By David Shepardson, Arsheeya Bajwa and Akash Sriram
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Tesla is recalling roughly all Cybertrucks in the United States to fix an exterior panel that could detach while driving, the company said Thursday, the latest in a series of call-backs for the pickup truck.
The recall covers just over 46,000 vehicles built from November 2023 through Feb. 27 of this year, Tesla said in a filing with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
While Tesla does not break out deliveries of its Cybertrucks, the recalled vehicles represent a vast majority of the Cybertruck vehicles on the road, based on analyst estimates.
The recall could prove to be a setback for Tesla, whose stock has lost about half its value this year as the electric vehicle maker grapples with rising competition, an aging lineup, and backlash against CEO Elon Musk’s controversial role overseeing cuts to federal spending in the Trump White House.
Tesla is recalling the cars because of the risk of a stainless-steel exterior trim panel detaching from the vehicle, causing a potential road hazard and raising the chances of a crash, it said.
“Recalls of the entire production for a physical item such as body panels focus attention on quality issues that Tesla has avoided for many years,” said Sam Fiorani, vice president at research firm AutoForecast Solutions. “Reputations take a long time to build and can be tarnished very quickly.”
Demand for the unconventional EV pickup had already shown signs of weakness toward the end of last year, following several delays.
Analysts have also pointed to a change in sentiment toward the EV maker from existing customers and potential new buyers, as reactions toward the brand such as protests at Tesla stores across the U.S. and sales boycotts emerge.
Shares of the EV maker were down 1.2% in morning trading.
MULTIPLE RECALLS
The Cybertruck faced as many as seven recalls last year, and Tesla overall makes up a large portion of recalled vehicles in the U.S.
In 2024, Tesla topped the list for U.S. recalls with its vehicles accounting for 5.1 million call-backs, according to recall management firm BizzyCar. However, most issues for the brand’s cars were usually resolved with over-the-air software updates.
For Thursday’s recall, the company’s service will replace the rail panel assembly with a new one that meets durability testing requirements, the EV maker said.
On Feb. 21, the NHTSA notified Tesla of a vehicle owner who alleged a rail panel detachment.
Tesla said a detached rail panel may create a detectable noise inside the cabin or customers may observe the panel coming loose or separating from the vehicle.
Tesla said it was aware of 151 warranty claims that might be related to the recall issue, but no collisions or injuries.
The recall will not have a substantial impact on Tesla’s March quarter performance, as Cybertruck sales were relatively small versus the larger Model 3 and Model Y sales, Morningstar analyst Seth Goldstein said.
(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington and Arsheeya Bajwa, Akash Sriram and Rishabh Jaiswal in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala, Nick Zieminski and Anil D’Silva)
