Alijah Arenas is speaking out publicly for the first time about his serious car crash ... claiming the accident was caused by the Tesla Cybertruck's steering wheel getting stuck.
Arenas -- who committed to USC in January -- spoke about the crash at a press conference on Tuesday ... saying he was leaving a shooting session at the DSTRKT gym in Chatsworth, California, when the luxury vehicle malfunctioned.
"The wheel wasn't moving as easy as it should, and me noticing the keypad wasn't on, it was kinda just like weirding me out," Arenas said.