There's nothing more powerful than a bad idea that's time has come.
As first reported by Autoevolution, Tesla's $700 option to retrofit Model S and Model X cars with a regular steering wheel has sold out after being on sale for a week. You could say that the success of the regular steering wheel used to replace the yoke has left Tesla with egg on its face.
It was only recently that Tesla offered a retrofit steering wheel to replace the poorly conceived steering hardware; despite the Teslerati hardcore swearing it was a game changer and people would never switch back, it looks like the traditional steering wheel became the Tesla store's best-selling item.
It was back in January of 2021 when Tesla announced that the refreshed Model S and Model X would be fitted with a rectangular yoke in place of a round steering wheel. Initially, this was an option, but Tesla soon decided it would be the standard.
Tesla tried to convince us it has reinvented the wheel, but the oblong steering device is something automakers have put on concepts in the past to indicate futurism or sportiness and, occasionally, tried putting it on road cars. But it has never stuck outside of motorsport where the driver keeps their hands in the same place and rarely needs to reverse. Tesla has since reverted back to normal steering wheels as standard.
In short, the steering wheel was invented in 1894, and there's a reason it is still with us. That's why Tesla reintroduced the traditional steering wheel as the default option when configuring the cars it tried pushing the yoke on.
The $700 (including fitting) traditionally-shaped steering wheel is still in the Best Sellers section of Tesla's website store, but you have to purchase it via the Tesla app, and we couldn't find it there. Who knows when it'll be back, so until Tesla sorts itself, people that bought their Tesla with the yoke are stuck with one of the most ill-advised pieces of automotive design in history. Plus, it's likely falling apart.
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