I was just scanning Google News, as I do, and I came across an odd, eye-catching story on Jalopnik that I had to open. I had no idea what that was going to lead to. The article was covering a story from reddit that became a real-world story, and it led to some things. It also made me aware of a subreddit that just brought me down a serious rabbit hole. Fair warning: Social media is dangerous, kids. Let’s not assume too much from what rises to the top on a subreddit. But, honestly, we have to dive into some of these.
Injured Tesla Cybertruck Becomes “Tourist Attraction,” Then Towed to Danger Zone
Okay, starting with the first story. A Tesla Cybertruck in Seattle reportedly got hit by a young driver, leading to a broken suspension and gimpy rear left wheel. Standing out — as Cybertrucks do, especially ones with something not quite normal about them — the new but injured vehicle became a social media sensation and even turned into a “tourist attraction” (or maybe more of a “troll attraction”). The owner reportedly told one of these “tourists” that he was trying to figure out how to handle the insurance for the truck and that’s why it was sitting there. (The owner didn’t realize it had become a hit on reddit and didn’t know why it was getting so much attention, and he apparently wasn’t too pleased to find out that’s what had happened.)
By request, the Seattle Cybertruckbyu/mtragedy inCyberStuck
Unfortunately for the owner, his vehicle was reported to the city as abandoned and that led to the Cybertruck getting an “orange sticker” notice indicating that it needed to be moved or would be towed. According to chatter on reddit, the place it would be towed to is not a safe place for vehicles that want to keep all their parts. And, the latest news is … the truck has been towed. This is apparently that same Cybertruck:
Midnight dumpster run to the Seattle dumpbyu/CartographerFun69 inCyberStuck
It’s gone!byu/bothunter inCyberStuck
Obviously, we’re missing a lot of details, but the one broader issue here may be challenges dealing with insurance and repairs for the Cybertruck. Or it may just be the complications of this individual case. But the headline-grabbing story brought me to some other Cybertruck oddities.
Cybertruck Ruggedness Issues
Some of the other posts on the subreddit seemed to be targeting the Cybertruck’s ruggedness by highlighting it wasn’t as tough as it was supposed to be. Here’s a post showing a Cybertruck that has the stainless steel panel peeling off on the back-right corner of the truck for some reason:
Cybertruck panel peeling offbyu/godzilla19821982 inCyberStuck
In the following video, I’m not sure if the Cybertruck driver was trying to take out a long stretch of fencing or not, but I assume he was for some social media clicks. The bad news for him is that it seemed to cause some leaking underneath the truck. Here you go:
The fence had the last laugh. And so shall we.byu/MoreMotivation inCyberStuck
Naturally, such activity is not advised at home. And it’s just the kind of thing that makes ‘Murica ‘Murica.
In this third video, the poster implies that the Cybertruck is not the best at driving through muddy roads and going off-roading:
Yuge successbyu/Mathguy_314159 inCyberStuck
I have about as much experience driving in such places as I do teaching ballet (maybe even a bit less), so I can’t say how hard that maneuver was, but the truck DID end up getting through.
And then there’s the very unfortunate story of a Cybertruck in Houston reportedly getting into a bad accident that led to the stainless steal and battery combining for a nasty incineration of both the truck and its driver. This is obviously no joking matter, but it again shows the Cybertruck may not be the Apocalypse-fighting vehicle it is sometimes marketed as.
5000 degree human incinerator.byu/vitomcawesome inCyberStuck
Tesla Cybertruck Repairs & Maintenance
As with all new models, there are going to be bugs and oddities to work out as manufacturing scales up. Being as unique as it is, the Cybertruck must be getting a few extra doses of that. Also, as issues arise, it’s naturally going to take longer to get parts, find people who can repair the truck, and get through the supply and service process with Tesla. You have to take that risk on when you’re the buyer of a brand new model, and especially a new type of vehicle from Tesla. Nonetheless, there are a handful of unhappy customers who weren’t ready for this or are just fed up with their situation.
You’ve got some simple but irritating matters, like the wireless phone charger making your phone too hot.
Six figure truck can’t charge phone without frying itbyu/Lumpiest_Princess inCyberStuck
Then you’ve got bigger issues like previously unseen or unusual battery failures.
A Cybertruck named dumpster needs its entire battery pack replacedbyu/godzilla19821982 inCyberStuck
Before the next one, this is where it seems I should bring in another story I ran across via Google News. I was going to skip this story since it’s just a one-off and it’s hard to verify one of the bigger and odder claims in it, but it fits here well, so here it is. Someone who is reportedly a huge Tesla fan, Lamar MK, has had a series of issues with … a few Cybertrucks by now. He’s not getting the support he feels is warranted and has tried reaching out to Elon Musk on X (a method that has historically been of some use for desperate owners if you could get in front of Musk’s eyes). Despite paying the monthly subscription to X that is supposed to give your posts more reach (you can speak to a smaller audience on X if you don’t pay the monthly fee, but you get more free speech if you pay), Lamar MK believes his tweets are now getting shadow banned.
“I post all my videos to YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and they get decent amount of views,” Lamar MK tweeted. “I post those same videos to X and they barely get 100 views, it’s like zero reach.”
“Either nothing is wrong, or I’m just shadow-banned to have no reach on here,” he then wrote. “Elon Musk. Please fix this.”
Who knows? Twitter was never great for actual broad attention or clicks, and I assume it still isn’t for most people. But I could also imagine him getting shadow banned, or at least having his exposure massively reduced.
Back to reddit, you’ve got a case where someone has completely lost patience after having the truck sit in service longer than they’ve been able to drive it.
After 2 months in service it still has issuesbyu/godzilla19821982 inCyberStuck
And then another one where the owner brought the truck in to have some panel gaps fixed, which somehow led to a bunch of other stuff getting broken.
We laugh at the Cybertruck, but this is truly insane!byu/kcarmstrong inCyberStuck
That one might be the most wild of all to me. It also makes me wonder how much Tesla service centers are going to struggle with repairs for such an unconventional vehicle, and for a vehicle that requires such precision on its exterior. This is apparently an email Elon Musk sent to staff:
Honestly, this could be the pinned post for r/CyberStuckbyu/unpresidentedfact inCyberStuck
Lastly for this section, there’s the completely unsurprising news that a broken Cybertruck windshield costs a lot to replace (about $2,300 according to this post).
Who knew a billboard sized windshield angled like that would crack? That’s a ~$2,300 replacement cost right therebyu/diesedimmigjours inCyberStuck
Pure Trolling
There’s also some pure trolling on the subreddit, which is surely not newsworthy but can be quite funny.
Here we’ve got someone pointing out that the glare of the truck could be a safety hazard:
Blinding steel is a road hazard.byu/Mountain-Diver-7211 inCyberStuck
Then you’ve got someone saying they thought a Cybertruck was a dumpster at first:
I thought it was a dumpster at first.byu/kruminater inCyberStuck
I imagine this same post could go in a Cybertruck fan or Cybertruck troll thread, depending on how you read it (it’s a pretty cool looking Cybertruck, in my opinion):
I caught this gem tonight on my walk. Dude was brave enough to put his name on it. Oh yea…nice rim job.byu/coffeeluver2021 inCyberStuck
You’ve got a Cybertruck running from the police:
I hope they put it in “Police Pursuit” modebyu/cdmove inCyberStuck
You’ve got someone parking the Cybertruck in a “compact” car space:
Compact.byu/Savio_Vega inCyberStuck
And you’ve got a new trolling name for the vehicle that I have the hunch may become quite popular among its critics:
OMG “Deploreans” is a great term! Lmaooobyu/AgentEndive inCyberStuck
One final post I saw in this brief trip down the subreddit included a Forbes article writing about used Cybertruck prices crashing. I haven’t thought about exploring that topic yet since Tesla is still ramping up production, as I understand it. It wouldn’t be a great thing if the truck is already seeing massive depreciation, but it’s also not the best time to analyze that matter, since the model is going from very rare to much less rare, and that naturally leads to rapid depreciation.
More of This? Balance It Out?
This is just what I saw from scrolling the subreddit for a few minutes. I have no idea what’s getting posted about the truck on a weekly basis here, and whether this was a particularly bad day or there’s much more like this day after day. I’m tempted now to keep an eye on it, but I also don’t want to get too swayed by one blooper highlight reel. It seems I should also go find a Cybertruck fan subreddit to follow in order to balance things out. What do you think?
On the positive front, we did have a story yesterday about the opening of a big new Tesla store and service center in Florida that included some attractive, colorful Cybertrucks, including one with a DJ stand in the back. The broader point there, though, was how far Tesla has come in a decade. And, my goodness, it sure has come far!!
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