Tesla faces another bump in the road following complaints that the steering wheel on two of its SUVs became completely detached while driving, federal officials said.
The complaints are the subject of a new investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which says in documents released Wednesday that both incidents involved 2023 Model Y vehicles.
The affected vehicles were both missing retaining bolts designed to keep the steering wheel connected, according to the NHTSA, which says more than 120,000 vehicles are included in the investigation.
One complaint came from Prerak Patel of Woodbridge, N.J., who claims his car’s steering wheel detached days after he bought it in January.
“It was horrible experience, I was driving back from mall with family and in middle of freeway steering wheel fell off,” Patel told ABC News. “I was on left lane when this happened, I can’t move my car to left or right. … I was lucky that road was straight and able to stop my car at the divider.”
In both instances, a friction fit temporarily kept the steering wheel connected to the steering column in the absence of the bolt, according to the NHTSA. Both vehicles had low mileage, the agency said.
“My kids were a little scared to ride in a loaner Tesla and, as a parent, we are able to restore their confidence,” Patel told ABC. “My family is fine now and hope Tesla will investigate and improve its [quality control] so no other family experience what we experienced.”
The investigation comes weeks after Tesla recalled about 363,000 with self-driving software over concerns a navigation system could “allow the vehicle to act unsafe” when at intersections, the NHTSA said.
Billionaire Elon Musk is the CEO of Tesla.