Just when you thought owning a 7,000-pound stainless steel doorstop was adventurous enough, Tesla has decided to add a touch of kinetic unpredictability to the mix. It turns out that the 173 owners of the Rear-Wheel Drive (RWD) Cybertruck, the “entry-level” variant for those who wanted the brutalist aesthetic without the tri-motor price tag, now have to worry about their wheels literally leaving the chat while in motion.
Tesla has officially issued a recall because the wheels on these specific units have a nasty habit of wanting to explore the road independently from the rest of the vehicle.
According to Tesla, the vibrations and lateral forces experienced during cornering are causing the brake discs to crack around the wheel stud holes. Once those cracks propagate, the entire wheel stud can snap off the hub. A truck built to withstand a dystopian wasteland that seemingly can’t survive a spirited turn into a Starbucks parking lot.
While Tesla claims there haven’t been any Hollywood-style crashes or injuries yet, they have already logged three warranty claims from owners who likely noticed their truck felt a little “lighter” on one corner.
The scope of this mechanical comedy is limited to 173 units produced between March 21, 2024, and November 25, 2025, specifically those RWD models equipped with the standard 18-inch wheels. If you spent the extra cash for the 20-inch wheels, your studs are apparently safe. Interestingly, Tesla’s investigation dates back to August of last year, when pre-production testing revealed cracked discs. Apparently, it took a few field reports to realize that “cracked” usually leads to “detached”.
To make matters worse, Tesla’s own service centers were caught using these potentially defective discs as replacement parts, meaning even if you went in for a routine brake job, you might have walked out with a ticking time bomb.
The RWD variant was ultimately killed off in November 2025 due to what Tesla calls “low demand”, but more likely because nobody wanted a Cybertruck that was both slow and structurally shy. For the remaining 173 “pioneers”, a notification will arrive after June 20th. They’ll be asked to limp into a service center where technicians will replace the front and rear brake discs, hubs, and lug nuts with components that are, theoretically, designed to stay in one piece.
