Tesla recalls 2024–26 Cybertrucks
- Tesla recalled 173 model-year 2024–2026 Cybertrucks with 18-inch steel wheels after discovering brake-rotor stud holes can crack and let wheel studs separate. - The telling number is 173 — the entire recall population — because those steel wheels were unique to the short-lived rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck. - That turns a small safety recall into a demand signal, exposing how quietly Tesla’s cheapest Cybertruck variant appears to have flopped.
Tesla’s latest Cybertruck recall is small. But the number attached to it is doing two jobs at once. It flags a real safety problem — and it accidentally reveals how few of Tesla’s cheapest Cybertrucks seem to have made it onto the road before the company pulled that version. ### What actually got recalled? Tesla filed a safety recall covering 173 Cybertrucks from the 2024, 2025, and 2026 model years that were equipped with 18-inch steel wheels. The defect is not a loose lug nut in the usual sense. The problem sits deeper in the brake rotor assembly — the stud holes can crack under harder impacts or cornering loads, and if those cracks spread, a wheel stud can separate from the hub. That can hurt controllability and, in the worst case, let a wheel come off. (static.nhtsa.gov) ### Why does the wheel detail matter? Because the 18-inch steel wheels were the giveaway. Cybertrucks mostly show up with larger, more visible wheel-and-tire packages. This steel-wheel setup was tied to the stripped-down rear-wheel-drive version, so the recall population is unusually informative. Tesla normally bundles Cybertruck deliveries into its broader “other models” bucket, (static.nhtsa.gov)ll notice effectively did that for everyone. (static.nhtsa.gov) ### Does 173 mean Tesla sold only 173 of them? Not with courtroom certainty — but basically, that’s the inference people are making. The NHTSA filing says 173 potentially involved vehicles were built between March 21, 2024, and November 25, 2025, with affected 18-inch steel wheels entering production on August 28, 2025. If that wheel package was unique to the rear-wheel-drive Cybe(static.nhtsa.gov)hat trim got out there. (static.nhtsa.gov) ### Why is that number such a big deal? Because this was supposed to be the more attainable Cybertruck. Tesla’s cheaper rear-wheel-drive version was the one that, in theory, widened the audience beyond early adopters willing to spend heavily for the all-wheel-drive truck or the Cyberbeast. If only 173 units moved before the variant disappeared, that suggests the lower-price formul(static.nhtsa.gov)e truck was still too expensive, or buyers had already cooled on the whole idea. (tarantas.news) ### What is Tesla doing to fix the defect? Tesla says it will replace the affected wheel hubs and rotors for free. Owners might notice vibration or noise before anything more serious happens, which matters because early warning is rare in wheel-separation stories. The company’s filing also says pre-production analysis had already linked the(tarantas.news)ars in the field. (static.nhtsa.gov) ### Is this a huge safety crisis? Probably not in scale. The recall is tiny by auto-industry standards, and the filing estimated only 5% of the recalled population may actually have the defect. But small recalls can still matter when they hit a vehicle already carrying a reputation for rough edges, delayed promises, and lots of public scrutiny. With Cybertruck, every defect gets r(static.nhtsa.gov)lly found durable product-market fit. (static.nhtsa.gov) ### So what’s the real takeaway? The recall itself is narrow. The signal underneath it is broader. Tesla has to fix a wheel-stud problem on 173 Cybertrucks — but the more revealing part is that 173 may also be the clearest public evidence yet that the base Cybertruck variant barely sold at all.
