Whompy wheels. Funny name, serious problem. Tesla vehicles that have whompy wheels have an alarming tendency to throw their wheels off, often while in motion, supposedly due to suspension failures.
When that happens, you get a car that’s not so much driving as it is dragging itself across the pavement.
One Tesla technician’s summary of the issue from a 2021 accident involving a 2020 Model 3 reads like a one-sentence horror story:
“Front wheel fell off while driving on Autopilot at 60 mph.”
Well… not going to lie, that could certainly be better. Let’s dig into the issue.
Tesla Whompy Wheel Photos
When your Tesla wheels fall off in motion, that results in a vehicle that looks like this:
Are Tesla Whompy Wheels Real?
Yes. Whompy wheels are real, and the problem was bad enough that the NHTSA formally investigated it in 2020.
Official government documents? Right here, boss: NHTSA Report
If that’s not enough for you, some enterprising comedian has assembled an entire album of Tesla whompy wheels on Flickr… over 100 images of Teslas, stranded and sad, missing critical components like a functional suspension system and attached wheels.
See for yourself: The Whompy Wheels Flickr Album
So why is this even up for debate? Why wouldn’t we believe our eyes when we have photos, government reports, and multiple news outlets covering the issue?
Because Tesla Inc and a certain subset of its fans (paid and unpaid) have waged an aggressive disinformation campaign about it. More on that in a second. First, Cybertrucks!
The Seattle Cyberstuck
For a brief, glorious moment, the Seattle Cyberstuck was the city’s newest cryptid… an abandoned Cybertruck with a whompy wheel, inspiring countdowns, pilgrimages, and even a Google Places listing like some kind of Cyberpunk roadside attraction.
And yeah, it’s got that signature Tesla lean. Maybe the most famous case of whompy wheels yet.
Friend went out to see the now famous Cyberstuck vehicle in Seattle, it’s basically become a tourist attraction.
byu/Gogomagickitten inCyberStuck
Now, the Cybertruck is a brand-new model… 2024 was its first full delivery year. That’s an important detail, because a certain corner of the internet is already pushing the narrative that whompy wheels are an old, solved problem.
That is… obviously not the case, since it is affecting Cybertrucks.
Misinformation Campaign(s) Around Whompy Wheels
Official Misinformation
Let’s start with Tesla Inc. itself.
Back in the day, Tesla’s corporate blog posted an entire hit piece attacking automotive futurist Edward Niedermeyer for reporting on whompy wheels. They accused him of fabricating the issue, strongly hinting that he was a Tesla short-seller. No evidence offered, of course.
The original blog post? Mysteriously vanished. Redirects to Tesla’s main site.
https://www.tesla.com/blog/grain-of-salt
Fortunately (and unfortunately), the internet never forgets. You can still read it on Wayback Machine:
Here’s the spicy bit from Tesla’s blog:
“Finally, it is worth noting that the blogger who fabricated this issue, which then caused negative and incorrect news to be written about Tesla by reputable institutions, is Edward Niedermeyer. This is the same gentle soul who previously wrote a blog titled “Tesla Death Watch,” which starting on May 19, 2008 was counting the days until Tesla’s death. It has now been 2,944 days. We just checked our pulse and, much to his chagrin, appear to be alive.”
That official Tesla blog post aged like milk. I can see why they deleted it.
Turns out the “fabricated” issue was fabricated in Tesla factories and sold to drivers worldwide. And the resulting news coverage was mostly correct. This was an early preview of Tesla’s transition into a post-truth company… one that leaned harder into misinformation as its CEO’s political inclinations shifted.
Crowd-Sourced Misinformation
Investigating this issue, I do my journalism the same way I do my comedy: badly.
And like any internet sleuth, I start with Reddit.
Take this thread from r/TeslaModel3:
“Tesla Whompy Wheels—Is It Still an Issue?”
The top comment confidently declares that the issue is fake. This is, of course, completely untrue. The defect is real, does exist in Model 3s, and has been documented by the NHTSA in hundreds of cases as recently as 2020.
Oh, and Tesla fans in that thread? They actively steer people away from reading other subreddits (notably RealTesla)… where they might find more accurate information.
This is the Tesla Inc information bubble in action. It’s a strange mix of $TSLA retail investors, spam bots, pseudo-influencers who depend on Tesla to make a living, fans of Elon Musk’s new political incarnation, and people who need Tesla stock to stay up so they don’t lose their shirts.
And that whole circus can all agree:
- Whompy wheels do not exist… and if they do, they are vanishingly rare.
- Any claim that whompy wheels DO exist is a conspiracy against Tesla.
- Reality must be rejected in favor of pro-Tesla and pro-$TSLA vibes.
More on that thorny subject in a future story.
Whompy Wheels are Tesla’s Signature Defect
Every automaker has that one issue they just can’t seem to fix.
- My Ford? Rough transmission shifting in high gears.
- My Toyota? Eats through brake pads like they taste good.
- Tesla? They shoot off their wheels at high speed.
Could happen to anybody!
Except it doesn’t.
Final Thought: Tesla Fixed This… in China.
One last kicker for the road: Tesla did acknowledge this issue. Just not in the United States.
In China, under heavy government pressure, they issued a formal recall.
Here’s coverage of that recall in China from Teslarati.
But in America? Tesla straight-up told the NHTSA that a recall wasn’t necessary, because Chinese drivers supposedly abuse their vehicles more than Americans do.
This is real. Tesla’s actual argument to the U.S. government was that Tesla vehicles in the USA don’t have this issue, because Chinese Tesla drivers abuse their vehicles.
Here’s their full justification: NHTSA Filing
The quote that really sells it:
“Tesla has not determined that a defect exists […] and believes the root cause of the issue is driver abuse, including that driver usage and expectation for damageability is uniquely severe in the China market.”
So there you have it. The only thing keeping your Tesla’s wheels attached? Not living in China.
And because reading government documents is fun, here are two very interesting percentages, nestled into Tesla’s own filing with the NHTSA where they were justifying the recall in China and the concurrent lack of recall in the USA:
“Tesla has also not determined the existence of an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety. The occurrence of such failures in China (approx. 0.1%) and elsewhere (less than 0.05%) remains exceedingly rare and if a failure does occur, it is immediately apparent to the driver. For the Front Suspension Aft Link, a full separation typically occurs at low speeds and high steer angles, most often when the vehicle is in reverse. For the Rear Suspension Upper Link, the vehicle remains controllable after the part has completely separated.”
Isn’t that interesting? According to Tesla Inc: It’s no big deal, it mostly happens when you reverse, and it happens FIVE TIMES for every 10,000 units.
