Owners of refreshed Tesla Model S and Model X models equipped with the steering yoke can now switch to a traditional round wheel without resorting to third-party companies.
Tesla has added the Model S/X Wheel Retrofit product to its online shop after the round steering wheel became a standard feature for Model S and Model X vehicles ordered from January 2023.
The retrofit option costs $700, and it includes installation through Tesla service. The EV maker first introduced the steering wheel retrofit to its online shop in January, but it wasn’t immediately available. However, after an update to the Tesla Shop last night, the retrofit is now available to purchase.
If you’re interested, you should know the ordering process is a bit different than usual. There’s a QR code that you need to scan with the camera of your smartphone, and that will take you to the product listing on the Tesla App, where only owners of Model S/X vehicles with a yoke can place an order.
If you can’t scan the QR code, Tesla provides a link that you can copy to a mobile browser to open the product listing. Mind you, buying the round steering wheel does not mean you also get the column stalks back – the traditional wheel offers exactly the same functionality as the yoke and is similarly integrated into the vehicle.
For people who don’t get along with the yoke, this will still be money well spent, though. When Tesla introduced the yoke on the refreshed Model S and Model X in 2021, it received strong reactions from owners and fans alike. It is clearly a love it or hate it type of thing.
Judging by Tesla’s decision earlier this year to bring back the round steering wheel for new Model S/X orders and now as a retrofit option for existing owners, it looks like more people hated it than loved it.
Many owners complained that it wasn’t practical for everyday driving, especially when navigating tight turns. The lack of stalks for the wipers or transmission, as well as capacitive touch buttons for turn signals and the horn, was also criticized. Unfortunately, those aren’t coming back, at least not that we’re aware of.
