The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has closed an investigation into 120,089 Tesla Model Y vehicles from 2023 without the automaker taking action, the regulatory agency said on Tuesday.
The agency had opened a preliminary evaluation in early 2023 after receiving two reports indicating that the steering wheel of the car could detach from the steering column due to a missing fastening bolt.
Tesla confirmed that the two vehicles were delivered without the fastening bolt and repaired the cars under warranty.
The NHTSA specified that the two vehicles were built during the first week of January 2023 at Tesla’s factories in Austin, Texas, and Fremont, California, and had undergone repairs at the end of the production line before delivery, requiring disassembly and reinstallation of the steering wheel.
The regulatory authority stated that no other incidents related to this issue were observed and clarified that the two failures occurred within the first 400 kilometers of driving, indicating that any other affected vehicle would likely have experienced a wheel detachment.
The agency concluded that the closure of the investigation did not imply a conclusion that no safety-related defect existed and stated that it could take additional action if new information were to emerge.
