I Took My Cybertruck in for Service for a Cracked Sideview Mirror, but Tesla Gave Me a Surprise High-Voltage Battery Pack Replacement

A Cybertruck owner from Kentucky says he was surprised to find out Tesla had decided to replace his high-voltage battery pack after he brought his truck in for service for a minor issue with his side-view mirror.

The Cybertruck owner says one day, while he was in a rush, he cracked his truck’s side-view mirror housing; however, when he brought his vehicle in for service, he found out that he was getting a new 800-volt battery pack.

The individual who goes by the username ill1cit shared the unexpected turn of events on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum.

Here is what he wrote…

“I was in a hurry one morning and carelessly broke my side view mirror housing while backing out of the garage. Consequently, I submitted a service request to have it replaced. Within two minutes, Tesla approved the request, but the estimate included that they were also replacing the high-voltage battery. Surprisingly, I haven’t encountered any issues with the battery, nor have I received any error messages.

I dropped off the truck at the service center a few days ago, and they informed me that there’s technically nothing wrong with my batteries. However, Tesla Engineering has requested that the battery pack be returned for a tear-down and inspection. Apparently, units produced around the same time as mine have been experiencing issues. As a result, they’re taking my battery pack and replacing it with a new one.

I received my Cybertruck around July 1st, and my VIN is 21895. I just want to give a heads-up to anyone that has one built around the same time as mine.”

Below his post, the Cybertruck owner included a picture of the full receipt he got from Tesla showing all the work done.

During this service visit, Tesla worked on four items on his Cybertruck. The first is removing and replacing the right-hand side-view mirror with a total labor and parts cost of $514.10.

The second work item is checking tire tread depth, and the third item is installing wheel covers. However, in the middle of these mundane service checkups, Tesla includes high-voltage battery pack replacement.

Here is what Tesla has written on the receipt

“Concern: Cybertruck - High Voltage Battery Replacement

Repair Notes:

Correction: High Voltage Battery (AWD) (Remove & Replace) - Remove and Replace

Pay Type: Basic Vehicle Limited Warranty”

Bringing in a vehicle for service for a side view mirror housing and getting a full battery-pack replacement is certainly surprising.

So, what’s going on here?

Back in September, we broke the news that Tesla was quietly replacing Cybertruck battery packs built around a certain time frame. Since then, other news outlets have confirmed the story.

It appears that some Cybertruck battery packs contain side dented cells that can cause an electrical short and possibly a battery fire.

Up to now, Tesla has not yet announced an official recall. However, when vehicles with suspected faulty batteries come in for service for an unrelated issue, Tesla appears to be offering a free battery pack replacement.

Tesla claims that they are only replacing the battery packs so that engineering will be able to analyze the cells. However, as far as we can tell, Tesla has been quietly replacing battery packs for 2 months now.

There is no way to tell how many Cybertruck battery packs Tesla has replaced in that time. However, from publicly available information, Tesla appears to have identified a problem.

Another interesting point is that initially, Tesla was replacing battery packs for Cybertrucks delivered around February; however, now it appears that Tesla is studying battery packs produced as far as July.

Please let me know what you think is going on. Share your ideas by clicking the red “Add new comment” button below. Also, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Courtesy of Tesla, inc.

For more information, check out: Tesla Cybertruck Gets Bricked While Charging Using a Wall-Mounted Charger – Tesla Engineers Forced to Come Out to the Owner’s Garage to Try to Unplug the Truck

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.