Less than five months after handing over the first Cybertrucks to customers, Tesla has had to recall the electric pickup to fix an issue with the accelerator.
In a notice issued on Friday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said that the recall impacts Cybertruck vehicles manufactured from November 13, 2023, to April 4, 2024. This suggests that all — or almost all — of the 3,878 Cybertrucks being recalled are those that have been manufactured to date.
The NHTSA said in its recall notice that the pedal pad “may dislodge and cause the pedal to become trapped by the interior trim,” adding that “a trapped accelerator pedal can cause the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, increasing the risk of a crash.”
Cybertruck owners can take their vehicle to their nearest dealer for the fix, which, according to various reports, involves drilling a hole and installing a rivet to secure the pedal cover. A video shared on social media shows an engineer carrying out the procedure, which begins with placing a drilling jig over the pedal to ensure that the rivet is placed in the center.
It’s not clear if this fix will also become part of the Cybertruck’s manufacturing process going forward, or if Tesla will develop a different design for pickups yet to come off the production line.
The safety issue gained a lot of media coverage last week — before the recall was announced — after a Cybertruck owner posted a video on TikTok showing how the cover of his vehicle’s accelerator pedal slipped forward and became wedged under a part of the interior, causing the pedal to jam and accelerate. The driver said that he was able to override the accelerator by braking, but added that the Cybertruck sped up again whenever he took his foot off the brake. He was eventually able to free the pedal so that he could stop safely.
According to the NHTSA, the issue was the result of an “unapproved change [that] 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.”
