Tesla Recalls Cybertrucks Due to Failure of Structural Adhesive
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Tesla voluntarily issued a recall of its Tesla Cybertrucks last week in a report filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The report cites failure of a structural adhesive used to assemble the vehicles as the cause of the recall, which results in a trim panel detaching from the vehicle, causing a potential road hazard and increasing the risk of a crash. In what is the eighth recall issued for the Cybertruck, the company recalled all 46,096 of the EVs.
The Cybertruck features a cosmetic applique on its exterior called the cant rail, which consists of an electrocoated steel stamping bonded to a stainless steel panel with structural adhesive. The stainless steel panel of the cant rail has been shown to delaminate at the adhesive joint, which can cause the panel to detach from the vehicle. If the panel should detach while driving, it would create a hazard for motorists following the vehicle and could cause injury or a collision.
In its NHTSA report about the issue, Tesla states that the company became aware of the problem in early January during routine monitoring of field repairs and initiated a study to investigate the condition and learned of an additional case of the delamination at the end of January. In February, the NHTSA notified Tesla of owner complaints about the panel detachment issue and began an investigation of additional complaints through social media and service records of loose or separated cant rail panels. Upon conclusion of its investigation, the company voluntarily recalled the affected vehicles, which includes all Cybertrucks. The company reports that it is not aware of any collisions, fatalities, or injuries related to the problem.
Tesla is replacing the original adhesive, which is susceptible to environmental embrittlement, with an adhesive that does not present that problem. In its report to the NHTSA, the company stated, “The remedy component uses a different structural adhesive not prone to environmental embrittlement to join the assembly, which is reinforced with a stud welded to the stainless panel with a nut clamping the steel panel to the vehicle structure.”
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