The agency is aware of 12 complaints of the sudden loss of power steering assistance. While seven of the complaints indicated that steering became harder, five mentioned a complete inability to steer, per the document. The agency is aware of one crash connected to the issue. One person who posted a complaint on
’s website mentioned coming close to oncoming traffic when her vehicle’s power steering failed as she exited a parking lot. opened a preliminary investigation into the issue on Friday. The Tesla Model 3 and Model Y are closely related and share much of their engineering. The agency opened a separate probe in March into reports of steering wheels on Model Y SUVs that would detach while driving. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company generally does not respond to media inquiries.