Oh, very rigorous engineering standards. The wheels aren't supposed to fall off for a start.
The Front Fell Off: https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM?si=DprOulmmDK-H76LX
2026
Audi Q8 e-tron:
"Popular electric car recalled due to brake pedal problem" [1]
A problem with a "screw connection" (unclear whether this is a mounting screw or it serves some other purpose) can cause the brake pedal to malfunction.
or, in 2024
Audi Q4 e-tron, Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7:
"Dangerous error in popular electric cars: brakes can cease functioning" [2]
It says that the ABS pump could drop off which would cause brake fluid to leak out which in turn causes the brakes to cease functioning.
[1] https://carup.se/popular-elbil-aterkallas-for-fel-pa-bromspe... (Swedish)
[2] https://nyheter24.se/nyheter/motor/1296418-farliga-felet-i-p... (Swedish)
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/vw-id4-recalled-over-door...
> "Dangerous error in popular electric cars: brakes can cease functioning" [2]
> It says that the ABS pump could drop off
Using a mechanical ABS in an electric car might be part of the problem
These are dangerous. Cars are not maintained to aircraft standards and will never be.
It is an electric car after all
So worst case you're rolling down the road on a chassis with no body panels, except you're not really rolling if the wheels fall off.
Hmm.. good job we're not letting in those cheap Chinese EV's and sticking to this top quality homemade stuff.
'Vibe-Engineering'
Meanwhile, about 63% of Tesla Model Ys failed their first mandatory inspection in Finland. The Tesla Model 3 did a bit better at 59% of cars failing their first inspection for the same model year. However, they're faring a lot worse than the third worst car, the Dacia Duster, at 23%, or other EVs like the Volkswagen ID.4 at 6%.
The insane part is the number of people who were somehow able to put up $120k for one, and proudly boast how awesome their new car was even though it spent most of its time in the repair shop or breaking doing very basic things, and failing to do "Truck" things that even my hatchback can manage.
Presumably it's not a coincidence that so many of them were bought by brand new weed shop owners.
Possible
While mechanical failures can happen in all companies, that do sounds like an inexperienced design (maybe from Tesla, maybe from a partner?)
Doing a half baked job on a part for your super low volume "we only make this to advertise a low starting price" model is something just about any OEM would do.
I bet their supplier just took whatever Chevy Van rotor they had that was close and modified it to fit and as a result it got a little thin somewhere.
Edit: Nope, I couldn't find a picture but I found pictures of big brake kits for the 2wd and clearly it's not an old (read: cheap) integrated hub and rotor.
It’s the most poorly engineered “truck” there is. Can’t tow. Can’t haul (stupid bed design). It’s just a glorified pavement machine.
Go look back at the original concept art. The actual delivered vehicle dimensions are totally different, so he didn’t even succeed at that part. They couldn’t build what he wanted. It’s way more boxy and looks like shit on the road.
And lol at 173 total affected vehicles. What a failure.
No one is hauling anything in these anyway. The Cybertruck is a midlife crisis car for white-collar Indian dudes with money. I'm sorry, it's true.
Construction workers are not trading in their F150s and beat-to-death Silverados for this I assure you.
I bought one and its the best car I've ever had. Event though I was never a "truck" buyer it checked off all my needs: - space for wife, car seats + another adult when needed - haul around my kids, 4 bikes, skis, camping gear, etc. - drives itself - we do a ton of road trips - luxury - electric, tired of going to gas stations
Wasn't another car on the market that checked those boxes.
Have you ever driven one? They are amazing to drive.
This is a joke, right? Please tell me this is a joke and you aren't so indiscriminate and unrefined as to actually be calling anything made by this company "luxury".
Every single Tesla I have had the great misfortuned to be a passenger in has felt threadbare and stripped down. Constructed of the same terrible, cheap ruggedized plastic as the most budget trim sedan of the mid-00s. I'm talking the subjective experience of the cheap-ass plastic interior door paneling of a 2004 Hyundai Accent L....in 2017.
Sure, the interior is spacious, but not in a way that feels good. It's spacious in the way that the seating on an Allegiant flight is spacious, and just as rigid.
Whenever we go around a curve in one I feel like I'm being thrown into the doors and they could just pop open.
Sure there's a touchscreen tablet, but that's not luxury, they sell touchscreen tablets for $25 at Walmart on black friday.
They are the most value-engineered (as in "how can we provide the minimum while charging the maximum") vehicles I have ever experienced, and I am counting every budget trim of every cheap sedan of my entire life experience inclusive of the US Auto Industry collapse.
People think they want a pickup truck, or an SUV, or a Cybertruck, but what they really want is a hybrid Toyota Sienna.
It was trivial to do this back before foldable seats were standard.
You can fit at least two bikes in just the shitty "trunk" space of your average minivan.
Every van ever made has more cargo space than the Cybertruck.
I own a station wagon, a minivan, a pickup truck and a hatch (and my spouse drives a boring crossover). I completely understand why "buy a crew cab truck" has become the norm for people who want to just write one check a month to cover every use case.
Additionally, frequent "truck" usage is an absolute menace on wagon/minivan interiors.
Outside of "drives itself", I fail to see how much of what you described is unique. Seems very ordinary.
[x] $94K and $52K deprecation in the first 5 years.
Buyers who got an expensive and gaudy pile of shit will never want to admit their pile of shit doesn't smell to themselves.
Literally most SUVs will tick most of these boxes at a significant discount.
"most of these boxes" - I need all.
When I go biking and snowboarding with my idiot friend that owns a Cybertruck, we have to use my Outback to haul the gear because it won't fit in his lemon.
I have a friend with a CyberBeast and a friend with an F150-Lightning. The acceleration on the CyberBeast is absolutely magnificent and FSD is very capable. However as a truck, the frunk on the F150 is way more useful. The F150 is a better truck, but I'd say the Cybertruck is really good big weird car.
I personally don't like the cybertruck and wish they made something much closer to Rivian, but getting upset about a product you don't like is a small man ting
But you’re exactly right. They’re for the polished shoes folks, not the steel toes
173...
That being said I wouldn't touch a Tesla with a barge pole for reasons numerous.
But agree, cybertruck is a really silly purchase for numerous reasons. The only reason you'd buy it is to signal your support for Elon. It's a very bad vehicle.
(Not digging at you, I feel the same way you do. I just think it’s weird and amazing!)
The battery pack is by far heavier than the motors. In the r1 they are also positioned with the wheels (quad) or front/back (dual) so weight distribution is great.
If the slate has a single motor and is RWD then I would assume the weight might be biased toward the rear where the drive unit is powering the rear wheels. Either way the motor is relatively small compared to ICE trucks and that’s where you want the weight anyway for a RWD vehicle.
Am I mistaken?
That said, your explanation makes sense. Slate engineers claimed it would handle well, but it was vague enough that I'd want more detail before I believe them.
At least in the U.S. below a certain ~longitude~ latitude it's quite common.
Volume wise it’s of course Texas with Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota having the largest ownership share.
There’s a whole community that doesn’t consider anything without front and rear lockers, dana 44 axels, frame on body, and 37s with bead lock a real off road rig.
In my mind, the biggest difference is whether front and rear drive shafts turn at exactly the same rate; if so it's "4WD". If clutch slippage or a differential allows different front and rear axle speeds then it's some form of AWD. But many AWD systems have clutches capable of effectively locking the front and rear driveshafts. E.g. the Suburban had tire-hop turning on pavement in 4WD mode which is about the most torque that drive-train would be expected to encounter.
> neogodless: <snip> At least in the U.S. below a certain longitude is quite common.
So just remember that it's opposite to intuition, which will work until you've gotten comfortable enough that your intuition is correct and will then guide you exactly opposite.
Edit: oh, boo, you fixed it.
Lots of wines advertise their latitude of origin
Longitudes are meaningless for wines
Unpowered wheels become uni-directional skis, regardless of their ability to turn left and right.
Of course, when it snows, it's diffferent, but local geography means if it's snowing enough to matter and the plows haven't gotten around, it's not worth it to be driving, regardless of drive configuration.
If driving throw unplowed roads with snow and ice is a regular thing for you, sure. But lots of people never drive in those conditions, so AWD adds weight and complexity that's unnecessary. But people like to be prepared for everything.
I used to occasionally drive a V8 with no traction control in Wisconsin winters. It was fine, just took a little care. A modern electric drivetrain is about a million times better.
Unpowered wheels still steer just fine. AWD certainly does better. But I'd rather be cautious and take it slow anyway.
I frequently think about this when weather gets bad! I already have AWB (all wheel braking?). Seems like AWD could make it too easy to get in a situation where my AWB isn’t sufficient to stop
A FWD vehicle with snow tires is frequently better in the snow than an AWD without snow tires. Better control, better stopping, better uphill on snowy roads.
All cars are “all wheel stop”
All wheel drive doesn’t matter when you lose traction and need to stop. When you are sliding on ice all cars perform the same, and the quality of your tires is what matters. AWD just gives people false confidence to drive faster than they can stop.
I convinced my wife to stop buying the absolute cheapest tires by telling her it is literally the only part of the car that actually touches the road. Why would you cheap out on that?
It's the opposite. You're more likely to carry too much speed into a situation in a FWD/RWD vehicle because doing so improves things a lot of the time. Take for example a highway merge. You can't accelerate well, so you carry more speed through the turn to make the merge more safe. Well that works great and improves safety for all until some moron stops at the end of the ramp. With the AWD vehicle you can come into that situation and many, many more with less speed.
Acceleration is the weakest link in the snow. The sketch factor goes way down once you get AWD. This is why no matter how hard the internet screeches about snow tires the median consumer who drives in a fair bit of snow will choose AWD first.
Trouble accelerating in snow is common and a non-issue. Trouble stopping is uncommon but a potential disaster.
You carry just a hair too much speed into a curve because you're anticipating not wanting to have to use any gas pedal on the rise just beyond and you wind up in the ditch. Or you go wide into a curb because you took a less optimal gap in traffic at a ~5 roll when taking a left turn because that way makes you less likely to get T-boned than coming to a stop and trying to find an even bigger gap in traffic. Or you slide backwards down some stupid driveway or bump something in a parking lot (ask any delivery, parking lots and driveways are the worst).
All the braking power happens in the rear if you only brake the rear wheels
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/honda-...
The overly cautious recall announcement was promptly clarified to owners by dealerships, and impacted a small subset. (I have a Civic.)
What a disaster. I don't really know anyone who is voluntarily buying Teslas when there are so many other viable options in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
I don't know why, I buy trucks to haul stuff. (and I really wish there was an affordable truck to haul stuff with - everything I can find is 12+ years old and showing age)
Two counterpoints: for all the opinionated criticisms, the cybertruck is at least quite noticeable, and thusly you may think that they are a higher proportion of trucks than they really are.
Also, you're far more likely to see them drive around in certain locales due to the cost, so that may introduce additional biases.
> but it’s “not aware of any collisions, fatalities, or injuries” related to the recall.
It also, strangely, doesn't count fatality incidents.
No crashes, injuries or fatalities have occurred. Much bigger recalls from other auto-makers in the past:
Toyota: 8-9 million worldwide recalled for "sticking" accelerator pedals and floor mats that would trap pedals, and a $1.2B DOJ penalty.
Kia 2015: also sticky pedals in various models.
Ford (1970's): 1.5 million vehicles recalled due to read-end collision fires from the fuel tank placement.
Lmao
Musk: Well, that’s not very typical. Most vehicles are designed so the wheels don’t fall off.
Interviewer: But these ones did.
Musk: Well obviously. That’s why we recalled them. But wheel retention remains a very high priority at Tesla.
Interviewer: What caused it?
Musk: A minor component interaction that generated maximum freedom.
Interviewer: Freedom?
Musk: For the wheel.
Can you name the truck that's been recalled twelve times, Costs less each month 'cause nobody's buying mine?
Cybertruck! Cybertruck!
(Whip crack!)
Her trim falls off when you drive through rain, The steering locks up on the highway lane!
Cybertruck! Cybertruck!
Top of the line in utility trucks! Started at a hundred, now they're slashing bucks!
She's got a price that drops faster than her resale value, And a windshield wiper motor that'll surely fail you!
Cybertruck! Cybertruck!
(Whip crack!)
Twelve recalls in a single year! Drive-by-wire that fills your heart with fear!
The accelerator pedal pops right off the floor, But Elon says it's you who doesn't love her more!
Cybertruck!
She rusts if you look at her wrong in the dew, The tonneau cover works... for a week or two!
She's marked down like a Kmart blue-light special now, A stainless steel disaster and a broken vow!
Cybertruck! Cybertruck!
(Whip crack!)
Whoaaa, Cybertruck!
CYBERTRUCK!
You can see the Oct 6 2022 recall information here, including what they instructed people to do: https://rivian.com/support/article/recall-information
It was weeks before the guy drove out and checked mine.
"Where we're going, we're not going to need wheels."
Did they glue on these wheels too, like the pedals that fell off?
Everything about this company is cursed at this point. The jeering masses are just as bad as the CEO.
The cars themselves though continue to be really pretty great. Though maybe not the truck.
I'm assuming it's a misphrasing or typo and the issue is that the stud holes in the wheel hub rotor can elongate, leading to the studs coming out. This can and likely would absolutely cascade into a wheel falling off; I've seen it many times in cheapo endurance racing series - once one stud is loose, the adjacent studs gradually loosen and eventually the wheel separates. If the issue is longitudinal (slotting) it's even more likely to lead to a rapid separation event.
The design used to be futuristic-novel. But novelty passes - it now looks like a car pressed to pieces in a shredder. And it is very expensive. But most importantly, after Elon did his right-arm raise gesture twice, even aside from mass-firing people at DOGE or elsewhere ... does anyone still want to give more money to a very strange oligarch, who uses money to buy more influence and opinions here? Or buys a platform to turn it into a propaganda amplifier for his strange remarks about race and ethnicity?
Maybe that's why their cars ship with their windshields glued on, all the time, or all of their brake pads, all of the time, or secured body panels, all the time.
Or maybe he should have refrained from commenting?
Nobody is booing the recall, they’re booing a company that makes the bad choices that lead to recalls like this. E.g. doorhandleless firetrap trashcan car with sharp corners and a high front for extra pedestrian-murder.
It's just ridiculous.
But they could have included an error factor in the designing process. I thought this was standard for manufacturing. And they could have done more robust testing which, again, I thought was pretty standard for manufacturing.
They almost certainly did. But that error factor is a guess based on limited testing. You never know your true variability until you're building at scale. Waterfall development doesn't work in the real world any better than it does in software.