Runny Yoke
Tesla’s attempt to reinvent the wheel — well, the steering wheel, that is — appears to have gone awry. A number of Tesla Model S owners have taken to Twitter to complain that after clocking just ten to 20,000 miles on their vehicles, their futuristic steering yokes have infuriatingly started to, uh… shed?
According to the photos and testimonies shared on social media by frustrated Tesla drivers, the vegan leather that coats the yokes has, in many cases, been falling off in chunks. While that’s not a life-threatening issue, that’s a bad look for cars that go for over $100,000 new. And cost aside, a car with 20,000 miles or under has, really, barely been used. Can the richest man in the world not do better than this?
only 12,000 miles on my Plaid Model S and this is already happening? @Tesla @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/mlz2tdZKdu
— jf.okay (@therealjfokay) August 23, 2022
Rush Job
It’s not necessarily uncommon for steering wheels to degrade over time, but timing is key. Renderings of the yokes — which, as it’s worth noting, CEO Elon Musk really had to fight for — were first debuted just last March, and thus the Model S vehicles that actually have them really haven’t even been available for very long.
To that note: this sort of problem can likely be chalked up to insufficient testing, which in turn is probably the result of a rush to market. But given some recent Musk comments about Tesla’s alleged money issues, it’s not terribly surprising that he’d push something out too early — to him, wasted time is money lost, and revenue, apparently, has been very much on his mind this summer.
Of course, this isn’t the first time that the billionaire’s vehicles have faced quality concerns. The automaker’s still-unavailable Cybertruck has been widely mocked for being horrendously janky, and by some accounts, brand-spankin’ new Teslas have been known to arrive to eager new owners in shockingly atrocious condition.
To any Model S owners with crumbling yokes: we feel for you. These vehicles are expensive. As for Musk? At this point, material issues might just come with the territory. While steering wheels apparently change, Elon Musk, it seems, doesn’t.
More on (bad) Tesla quality: Tesla Fan Appalled at Wretched Condition of Tesla He Just Bought