Tesla has issued two more physical Cybertruck recalls, bringing the total number of hardware issues the company has had to fix on the troubled vehicle to three in as many months.

This latest pair of recalls quietly appeared on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's (NHTSA) website last week, and are only now being reported. Tesla said 11,383 [PDF] Cybertrucks were being recalled due to self-detaching trim, and 11,688 [PDF] were being recalled for a far more serious issue - a front windshield wiper motor that might suddenly stop working.

Many of the vehicles in the recalls overlap as both cover all 2024 Cybertrucks manufactured between November 13 and late May.

Tesla said in the wiper recall that it was aware of early wiper motor failures as far back as February, and later found out "the recalled component is a wiper motor whose gate driver may have been damaged due to electrical overstress during functional testing," according to the notice.

"The Tier 1 (Valeo) and Tier 2 (USI) suppliers uncovered damage to the PCB (12U2 gate driver) from a functional test by the Tier 2 supplier that applied excessive current to the component," the recall notice said. "The Tier 1 supplier implemented a corrective action to eliminate the original functional test and adopt a new functional test using a lower current."

It's not clear if Tesla is re-evaluating its relationship with USI in the wake of the incident. We contacted both and have yet to hear back from either.

Issues with Cybertruck windshield wipers are well documented online, with multiple Reddit threads and several posts on Tesla-related forums dedicated to the issue. Some self-reported Cybertruck owners claim to have been waiting weeks or months for new wiper motors, while others claim their local dealerships have run out of replacement components.

The wiper is a pretty critical part of a vehicle's safety features. Worse still, this is the second Cybertruck issue that could have resulted in serious injury or fatality, which Tesla said it doesn't believe has occurred as a result.

Tesla had to previously recall 3,878 Cybertrucks in April due to a faulty accelerator pedal cover that could become detached, leading to the pedal potentially getting stuck against the interior trim while depressed. Tesla said it wasn't aware of any injuries or deaths related to this safety failure.

That recall and the wiper glitch make the trim fix that Tesla has issued trivial in comparison, but no less embarrassing considering all the other trim-related malfunctions that have cropped up in the half a year the Edsel Cybertruck has been available.

In this case the part with attachment issues is the trunk bed sail applique, a black plastic piece that runs alongside the bed and is supposed to be attached with a series of clips and some double-sided tape. Based on the recall, that's not always the case.

"On affected vehicles, the sail applique or adhesion may not have been installed according to specification, which may cause the sail applique to become loose or separate from the vehicle," Tesla noted in the recall.

This might not be a safety risk to the Cybertruck driver, but Tesla does state in the notice that the piece could fly off and pose a risk to other drivers - which it said hasn't happened yet.

The Cybertruck was also caught up in a fourth recall in January. That one wasn't unique to the Musk brick, nor was it one that necessitated physical repairs. However, it was due to incorrect font size on some panel displays and was addressed with an OTA update. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/06/25/tesla_cybertruck_recalled_again/