Blinded by the light: Tesla fixes glaringly bright Cybertruck headlights

Plus: Model 3/Y recall over battery-pack contactors that can cut drive power

Feeling a bit blinded by the light when a Cybertruck rolls by? It's not just you — Tesla's recalling most built to date because the boxy pickup's front parking lights are too bright.

Tesla released an over-the-air update to address the problem, which it reported to the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after discovering the issue during an internal review earlier this month. According to the recall report, Cybertruck software was inadvertently dialing up parking lamp brightness to levels "greater than design specifications," putting the vehicle in violation of US motor vehicle safety regulations. No need to pull the rolling dumpsters off the road for the fix, in other words.

Those excessively bright lights, the NHTSA said, "can reduce visibility of oncoming drivers, increasing the risk of a crash," though the recall notice says there haven't been any incidents yet - which critics might say is because the Cybertruck has largely been a flop. 

Elon Musk had previously proclaimed that Tesla was going to be manufacturing in excess of 200,000 Cybertrucks a year once production ramped up. This recall, nearly two years into the vehicle's occasional presence on roadways, is only targeting 63,619 Cybertrucks, suggesting prior low delivery reports were accurate.  

The recall comes on the heels of news last week that Elon Musk's own companies have been buying up Cybertrucks in droves, possibly in a bid to disguise abysmal sales numbers. Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill had a different take on that news, however, claiming on X that Tesla and SpaceX were intentionally replacing their vehicle fleets with the rectangular monstrosities.

And then there's the power-loss recall

This latest in a string of Cybertruck recalls isn't the only one Tesla's filed of late - it also reported a far more serious issue last week with 2026 Model Y and 2025 Model 3 vehicles that could lose drive power due to a defect in the battery-pack contactor's InTiCa solenoid. 

According to the recall report, this one can't be fixed with a software update, and instead requires 12,963 Model 3 and Model Y owners to schedule a trip to a Tesla service center to have battery pack contactors replaced lest they "lose the ability to apply torque to the vehicle using the accelerator pedal … which may increase the risk of a collision," per the NHTSA. 

Tesla reported 36 warranty claims and 26 field reports associated with the problem, but said that there weren't any associated accidents or injuries - at least not yet. 

Tesla didn't respond to questions for this story. ®