Tesla Recalls ‘Nearly All’ Cybertrucks Ever Built Because a Glued-On Steel Piece Might Fall Off: ‘Prone to Environmental Embrittlement’

Photo by: NDZ/STAR MAX/IPx

More bad news for Tesla came out this week, with a recall announced for nearly all Cybertrucks manufactured so far because a steel panel could come unglued — creating a potentially dangerous road hazard if it happens while the vehicle is being driven.

The electric vehicle company has been dealing with crashing sales numbers worldwide as CEO Elon Musk’s political views and role with DOGE in President Donald Trump’s administration have repelled many of the people who would otherwise be inclined to buy an electric vehicle. As Musk’s political profile has grown, it has led to an increasingly partisan divide in Tesla’s favorability ratings, and the company is facing competition as more EV manufacturers enter the market and improve their products.

The high cost for many Tesla models is another limiting barrier for consumers, and the Cybertruck, which has a base price of about $80,000, has been particularly plagued with safety concerns, quality complaints, and recalls.

The Cybertruck is banned in the UK over safety concerns and has yet to be crash tested by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Last month, a report found that the Cybertruck, in just its first year of existence, had a higher rate of fatal fire incidents than the infamous Ford Pinto. Recalls so far include one in April 2024 that recalled all Cybertrucks sold as of that date because of a pad on the accelerator pedal that could come unglued and make the pedal get stuck, two in June 2024 for the trunk bed trim sail that could come loose and failing windshield wipers, and one in September 2024 that required a software update because the rearview camera image was delayed.

This latest recall is the eighth for the Cybertruck and includes every 2024 and 2025 model manufactured from November 13, 2023 to February 27, 2025, which Wired’s Aarian Marshall noted would cover “nearly all” Cybertrucks ever built. The problem is a cant rail, a stainless steel trim panel, along the vehicle’s exterior that runs above the side windows — specifically a failure of the glue that holds it in place. The recall filing published by the NHTSA said that the cant rail “can delaminate and detach from the vehicle.”

“A detached panel can become a road hazard, increasing the risk of a crash,” the recall acknowledgement from Tesla adds. Tesla’s filing admits that the affected steel panel was only held on by glue that was “found to be susceptible to environmental embrittlement” and says that the repair remedy will switch to a different type of glue and weld a stud to the panel to attach to the vehicle with a nut as reinforcement:

How Remedy Component Differs from Recalled Component:

The recalled component uses only a structural adhesive to join the assembly. This structural adhesive has been found to be susceptible to environmental embrittlement.

The remedy component uses a different structural adhesive not prone to environmental embrittlement to join the assembly, which is reinforced with a stud welded to the stainless panel with a nut clamping the steel panel to the vehicle structure.

Multiple social media users have posted videos showing exterior steel panels on Cybertrucks coming loose or able to be pulled off by hand.

Wired interviewed Dale Harrow, chair and director of the Intelligent Mobility Design Center at the Royal College of Art London, for its report. Harrow called this new Cybertruck recall “surprising,” and noted that using glue was a “very popular” assembly method used by many other vehicle manufacturers, including Jaguar, Lexus, and Audi, but he had “not heard” of glue failure problems “anywhere else.”

Harrow’s theory was that the Cybertruck’s stainless steel panels — deemed by Wired to be a “highly unconventional” choice for vehicle exteriors — were the culprit, pointing to the reports of this problem happening in colder weather and stainless steel conducting cold better.

“Stainless steel is the big difference,” said Harrow. “I could surmise that something on the production line is not quite bonding at the right temperature or getting the right UV coverage? And that could be due to the stainless steel having a different density from standard steel.”