Tesla issued a recall for every single Cybertruck built thus far, as well as a stop-sale that lasted nearly a week, and it’s something that can’t be solved with an over-the-air update. Apparently assembly line workers used slippery soap to get the truck’s throttle pedal pad onto the pedal, and leftover soap was causing the pad to slip off and get stuck at wide open throttle. Thankfully the truck cuts acceleration when you press the brake pedal, so hopefully there weren’t any injuries caused as a result of the issue. Regardless, Tesla is currently trying to figure out a fix for the pedal slip off, up to and including affixing the cover with additional hardware.
The cause of the issue, as described by Tesla to the NHTSA:
An unapproved change introduced lubricant (soap) to aid in the component assembly of the pad onto the accelerator pedal. Residual lubricant reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal.
Who among us could have predicted such an issue?
Going back to the drawing board, Tesla says it will “at no charge to the customer,” replace the accelerator pedal “such that the assembly meets specifications and ensures sufficient retention force between the pad and accelerator pedal to prevent the pad from dislodging.”
According to The Autopian, Tesla’s fix seems to have been simply affixing the pedal pad to the pedal with a rivet. This wouldn’t be the first time Tesla has simply gone to the hardware store to fix its cars before delivery. It seems pretty par for the course considering the company built cars in a tent.
Tesla says it is not aware of any accidents caused by the slipped throttle pedal pad, though it might help explain some.
