Maybe replacing the steering column, a 6lb steel shaft, with drive by wire at a cost 10lbs of rare earth magnets,
50lbs of copper, 10 computer chips, many position sensors, and 150k lines of code was a bad idea.
The vehicles affected were not drive by wire. It sounds like you are referring to a system in the Cybertrunk, but this article is discussing Model 3 and Model Y which do not have a physical steering column.
Even with a broken wheel I was able to steer to a safe side of the road. It's scary to think of how the Tesla or any electric car with drive by wire would react in that scenario.
