Tesla is recalling the Cybertruck for the sixth time this year. A potential problem with the drive inverter could cause certain trucks to stop producing torque, resulting in a sudden loss of propulsion and increasing the risk of an accident. The recall affects 2,431 trucks built with metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors (MOSFETs) between November 6, 2023, and July 30, 2024.
The issue can happen without warning when the accelerator pedal fails to propel the vehicle. However, when the problem does occur, an alert message will appear on the display instructing the driver to pull over.
"No warning occurs prior to the loss of propulsion," Tesla noted in its NHTSA recall report. "However, when the driver loses the ability to apply torque, they will immediately receive a visual alert on the user interface, with an instruction to safely pull over the vehicle to the side of the road."
Tesla began looking into the inverter issue on August 5, 2024, by investigating a customer complaint about their vehicle suddenly losing propulsion a few days earlier. The automaker then analyzed field data before identifying an increased failure rate for drive inverters equipped with the MOSFET components.
Tesla will replace the drive inverter in the affected vehicles with one with properly functioning MOSFETs. The automaker didn't specify the exact issue with the part that's causing the propulsion problem. The Safety Recall Report noted that Tesla is unaware of collisions, injuries, or fatalities related to the issue.
As mentioned, this is the Cybertruck's sixth recall this year. The previous recalls were in response to physical issues like faulty windshield wipers—of which 11,688 trucks were recalled—loose trim, or accelerator pedal issues.
