Remember how much people complained when Tesla took away turn signal stalks on its new models? Well, now you can buy one from Tesla for your 2024 or 2025 Model 3 to put it back where it belongs. It’ll only cost you $595 to make it the way it should have been in the first place.
Tesla started depriving us of traditional turn signal stalks back in 2021 with the refreshed Model S, replacing them with haptic buttons on the steering wheel. Much like Douglas Adams described the creation of the universe, this has made a lot of people very angry and been widely regarded as a bad move. Nevertheless, Tesla went on to remove them from the Model X and the refreshed Model 3.
Edmunds dedicated an entire article solely to bashing the lack of a turn signal stalk on its long-term Model 3 tester, titled “Our Tesla Model 3’s Turn Signals Aren’t Just Dumb, They’re Borderline Unsafe.” That’s the type of fun headline you’d expect from us here Jalopnik, not Edmunds, but the staff felt that strongly about it. And they’re right. Tesla didn’t need to reinvent the wheel, even though it did that, too. It also didn’t need to take basic turn signal functionality that exists in just about every other car on the road and change it just for the sake of being different.
Putting right what once went wrong
While it’s good that Tesla now gives owners the option of a traditional turn signal stalk, why does it cost $595? Earlier this year, I replaced the worn-out one in my wife’s Toyota 4Runner for $75. That’s the fancy one that also includes a switch for the fog lights, headlights, and high beams, while all Tesla’s does is control the turn signals. In fairness, Tesla’s kit is more than just the stalk itself. It also includes a replacement steering wheel that omits the turn signal buttons that nobody likes, a steering column control module to manage the alternative hardware, and installation at your local Tesla service center.
However, InsideEVs reports that in China and Europe, customers can choose between the buttons or traditional stalk at the time of purchase for no additional fee. The same retrofit kit costs just $350 in China. It’s also worth pointing out that when Tesla started offering normal steering wheels for the Model S and Model X just months after the annoying “Knight Rider” style yoke came out, they cost $700, barely more than it costs just to put the Model 3’s turn signal controls back where they belong. So this isn’t the first time Tesla has made a change that nobody asked for or wanted, then charged us to change it back.
