Prerak Patel said his Tesla steering wheel fell off while driving on a New Jersey freeway. The driver said he received the Model Y just five days before the incident. Patel said he was told a bolt was missing in the steering wheel connection. Something is loading.
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Just five days after delivery, the steering wheel fell off a brand new Tesla Model Y. Prerak Patel, the car’s owner, was driving on a highway near Woodbridge Mall in New Jersey with his wife and children when the incident has occurred.
“I was driving at normal speed in the left lane when all of a sudden I had this loose wheel in my hand,” Patel told Insider. “By the grace of God, there was no one behind me. I took my foot off the pedal and was able to stop until I reached a bulkhead.”
Patel said it took police 10 to 20 minutes to arrive on the scene and the car was then towed to a nearby Tesla service center.
Steering wheel images appear to show the steering wheel fully detached from the steering column, suspended only by bare wires. Patel posted several photos of the incident on Twitter.
—Prerak & Neha Patel (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
Patel has yet to collect his car from the service center, but he said a service representative told him that a steering column bolt was missing.
He always wanted to buy a Tesla, he said, and saw an opportunity when the company lowered prices for its Model Y and Model 3 on January 13. He ordered the car the same day the price cuts were announced.
Now he’s not sure if he wants to drive the car again, feeling that he would put his family in danger.
“If they give me the same car back, I won’t feel comfortable driving it,” Patel said. “I asked for a refund. I asked for a new car.”
Patel said he was trying to negotiate the issue with Tesla customer service, but in the meantime he tweeted through the issue, posting his exchanges with Tesla service reps on Twitter and garnering more than 2 million views .
—Prerak & Neha Patel (@preneh24) January 30, 2023
“My main goal in tweeting is for them to improve quality control so that no other family has to go through this,” Patel said, adding that he wants the company to publicly take responsibility.
A Tesla spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment before publication.
This isn’t the first time a Tesla owner has complained about issues with the car’s steering wheels. In 2020, Tesla driver Jason Tuatara posted photos of a Model 3 steering wheel that had fallen off. At the time, the New York Post reported that a Tesla representative told the driver that the car was missing a bolt that connected the wheel to the car body.