Elon Musk may not have built Tesla's Cybertruck himself, but he certainly had plenty of input on how to build a vehicle that looks like “the future,” as he has often said. And he's sure to promote the truck as an extension of his gonzo brand by advertising it supposedly bulletproof construction and claim will eventually be able to acts as a vessel.
All that sales prowess, unfortunately, may not make up for the reputation Cybertrucks has built since a smashing November delivery event kicked off sales to customers who've waited four years to get behind the wheel. Musk, meanwhile, faces the prospect of having his name forever attached to a flashy, expensive truck known for mechanical breakdowns and accidents. Already, it seems we're averaging a few ridiculous Cybertruck incidents per week — and given how little Tesla has realistically constructed so far, this is impressive in all the wrong ways.
To be fair, some Cybertruck owners are simply victims of the car's novelty factor. A redditor who fell behind before putting 500 miles on his explained that they were hit by a truck driven by someone who was distracted while FaceTiming — to show the Cybertruck to the person they were calling. While the other vehicle was completed, the Tesla owner revealed that it would be $7,500 replace the parts damaged on their own vehicle (and that's not counting the cost of the labor). They also complained that curious onlookers always touch the truck and leave fingerprint smudges on the outside in stainless steel. It is a problem often cited alongside visible corrosion and “rust spots» in the steel.
Less superficial issues are obviously more serious. Arizona attorney Matthew Chiarello, for example, on Sunday wrote in a since-deleted tweet that despite his affection for Tesla and the Cybertruck, he was upset about a “catastrophic failure” of his steering and brakes while driving with his wife and child in Las. Vegas. The post showed his truck being towed from a parking lot — though Chiarello mentioned, with obvious annoyance, that Tesla's service center wasn't even open that day. Three days later, he followed up saying the technicians still couldn't determine the exact issueand he still hadn't gotten the truck back.
Chiarello maintained, despite the alarming description of the apparent malfunction in his original post, that “no one ever ran the slightest risk.” (Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this episode or any of the images and videos referenced in this article.) In any case, Chiarello's story did little to reassure already worried reservation holders. for the purchase of a truck with obvious structural defects such as misaligned panelsnot to mention potentially weak performance metrics.
Chiarello's car problems were soon overshadowed, however, by viral images of the aftermath of a late Sunday night crash in which a Cybertruck driver hit the iconic mark of the Beverly Hills Hilton. Then joking friend of the owner accused a valet at the hotel about the collision, Musk reinforced the false claim, tweeting: “Cyberbeast [the top-range Cybertruck model] it's faster than a Porsche 911, but it looks like a truck, so maybe the valet wasn't expecting that much acceleration.” The man who apparently started the rumor later tried to set the record straight as the owner of the valet business was concerned about his public image, though it's unclear if Musk ever found out the owner was actually responsible.
Some Cybertruck owners have gone out of their way to make the vehicle's first adopters look especially reckless – and none too bright. Streamer Adin Ross, for example, wasted no time rallying his friends to take turns shooting his Cybertruck to demonstrate its tank-like durability. While most of the rounds put unsightly dents in the side of the car, one of them punctured a rear door, leaving an actual bullet hole.
Then you have the genius who on Monday dragged their Cybertruck onto Marina State Beach, south of Santa Cruz, California — where driving on the sand is prohibited under all circumstances. Photos of the truck inspired several “Cyberstuck” jokes reminiscent of references during the Winter of Cybertrucks failing to maneuver in the snowunlike Musk's vision of a vehicle “made for each planet”, able to handle the worst conditions and terrain. The off-roader was ticketed by the State Parks Service and managed to move his truck off the beach after blowing out the tires.
A Cybertruck defender might argue that these are isolated cases and we shouldn't draw generalizations from them just because the vehicle's critics want to see it crash or struggle. After all, while a “carrot test” shows how its front torso could crush or cut off a finger, no one has lost a digit to this steely behemoth (yet).
On the other hand, when you have YouTuber Danny Duncan drilling massive bull horns into the front hood of his Cybertruck for a video while boasting “this causes accidents”, it's worth asking if any of this was a good idea. (Hell, even he pointed out that “the brakes are a bit bad.”) When Musk said “we dug our own graveWith the Cybertruck, he was talking about manufacturing delays at Tesla, but the comment may have been prophetic in more ways than one.
from our partners at https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/tesla-cybertruck-fail-accident-malfunction-meme-1234982615/
