Ever had a car cut out on you while you were driving? It’s not a particularly fun feeling, but it’s also not just isolated to highly questionable Facebook Marketplace purchases. Precisely 2,431 Tesla Cybertrucks, all built between Nov. 6, 2023 and July 30, 2024, have been recalled for losing all power while underway, effectively rendering themselves paperweights.
So, what could be the issue here? Is it a contactor issue like we saw in some Ford Mustang Mach-E examples, or perhaps a charging module issue like we saw in the Hyundai Ioniq 5? Well, it’s neither of those. As per the recall report:
The subject population includes certain Model Year (MY) 2024 Cybertruck vehicles manufactured between November 6, 2023, and July 30, 2024, that are or were equipped with metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFET) in the drive inverter. The affected population includes vehicles equipped with Inverter Part number family 1802305 containing MOSFET part number 1530063-2A-B
Ah, so components in the inverter are at fault. The inverter’s pretty important as it’s the part that converts direct current from the battery pack into alternating current for the motor. This means that if an inverter fails, the motor or motors it drives will lose their supply of current. Indeed, the recall document states that “No warning occurs prior to the loss of propulsion,” which means that if an inverter fails while underway, a Cybertruck driver will be looking for a place to pull over quickly.
Indeed, that’s the sort of thing that’s already happened to several Cybertruck drivers. The recall document states that a “sudden loss of propulsion” event on July 31 kicked this whole thing off, adding that in the months since, “Tesla has identified 5 warranty claims that may be related to the condition.” While that’s a relatively small number of affected vehicles in the grand scheme of things, considering how this issue could lead to a crash, it’s no wonder why Tesla chose to recall the affected vehicles.
Unsurprisingly, the fix for this issue is a new drive unit inverter. This revised part has already been installed in Cybertrucks produced from July 30 onward, and pretty soon examples built prior to the changeover will be eligible for complimentary inverter replacement. Tesla’s targeting Dec. 9 for a recall fix rollout, which should put this issue to bed.
As it stands, this is the sixth recall for the Tesla Cybertruck, and the fourth that can’t simply be fixed by pushing out a software update. If making cars is hard, is making trucks even harder? Well, if the trucks in question are low-poly manifestations of one person’s fever dream, perhaps.
(Photo credits: Tesla)
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Recall will consist of mailing small blue pills to Cybertruck owners.
“Ah dang my gas pedal fell off again! Oh wait it stayed on this time!” To be fair its not uncommon for first year vehicles (i believe though that this one has been in development since the late 70’s?), to have a lot more recalls than most. My 2014 Yamaha FZ-09 (first year, had to have it) had several recalls, one of which was the timing chain tensioner which had about eleventy billion superceded parts to fix the noise that they would develop. But its also fair to say the cybertruck is pretty dumb i hope Elon doesn’t take control of the steer by wire and take out all non Trump supporters.
I’ll be honest, I do not think 5 out of 2400 is that insignificant of a number for “total loss of power”
Lets see, I’ve had it happen in multiple XJ Cherokees (thanks Crank Sensor!), a 95 Chevy S10 (alternator), 06 Honda Accord (ECU short)… shorter list than I expected.
I wish nothing but the worst for maga musk. I hope the world stops buying his crap cars and everyone should drop starlink and death to X.
Setting aside every car I’ve ever owned, no, never.
I hear ya brother. Except for my 2003 Tundra. I can’t kill it.
Not great, but what’s even worse is when you have drive by wire steering, which is reliant on electricity to function.
Having driven an automobile that weighs as much a Cybertruck that was prone to having the engine cut out, with took with it the power steering and power brakes which when combined with the tiny steering wheel, and massive tires, there was absolutely no way to steer it, and no way to stop it with the engine off.
I wouldn’t ever do that again for any amount of money.
This is a drivetrain issue related to the main battery, not the 48V system, but there’s nothing stopping this from happening to the 48V system in the future…
So how does the steer by wire keep working if the inverter goes out? AFAIK it’s a 48V system, but it only has a 12V lead acid battery for low voltage stuff? (I assume it does, and this failure mode has been tested, but honestly am curious)
Everything that would run off of 12V runs off the 48V (accessory) battery, some of it was made to handle 48Vs, other bits are just stepped down to 12V from 48Vs, with the ultimate goal of everything besides the drivetrain being ran by 48V directly.
In this case it’s a drivetrain issue, not a 48V issue. However there’s nothing stopping it from being a 48V issue in the future.
You’re right, it’s a 48V battery that gets charged by the inverter, but can supply native 48V without needing to use a step up converter. I thought the opposite.
I watched a few videos on it. 48V has a lot of promise in the automotive sector, it’s just a matter of creating enough demand that suppliers will make all the accessories in 48V so they can take advantage of it.
I for one am happy to see them shitcanning lead acid batteries, those heavy POS can go to Hell.
I believe the steer by wire uses 48V DC. A DC-DC converter steps the 12V accessory battery to 48V.
The drivetrain Inverter changes the likely 400V or 800V DC of the power train battery into 3 different AC waves/phases to power the drive motor.
it uses a 48V Accessory battery. Watch the Munro Live breakdowns.
Thanks , will do. Regardless, my point is that the drive motor inverter has nothing to do with the drive by wire steering motor.
Sudden loss of power? Ah, just get a bottle of Nugenix Total Tesla. You’ll be sparking again in no time. Nugenix Total Tesla will help Cybertrucks regain energy and stamina. And, she’ll like it, too.
if you’re in a cybertruck she left weeks ago because you wouldn’t stop talking about elon musk
An OTA update should fix this.
It’d make a terrible paperweight. The whole point of a paperweight is that you can easily remove it yourself to reclaim the paper.
This seems more that it would become landscape scenery. should it occur. Like a somewhat flammable rock.
Schoenfreud.
This is the emotion of the day.
Of course once
MuskMrs Trump eviscerates the NHTSA, nothing will be done.Caveat Emptor will rule the land.
I wonder how accessible is the drive unit inverter and/or the MOSFETs? Recalls are pains in the ass even when they’re serviced via a pop-in/while-you-wait dealership visit, but are we talking “stop driving it and have it towed somewhere for a week?”
So the brakes and steering presumably still are functional. That’s good. Not a huge fan of how the CT came to being, but I wouldn’t wish this sort of thing on anyone.
Agreed. Personally I think the Cybertruck is a colossal flop.
First it was promised to have an exoskeleton, which someone eventually realized meant that the body panels would have to be non-removable, which would mean any body damage would basically total the car in the eyes of insurance. So instead we get extremely heavy body panels on a regular Tesla.
Then they thought to themselves it needed to have steer by wire, which was probably brought on by the Cybercab dreams of Musk and parts of the company, so the massive heavy Cybertruck becomes production proof of concept of steer by wire tech in automobiles,
Personally I think they should have:
1.) Made the Cybertruck small, like Maverick sized small or smaller. The Footprint rule doesn’t apply to BEVs, and we saw how successful the Maverick was. Then the weird bed format wouldn’t matter as much, it would be presumably cheaper, and more people would buy it.
2.) Use aluminum instead of stainless body panels. Ford got it right with the current Gen F-150. Dents and scrapes don’t rust on aluminum bodies, worst thing you gotta worry about is dissimilar metal corrosion, which with the aluminum chassis the Cybertruck already has isn’t an issue anymore. Also instead of painting you can anodize the body panels, it doesn’t chip, peel, etc. like regular paint, and you have some awesome color options. This day in age when people just replace body panels instead of pulling dents Aluminum makes a lot more sense for a body material than Steel.
3.) Make 48V the only revolutionary thing about the Cybertruck. Keep the regular steering.
These 3 things would have ensured the Cybertruck wasn’t a flop, it would have kept a lot of the hate for it at bay, and it would have been not only cheap, but also it wouldn’t unnecessarily reinvent the wheel for Tesla. They got plenty of experience with aluminum already.