Click on any photo to see it full screen in high res.
Some folks love the Cyber Truck’s reason for being; some like me, don’t understand it at all. Many think its edgy, macho, visionary, and otherwise fabulous, the rest of us think its Mal-conceived and out-of-this-world ugly.
That said, and that aside, there have recently been more tangible problems with the DOGEmeister’s stainless steel skinned flavor of the month:
According to Fortune Magazine, March 14, 2626:
- “The glue holding the pickup truck’s stainless-steel exterior in place is failing for many Tesla customers, causing its sides to protrude. It’s the latest of numerous instances of build quality issues with the Cybertruck, a once-promising vehicle now beset by problems.
In the the latest sign the Tesla Cybertruck risks becoming Elon Musk’s first full-blown flop, sales of the pickup have been halted amid growing cases of metal paneling falling off.
On Thursday, EV enthusiast site Electrek reported Tesla delivery agents as saying all outbound vehicles have been stopped amid concerns that the glue holding the exterior stainless steel paneling in place is failing.
The issue isn’t new but it has remained unaddressed. Owners living in cold weather conditions in particular have been warning about it for weeks, posting images of sharp-edged metal trim protruding from their vehicles and flapping in the wind while driving. Some have even taken to reporting the problem to the federal traffic safety authority NHTSA, Road & Track reported last month.
But an image circulated recently showing the entire front bumper dangling loosely from the body may have tipped the scale.”
Hmmmmm – hardly the best USP (Unique Selling Proposition) ever.
Additionally, as I live in Ventura, County, California, this really hit home to me.
According to the Los Angeles Times:
” ‘Oh great’: Tesla Cybertruck sinks in Ventura Harbor after botched Jet Ski launch
A Tesla Cybertruck took an accidental swim in the Ventura Harbor on Monday, prompting a multi-agency response to carefully retrieve the electric vehicle from the water without sparking a toxic battery fire.
Tesla founder Elon Musk tweeted in 2022 that the Cybertruck “will be waterproof enough to serve briefly as a boat, so it can cross rivers, lakes & even seas that aren’t too choppy.” This truck, however, quickly sank in 8 feet of water, said Carson Shevitz, captain of TowBoatUS Ventura, who helped coordinate the rescue.
Ventura Port District Harbor Patrol officers spotted the truck bobbing by the boat launch ramp shortly before 11 a.m. , Shevitz said. The driver told Shevitz that he meant to put the vehicle in drive after launching a Jet Ski but accidentally threw it in reverse, causing it to slide down the ramp and into the water.
Shevitz dived into the water himself and attached the front of the submerged vehicle to a tow truck that hauled it ashore. He said he worked with Tesla and fire officials to plan the mission carefully because of the dangers posed by lithium-ion batteries.
“When I first heard that it’s a Cybertruck, I immediately thought of the batteries,” he said. “It wasn’t an ‘oh cool,’ it was an ‘oh great,’ because there’s a lot of unknown things we have to figure out.”
Fortunately, the truck’s electronics did not appear to be severely damaged by the dip. Shevitz’s team did not spot any bubbling or hissing — signs that Tesla’s engineers warned could indicate the batteries were releasing gas.
Damaged lithium-ion batteries are at high risk of catching fire and releasing toxic gases such as hydrogen fluoride and carbon monoxide. Exposure to salt water can also lead to battery failure and potentially start a fire.”
In the Cyber’s defense, however, it didn’t accidentally slide down the ramp into the brine by itself; the owner, who was backing his JetSki trailer down the boat launch ramp, mistakenly selected reverse by mistake — hey it can happen. And, fortunately, after an inspection, the batteries were deemed not to have leaked nor unsafely ingested salt water, so the hapless Cyber punk could be safely loaded up and towed away once its failed swimming lesson was over.
Further, several owners (particularly early adopter types who had to be the proverbial first on their block to have one) have experienced a litany of problems with them and threatened to sue TESLA unless the company bought them back under a variety of Lemon Law protections.
Is it me, or are these types of issues simply friggin unacceptable for a vehicle, that depending upon model and equipment, can easily top a hundred grand? For people that put up deposits early, and waited and watched to find out when their Cyber was going to be built, and what number in the line they were — this has to be excruciating at minimum, especially if they bought one barely second hand and paid well over sticker to get it.
No modern, intelligent consumer would accept this sort of performance and safety failure in a television, computer, toaster, or a deck of playing cards — why then should they pay through the proverbial nose for the privilege in a vehicle costing more than many Porsches, Corvettes or BMWs?
Sorry, I don’t get it, and I won’t accept it from a modern carmaker.
OK, back to design and styling; I do have one comment, and that’s to simply show you the photo just below, and then you can draw your own opinion (make sure to blow this one up full screen for a better look).
I leave you to draw your own conclusions about any of this.