Tesla is recalling nearly 4,000 Cybertrucks due to a sticky accelerator pedal, after NHTSA said earlier this week that it had contacted Tesla about the issue.
The Cybertruck’s pedals can get stuck in the inhibited “acceleration” position after the driver has applied a lot of pressure, explain documents filed with the federal government.
This issue potentially affects 3,878 Cybertrucks produced between November 13, 2023 and April 4, 2024—presumably including those produced Tesla Cybertruck revealedwhere the company provided its first samples.
“High force” on the pedal can cause the pedal to get stuck underneath the interior trim next to the pedal for a curious reason that appears to have more to do with assembly shortcuts than vehicle engineering. According to Tesla, during the vehicle assembly process, soap is introduced as a method to put the pads on the pedals. The residue that eased assembly then prevented the pad from staying on the pedal.
Tesla e-truck
Fortunately, Tesla has provided many safety measures for such a situation, from a technical standpoint. “Note that pressing the brake pedal will reduce drive torque, even when pressing both the brake and accelerator pedals, and that continuing to press the brake pedal will cause the vehicle to stop as quickly as if it were not press the gas pedal,” Tesla explained in the documents, noting that the driver will also receive an audible and visual warning that both pedals are being pressed.
As was demonstrated more than a decade ago in cases of unintended acceleration involving Toyota Prius, among other vehicles, even obvious cases of pedal misuse can lead to sensational headlines and social media posts, while very few vehicles were produced in the past decades. Recent decades have had faster braking acceleration. This latest Cybertruck incident made headlines in a TikTok video that was widely misinterpreted.
There have been no known crashes or injuries due to this problem, which has escalated more rapidly than most other auto recalls. The brake pedal issue was first identified on March 31 at customer request, with engineering verifying simultaneous brake and accelerator inputs from data logs and a recall initiated after Tesla was able to recreate this situation.
2025 Tesla Cybertruck – Courtesy of Tesla, Inc.
Tesla said it will “replace or rework” the accelerator pedal assembly on existing vehicles “to prevent the pad from coming apart” and noted that in-transit models will also receive the fix. It’s been redesigning this component as of this week, so models produced starting April 17 won’t have to worry.
So far, the Cybertruck has been on a niche vehicle trajectory. As the market shifted away from electric vehicles and toward more affordable electric vehicles, Ford delayed its plans. Next generation electric trucks-One “Cybertruck is for the people of Silicon Valley,” as Ford CEO Jim Farley said — until 2026. Meanwhile, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied reports that Affordable Model 2 were combined in favor of going all-in Robotaxi project.
