- This is Tesla’s seventh recall this year for the Cybertruck
- A glitchy software update may have caused problems
- There may be some hardware issues, as well
The polarizing Tesla Cybertruck is staggering out of 2024 under the dual weights of a new recall and reports of getting bricked by a fresh software update.
Starting with the recall, its seventh this year, an over-the-air update is said to have played havoc with the truck’s tire pressure monitoring system and causing it to potentially not remain illuminated between drive cycles after sensing a fault. Since the problem could fail to warn drivers of low tire pressure, it runs afoul of Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard number 138, proving the government apparently has time to put a label on even the smallest of details.
To fix this problem created by an over-the-air update, Tesla will release an over-the-air update. Because extreme irony is apparently part of vehicle repair these days. And before any Tesla stans start squawking this type of problem isn’t an actual recall, we need to point out that the method of repair matters not when defining if something is a recall; it doesn’t matter if one needs to take their truck to a dealership service facility for a physical repair or if the thing downloads an update in the middle of the night – a fix is a fix, especially when it is mandated by the government in the name of safety.
This recall, issued on December 17, also ensnares scads of Model 3 and Model Y vehicles. In fact, nearly 700,000 (694,304 to be precise) machines are affected. You can check online at Transport Canada, using your VIN, to see if your vehicle is affected by a recall.
In a separate issue, also involving updates, some Cybertruck owners are reporting their trucks are getting bricked after installing version 2024.45.25.5 specifically. A user on one (shudder) internet owner’s forum said a Tesla technician claimed it was found that “firmware hammered for an unknown reason midway through install,” and that a “partial update disabled vehicle.” For any of you lucky enough not to understand any of that technobabble, those two statements suggest the computer update may have failed partway through its installation, causing the trucks’ computer to spaz out. It’d be putting only half the ingredients in a cake and then wondering why it tastes bad.
Adding to the calamity is a so-called HW4 computer being installed in some Cybertrucks, a unit said to have less RAM and storage than the previous generation HW3 hardware. This type of corner cutting can (and seemingly has) cause unexpected problems.
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