Tesla Is Recalling Cybertrucks Again
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heated
Sentiment
negative
Category
tech
Key topics
Tesla
Cybertruck
Recalls
Manufacturing Quality
Tesla is recalling Cybertrucks due to issues with a dealer-installed light bar, sparking concerns about the vehicle's manufacturing quality and design safety.
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- 01Story posted
11/13/2025, 3:38:04 PM
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11/13/2025, 3:53:54 PM
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I finally drove in a Rivian — and while I prefer the hybrid drivetrains — it was exceptionally nice. As an American, I can't wait for BYD to offer test drives here.
In the US, the safety standards consider only the occupants of the car. The safety of pedestrians, cyclists, and occupants of other cars are not considered. This was looking like it would change but with the current administration I doubt it.
The Cybertruck is not legal in Europe and anywhere else with actual safety standards.
> NHTSA conducts frontal, side and rollover tests because these types account for the majority of crashes on America's roadways.
> IIHS tests evaluate two aspects of safety: crashworthiness — how well a vehicle protects its occupants in a crash — and crash avoidance and mitigation — technology that can prevent a crash or lessen its severity.
> As well as assessing how well cars protect their occupants, Euro NCAP tests how well they protect those vulnerable road users – pedestrians and cyclists – with whom they might collide.
This is why hood ornaments mostly died and flip up headlights fully died. The NHTSA doesn't write rules that ban specific features. You can do anything it meets the requirements. You can make brake hoses out of woven spaghetti if you want. It'll probably cost you a lot to get them to a performance point where they meet the rules though.
Furthermore, the NHTSA doesn't do most testing. The testing must be done and the testing needs to meet NHTSA standards but the OEMs are free to DIY it or outsource.
That's for occupants.
> Furthermore, the NHTSA doesn't do most testing.
Which is why I quoted IIHS and other non-US testing.
> NHTSA standards
Which standards are for e.g. pedestrian safety? The hood ornament thing?
> That's misleading. They don't test for pedestrian safety as part of the normal tests. But they test for it generally
No, it isn't and no they didn't/don't. E.g. GAO report from 2020 [0]:
> NHTSA’s last substantial update of NCAP was in July 2008 (with changes effective for model year 2011 vehicles). This update established additional crash tests and technical standards to protect vehicle occupants, but did not include pedestrian safety tests.
Or from NHTSA itself in 2022 [1], although note this is a "proposal" and "recommendations":
> For the first time ever, NCAP includes technology recommendations not only for drivers and passengers but for road users outside the vehicle, like pedestrians. The proposal [...]. We look forward to reviewing the comments we receive and considering them as we complete this important work.”
They will/might, by adopting Euro NCAP [2]:
> This final decision notice adds a crashworthiness pedestrian protection program to the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) to evaluate new model year vehicles’ abilities to mitigate pedestrian injuries. Based on its previous research, NHTSA concurs with and adopts most of the European New Car Assessment Programme’s (Euro NCAP) pedestrian crashworthiness assessment methods [...]
> These changes to the New Car Assessment Program are effective for the 2026 model year.
But as of yet, this does not appear on their NCAP ratings: https://www.nhtsa.gov/ratings/resources-related-nhtsas-new-c...
[0]: https://www.gao.gov/assets/gao-20-419.pdf
[1]: https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/five-star-safety-rating...
[2]: https://www.nhtsa.gov/sites/nhtsa.gov/files/2024-11/NCAP-Fin...
And you can buy a BYD in America. There's just a pre-Trump 100% tariff on Chinese EVs with bipartisan support that isn't going away any time soon.
If a vehicle was never sold in the US and is not FMVSS compliant (with a sticker), then the RI has to prove every piece of consequence IS compliant. Airbags tested to DOT standards. Headlights. Taillights. Seatbelts. Wipers. Crash safety. Dash lights, warning lights, backup camera FOV. TPMS. The list is like 10,000 things long.
Probably it does meet 99% of them , and the non-compliant things are an easy fix (we’re changing speedo in mine to mph).
The trick is you have to document and prove every single item on the list, often with lab testing. It takes years, and often millions of dollars.
> Nonresidents may import a vehicle duty-free for personal use up to (1) one year if the vehicle is imported in conjunction with the owner's arrival. Vehicles imported under this provision that do not conform to U.S. safety and emission standards must be exported within one year and may not be sold in the U.S. There is no exemption or extension of the export requirements.
While the vehicle can't be sold in the US, and must be reexported after a year, there's nothing on this page that says the nonresident can't lend it to a resident for most of the year. If money isn't really a problem, buy overseas, pay a nonresident to arrive in the vehicle, and after a year, export it and sell it and repeat. Nothing on this page suggests the vehicle couldn't leave and re-enter, but that seems like asking for way too much trouble, I wouldn't be surprised if someone at the border is keeping track of VINs. Since BYDs are sold in Mexico, you don't even need to deal with shipping, just drive through the border.
It's tricky with a car that has never been sold in the US, but with something where production for the US market ended, but other markets continue, you end up with things like a 1990s VW beetle with a 1970s title. shhh
[1] https://www.cbp.gov/trade/basic-import-export/importing-car
Regular passenger vehicles have a lot of standards they need to meet, which usually means manufacturer participation. Has BYD gone through the process to get passenger vehicles approved for use in the US? Otherwise, sure, you can get it imported under a conditional use to bring it to car shows, but not for daily use.
2. Tesla China has factories in China, was still #8 in Chinese market, with BYD at #1, if this source from 2024 is correct: https://carnewschina.com/2024/07/14/best-selling-vehicle-bra...
I've test drove my mates atto3, I have model y. He's got lots of regrets, fixes. It's made from good materials, styled poorly and technology is like everyone else - poorly done. Price does reflect it, no free lunch.
Yes, and I want a decent budget vehicle here.
Yes, but it's the same reason the original bondi blue iMac was the best selling model of computer when it came out, while Apple themselves were still on something like 5% of desktop sales:
Lots of wood behind few arrows.
https://carnewschina.com/2024/07/14/best-selling-vehicle-bra...
(Caveat: first result, I don't know site reputation)
...and that reason is that Tesla only has two models, the 3 and Y, that get any significant sales in China whereas BYD has several.
For example in the top 10 a couple months ago BYD had models that sold 70%, 69%, 59%, 58%, and 53% of what the Model Y sold.
When you look at cars sold per company rather than specific models Tesla is #10 in China with 1/6th of BYD's sales. Between BYD and Tesla there is Geely, Chery, Changan, Haval, a SAIC-GM-Wuling joint venture, a SAIC-Volkswagen joint venture, Toyota, and Xiaomi Auto.
Best-selling BEVs in China
January to June 2025
Geely Geome Xingyuan 205,091
BYD Seagull 174,912
Tesla Model Y 171,491
Tesla’s quarterly delivery boost meant its June results
propelled the Model Y into third, from fifth in May
"If I don't install more whirling spiked clubs, I'll be destroyed by the other drivers..."
Even ignoring the parts falling off & the safety, every time I see one of these my first thought is "who saw a picture of this and said 'yep, that's what I want'"
Is that typical in the industry, parts or components being glued onto an exterior surface instead of fastened?
For car companies, no.
But as Tesla reminds us constantly, they're not a car company, they're a robotics / AI company. Those generally focus less on how to build cars.
Tesla just doesn't have a good record with adhesives.
Mid-size accessories like add-on spoilers on trunk lids, or other exterior styling pieces are frequently attached with adhesive.
A larger component commonly attached with adhesives are the rear fender flares on dually pickups. Very commonly these are built with a standard bed, and then the flares to cover the extra wheel width are applied with a 3M VHB-like adhesive strip.
But like anything, there is a way to do it properly, and a way to do it hacky.
Most plastic body panels are held on with conformal clips. But they couldn't do that with the metal panels of the cyber truck nor did they want visible fasteners so glue is the only option.
Glue isn't ideal because the part has to be clamped in place while the glue cures which is slow, and quality control is tough because you're doing a little chemistry experiment on your assembly line hundreds of times per day.
Normal cars have this problem with paint and quality control with paint is such a big deal that it has its own separate production line just for painting stuff pre or post assembly
Using composite panels is very uncommon in production vehicles and when they are used (for looks) traditional fasteners are used during assembly often with threaded inserts embedded in the composite panel during manufacture
Glue is uncommon in most cases, particularly for body-panel mounted things like the examples I gave. Adhesive-mounted components are common, to various degrees.
Glass-mounted items are commonly glued, the most prevalent one being the knob for the rear view mirror. And "prevalent" here means "99% of anything mounted to glass in a vehicle"
Tesla is using BETASEAL [0], which is designed for adhering to glass. I'm not sure what kind of weight rating BETASEAL is approved for, it is commonly used for other applications where a decent degree of strength is expected.
[0] https://www.dupont.com/content/dam/dupont/amer/us/en/mobilit...
Perhaps it's about minimizing the installation cost at the dealership.
The irony is that you'd imagine that an off-road roof mounted light would be something that you should be able to tighten when you are ... off-road.
I guess field serviceability isn't a design goal for these "off-road" trucks, but appearing "off-road" when going glamping is.
Perhaps this is something that Slate can solve better than Tesla.
There just isn't a lot of options other than adhesive for installing a light bar considering the windshield consumes all of the forward facing real estate (as the roof slopes back from the apex).
Yes. If automotive OEMs can glue it they will.
It's just that other OEMs don't build uninterrupted 5ft light bars so glueing is a much less suitable (think about how much glue contact patch per amount of light bar there is and how little leverage it's mass has over the glue, contrast with normal light) solution for them.
I think if you did the glue joint perfectly then it would probably be fine, but impeccable QC is not a hallmark of Tesla.
I think the adhesives will release with heat but honestly I'm not sure how body work is done on those.
Just like how SpaceX and Tesla and Twitter seem like they have three different CEOs; the degree of their competency is inversely proportional to the amount of day-to-day feedback Musk has into their operations.
He's a cult leader with surprisingly horrible political instincts
Without actually getting into the specific actions he took while in government, I dare say that what he did during that time was material to people's revulsion and that a different version of him who took different actions would have been differently popular.
Classic abusive behavior.
Not saying there weren't leaks that he was a huge asshole. Just saying that I could forgive people for over looking it early on.
You may say this armchair analysis is unfair, but both these men have been so candid, veiled by the thinnest layer of irony, that it's impossible not to see how fragile they are.
I’d say he thinks he has many superpowers, but maybe in reality just has one.
Or maybe model 6/7 would be better for him nowadays
"all input is error" - elon musk
wdyt? From where I'm sitting anyone with that position would deprecate the input devices...
I think people forget the Model 3 literally had the bumper falling off from driving in rain. And it took Tesla a LONG time to admit to it being their fault.
https://www.jalopnik.com/tesla-finally-admits-model-3-bumper...
It's odd. The USA can make quality cars. Not Lexus quality, but cars you would be happy to own if they weren't so expensive. USA Tesla is the counter example. It makes you wonder about those self promoting stories from Elon about he saved the USA Tesla manufacturing operation by roving the manufacturing plants, making tweaks here and there. Maybe his tweaks wasn't the great boon he made them out to be.
Lexus makes cars in the US. They have Lexus quality by definition. :P
It's easy to use waste disposal systems that comply with the clean water act.
It's easy to provide a safe working environment and worker's compensation for people who get injured on the job.
It just costs more, so Tesla doesn't do it.
Additionally, they didn't manage to find a satisfactory solution to attach the steel panels to the frame so they glued them on.
I suspect the 'parts falling off' has something to do with the inflexibility of both materials as well as the different thermal expansion coefficients.
On normal cars, bodywork is either made of flexible plastic, or is attached via spring joints so that the vibration doesn't damage them - that's why you have panel gaps - so they can move around a bit.
If you fix them rigidly, they're going to shake off eventually.
Were I in charge, I'd've started with a kei car or city car. Or something (size wise) like Telo. https://www.telotrucks.com/
Definitely would not have started with an off-road vehicle.
Also this recall is for the lightbar, the trim piece was recalled in March.
There is no other consumer car that can self-drive from start to finish for an entire trip. That alone will keep me on Tesla until the others catch up. Crash tests have shown that it’s excellent at protecting its occupants, which matters to me as a father of two. The cyberpunk aesthetic, whole home battery backup, and large secured truck bed are just icing on the cake.
I had the trim glue issue fixed proactively (it’s now secured mechanically) and I don’t have a light bar so the new issue doesn’t affect me. Granted, it’s not great that they opted for glue for that use case.
the dystopian, authoritarian, hypercapitalist hellscape aesthetic is icing on the cake for a family vehicle?
For a more joyful interpretation of cybertruck aesthetics, do a image search for "cybertruck trick or treat". I volunteered to provide my truck for my kid's school Halloween party and decorated it to look like the chomp chomp monster from Mario. Kids loved it.
(sure it's not cyberpunk but it's an example of how the look can be used for family friendly innocent fun)
I didn't put protective tape and no kids were injured :)
Here's what another cybertruck did: https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024...
They've also recalled powerwalks. Tesla is great at being visionary, their Achilles heal has always been their weak manufacturing. Which makes sense, its the really hard part about being in the car or battery business.
Cybertrucks are for pioneers. If you want something super reliable, just get a "boring" Model Y. They've improved all parts of the design continuously, the cars are indistinguishable from the early ones when it comes to finish quality
What? You think people are paying that kind of money to be beta-test a car?
CB has a lot of experimental stuff because it's truly one of a kind of a car. Most buyers know this. Comfier and more reliable than a car made purely for showing off of course though, it's a car that truly looks like it comes from the future but that you can still daily drive by design.
Not according to the many comments here about Model Y.
Most MY and M3 owners I have talked to rave about their cars and have very high customer loyalty.
Well, here in NJ at least, Cybertrucks are not for pioneers, but inevitably for wealth signaling of mostly clueless people to show they have cash to throw away.
There are of course many wealth signaling cars, but the Cybertruck is in a special noisome class all its own.
Pioneers in what? Old ways to get fleeced? Cars that can’t car?
Look if you wanted a tow truck princess at least an Alfa looks good.
Or consider the licensing requirements (class 2 + an air brake endorsement here in BC), and how difficult it is to buy, and store, a 40' bus, compared to any modern truck.
This is a daft comparison that only serves to muddy the waters, and attempts to excuse excessively large modern trucks
While "sharp" edge can certainly break bones, getting hit with a high hood causes people to slam their head into the hood with very little travel time compared to a low hood. Head injuries are far more likely to cause death.
Of course, the risk varies based on height. Sharp edges a couple feet off the ground are far more dangerous to someone only a couple feet tall.
He's the leader of an innovative cult, if nothing else.
Either the design is fundamentally incompatible with European regulations, or they just don't think there's market demand. But note that other US truck do sell in Europe and the UK, e.g. the F-150.
There's something special about the Cybertruck. The special thing seems to be that it's a lemon.
https://insideevs.com/features/727202/tesla-cybertruck-europ...
So, like a bumper car?
Not shown on every image, but here are some:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GShMjCQXkAAfy40?format=jpg&name=...
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GSUGKXlXgAASb8o?format=jpg&name=...
Good news - it only affects 6000 vehicles with the optional lightbar which is dealer installed. Bad news - Tesla finds it ok to let its dealers do glued lightbar installations and can't really fix the glue failing part so they are adding redundancy.
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