Tesla is recalling Cybertruck electric pickups from the 2024, 2025, and 2026 model years after discovering that wheel studs on the truck’s 18-inch steel wheels can crack, potentially allowing a wheel to detach while the vehicle is in motion. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published the recall in April 2025 under campaign number 26V255000, warning that the defect poses a risk of loss of vehicle control.
A wheel separating at highway speed is among the most dangerous failure modes regulators track. It threatens not only the driver and passengers but also other motorists and pedestrians nearby. NHTSA treats wheel-attachment defects with urgency for exactly that reason, and the agency’s decision to issue a formal recall signals that the risk met the federal threshold for an unreasonable safety hazard.
What the recall covers
The recall spans three consecutive model years of the Cybertruck, which suggests the issue is not confined to a single production batch or a one-time assembly error. Instead, the 18-inch steel wheel setup shared across Cybertruck variants appears to be the common thread, based on the model-year scope listed in the NHTSA campaign filing. NHTSA maintains dedicated vehicle-detail portals for the 2024 Cybertruck and the 2025 lineup, where owners can review complaints, investigations, and manufacturer communications tied to their specific model year.
The exact number of trucks affected has not yet appeared in the publicly accessible documents on NHTSA’s recall lookup page as of late April 2025. That figure is typically included in the Part 573 safety-recall report that manufacturers file with the agency, and it may take additional time before the full filing is posted online. Until then, any specific vehicle count reported elsewhere should be considered preliminary.
Under federal law, Tesla must replace the defective components at no charge. Owners will receive mailed notification letters once NHTSA finalizes the recall paperwork, and they can check their vehicle identification number through the agency’s online recall tool in the meantime. Because the problem involves a physical part, Tesla’s over-the-air software update system cannot substitute for an in-person repair.
Why the Cybertruck’s weight matters
The Cybertruck tips the scales at roughly 6,800 to 7,000 pounds depending on configuration, making it one of the heaviest consumer pickups on the road. That mass places significant cyclical stress on wheel-attachment hardware every time the truck corners, accelerates hard, or brakes aggressively. Wheel studs on lighter vehicles endure less punishment per rotation, so a marginal material or design weakness that might go unnoticed on a 5,000-pound truck can become a cracking risk on a vehicle carrying an extra ton or more of curb weight.
NHTSA has not yet published a detailed engineering analysis explaining the root cause. Without that report, it remains unclear whether the cracking stems from a materials deficiency in the studs themselves, a torque-specification error during factory assembly, or stress concentrations related to the Cybertruck’s stainless-steel unibody and its unique weight distribution. The Part 573 filing, once fully posted, should shed light on which failure mode Tesla identified.
No crashes or injuries reported so far
As of the recall’s publication, NHTSA’s publicly available records do not list crashes or injuries tied to the wheel-stud cracking. That could mean Tesla caught the defect through internal quality monitoring before failures escalated on the road. It could also reflect a lag in NHTSA’s complaint-posting timeline; the agency’s vehicle-detail pages sometimes take weeks to display newly submitted owner reports. Neither explanation can be confirmed from the current public record alone.
Tesla has not released a public statement about the recall beyond the regulatory filing. The company dissolved its U.S. public-relations department in 2020 and typically communicates recall information through NHTSA filings and direct owner notifications rather than press releases.
A growing recall list for the Cybertruck
The wheel-stud campaign adds to a string of recalls that have followed the Cybertruck since customer deliveries began in late 2023. By early 2025, the truck had already been the subject of roughly half a dozen separate recall campaigns. Previous actions have addressed problems ranging from an accelerator pedal cover that could slide out of position and jam the pedal, to faulty windshield wiper motors, to loose trim panels on the truck bed. Each recall targets a distinct engineering issue, and bundling them together to draw sweeping conclusions about overall build quality requires caution. A high recall count can reflect aggressive internal screening just as easily as it can point to systemic design gaps.
Still, the pattern puts pressure on Tesla at a time when the Cybertruck is trying to move beyond early-adopter buyers and reach a broader truck market. Prospective customers shopping against the Ford F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, and Chevrolet Silverado EV will weigh reliability perceptions heavily, and a recall involving something as fundamental as wheel attachment does not help that case.
What Cybertruck owners should do now
The most important step is simple: visit NHTSA’s recall lookup page and enter the truck’s VIN to confirm whether it falls under campaign 26V255000. Owners whose vehicles are included should schedule a service appointment with Tesla promptly. Because the Cybertruck uses a proprietary wheel design not shared with other Tesla models, replacement parts could face supply constraints in some regions, and early scheduling may help avoid longer waits.
Until the repair is completed, owners should avoid heavy towing and aggressive off-road driving, both of which amplify the loads on wheel studs and could accelerate crack growth. Warning signs to watch for include steering-wheel vibration, a rhythmic knocking or clicking near a wheel, and any visible looseness or wobble in a wheel assembly. Any of those symptoms warrants pulling over safely and having the vehicle towed to a service center rather than continuing to drive.
NHTSA’s recall and vehicle-detail pages will be updated as Tesla submits additional documentation, including the full Part 573 report and any interim safety guidance. Checking back periodically is worthwhile, because later postings often clarify the repair procedure, parts availability timeline, and whether the recall population has been expanded or narrowed.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
