Response to a Customer Message on ‘Target a Cylinder and an Electric Vehicle’s Violation of the National Highway Traffic Safety’
The NHTSA says that a customer reported the issue on March 31. Two days later, Tesla engineers used the affected vehicle’s data logs to confirm both that the accelerator was pressed all the way down and that the brake pedal brought the Cybertruck to a stop. Another customer notice came through on April 3. Within a week, images confirmed the nature of the first incident, as well as running its own tests to replicate it. It had no choice in starting a voluntary recall on April 12.
The notice confirmed an event on social media earlier this week. The owner of a Cybertruck uploaded a video to TikTok that seemed to show the issue. The poster was demonstrating with his loose pedal that as he was driving, this slid up. The way this was hooked onto the pedal made it hold the accelerator down.
Not all drivers will be level-headed enough to take the right precautions when an electric vehicle suddenly starts going full speed.