automaker has claimed that it will prioritize the car in this case but didn't provide any potential delivery date.

@elonmusk @TeslaOwnersWW @BLKMDL3 Family was excited to receive Tesla Y delivery on 1/24/2023. Was driving on highway and all the sudden steering wheel fall off, was lucky enough there was no car behind and I was able to pull on devider #SafetyFirst #Fixit #TeslaModelY #help pic.twitter.com/4UMokFA2cv

— Tesla, Y Steering Wheel Fall Off? (@preneh24) January 30, 2023

However, the debate around whose responsibility it was, remained an issue between the automaker and the owner. Tesla sent a letter to the owner saying there was no defect or non-conformity and that it actually isn't liable, but it's acting in goodwill. There has not been any related recall.

Despite getting a replacement car, the owner remained adamant that it was Tesla's fault. He said to NJ.com that he intended to make sure this doesn't happen to any other family. "They should investigate this and make sure what they did wrong doesn’t happen again," he added.

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