Tesla’s Cheapest Cybertruck Just Got Hit With a Recall Over Wheels That Can Literally Fall Off

Tesla’s short-lived budget Cybertruck is facing a nightmare-level safety problem after the automaker issued a recall tied to wheels potentially separating from the truck while driving. For any vehicle, that’s serious. For a 6,000-plus-pound electric truck already surrounded by scrutiny and controversy, it’s the kind of headline Tesla absolutely did not want.

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The recall affects every rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck equipped with the standard 18-inch wheels. In total, only 173 trucks are involved, making this one of the smallest recalls Tesla has issued in years. But the scale is almost beside the point here. The issue itself is what grabs attention because wheel separation is about as dangerous as it gets on the road.

According to Tesla, the problem starts with cracking around the brake rotor stud holes under load. Road impacts and cornering forces can create stress that eventually causes the wheel stud to separate from the hub assembly. If that happens, the wheel can come off entirely while the vehicle is moving.

That’s where this story changes from an ordinary service bulletin into something much bigger.

Tesla says it has not received reports of crashes or injuries connected to the defect. Still, the company confirmed there have already been three related warranty claims. That detail matters because warranty claims are often the first real-world signal that a problem seen during testing is making its way onto public roads.

The affected trucks were built between March 21, 2024, and November 25, 2025. Oddly enough, Tesla also says actual production of rear-wheel-drive Cybertrucks with the 18-inch wheel package did not begin until August 28, 2025. Production reportedly ended less than three months later on November 5 because demand for the cheaper version was limited.

Even by Tesla standards, that is a remarkably short run.

The rear-wheel-drive Cybertruck was supposed to serve as the more affordable entry point into Tesla’s polarizing pickup lineup. Instead, it now carries the distinction of being recalled because its wheels may detach under stress. That is not exactly the kind of legacy any automaker wants attached to a value-focused model.

Tesla first spotted signs of trouble back in August of last year during pre-production testing. Engineers identified cracking in the brake rotors, although the wheel studs themselves remained intact during those early evaluations. At the time, the issue apparently did not look catastrophic.

Then field reports started showing up.

As Tesla continued investigating, the company determined the cracking issue was more severe than initially believed. Under real-world driving conditions, repeated stress loads could compromise the connection point around the studs enough to create a separation risk.

And that’s where things get complicated.

The recall is not limited strictly to trucks that left the factory with the defective parts. Tesla also acknowledged that some service centers were installing the same potentially faulty brake rotors during repairs or maintenance work. That means certain Cybertrucks that had brake service performed could also be carrying the defective hardware.

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For owners, that creates another layer of uncertainty. A truck that originally avoided the defect may still have ended up with compromised parts after visiting a Tesla service department.

That detail matters because it cuts directly into consumer confidence. Owners expect service repairs to fix problems, not introduce new safety concerns. When defective parts circulate through service channels, it raises uncomfortable questions about inventory controls and quality assurance inside the repair network.

Tesla’s fix involves replacing the front and rear brake rotors, hubs, and lug nuts with updated components designed to be more durable under load. Owners are expected to begin receiving notification letters after June 20, after which they will need to bring their trucks into Tesla service centers for repairs.

At least on paper, the repair itself sounds straightforward. The bigger issue is the optics surrounding another Cybertruck recall involving core vehicle hardware.

The Cybertruck has already become one of the most controversial launches in modern automotive history. Between production delays, quality concerns, unusual engineering choices, and repeated recalls, the truck has struggled to escape headlines that focus more on problems than performance.

This latest recall feeds directly into that narrative.

And while critics will immediately jump on the relatively tiny number of affected trucks, enthusiasts understand the actual size of the recall is not the real story. The concern is the type of failure involved. Cosmetic flaws are annoying. Software bugs can usually be patched. But wheel separation is the kind of defect that instantly gets attention from regulators, safety investigators, and nervous owners alike.

There’s also another uncomfortable reality here. Tesla identified signs of cracking during pre-production testing long before these trucks fully reached customers. The company continued investigating as reports surfaced in the field, but enthusiasts are going to question why the issue made it into customer vehicles at all.

That question becomes even harder to ignore when the affected variant only survived for a matter of weeks before production stopped due to weak demand.

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For Tesla, the Cybertruck was supposed to redefine the pickup segment and showcase the company’s engineering ambitions. Instead, the truck continues generating headlines tied to recalls, defects, and reliability concerns. That doesn’t just hurt Tesla’s image. It affects public trust in EV trucks as a whole, especially among traditional truck buyers who were already skeptical.

Here’s the part that matters most moving forward.

Truck buyers care about durability more than almost anything else. They expect their vehicles to survive heavy loads, rough roads, and years of abuse without major mechanical failures. A recall involving wheels potentially detaching under normal driving conditions hits directly at the core expectation of what a truck is supposed to do.

And for Tesla, that creates a bigger challenge than simply replacing a few brake components. The company now has to convince buyers that the Cybertruck is more than a rolling collection of viral moments, recalls, and engineering experiments. Because if drivers start questioning whether basic hardware can hold together under load, no amount of futuristic styling or internet hype is going to fix that problem.

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