You won’t find a car more divisive than one made by Tesla these days. Elon Musk is a controversial figure and Tesla’s have a history of maybe not living up to all the hype for some of the drivers. That’s not to say that many drivers aren’t satisfied, because clearly Tesla is doing very well. Nevertheless, the media loves a good story about a Tesla failing and the Cybertruck has had more than its fair share of them.
10. Tesla Had to Recall Every Cybertruck to Fix the Accelerator Pedal
In April 2024, a video by a Cybertruck owner spread across social media like wildfire. In the video, the man who owned the truck tells the story of how a plate that was covering the accelerator pedal in his Cybertruck came off and got wedged while he was driving.
As you can imagine, something that causes your accelerator to get stuck is going to be a serious danger when you’re on the road. Luckily for this man, he was able to avoid any serious accidents, but he was also not alone. The flaw he had pointed out was one that any Cybertruck could have suffered. If your vehicle has the potential to hit the gas with no way to stop it, that’s a big concern.
Tesla responded by recalling every single Cybertruck on the road. That worked out to be 3,878 vehicles. For a short time, the company also halted sales of the truck, and their stock fell.
The media had a field day with the story. People quickly labeled the Cybertruck an absolute failure and a national joke. Obviously, the truck will still have its fans, and Tesla customers seem to be extremely loyal to their brand as well as Elon Musk. However, that recall was just one incident among many that keep tarnishing the Cybertruck’s image.
9. Cleaning the Cybertruck is a Chore
When you buy a new car one thing you hope you don’t have to worry about is how to clean it. For the most part, washing the car is pretty easy. That’s why we have car washes that you can just pull into and let the car wash do all the work. Things don’t necessarily work so easily with a Cybertruck, however.
Tesla’s own website has a fairly detailed breakdown of what it takes to properly wash your Cybertruck. Some of the recommendations include doing spot cleaning right away when you notice anything on your Cybertruck rather than waiting until it’s time to wash it again. In a nutshell, it’s a bit high maintenance if you want to keep it looking its best. The site also mentions that, over time, the surface of the stainless steel body is going to change no matter what you do.
There’s more to cleaning the Cybertruck than what the website will lead you to believe, however. One owner posted a video on Twitter demonstrating the creative lengths he has to go through to wash the extremely large windshield. It’s so wide that you can’t reach it from the ground, and he had to climb onto the vehicle itself to get to every surface.
Another video breakdown of the process of cleaning a cyber truck after driving it for 4,500 miles details an incredibly extensive process. There’s rinsing, scrubbing, washing, spot cleaning, more rinsing, more scrubbing, and then rinsing again. It’s a time-consuming and detailed job if you want it to look like factory new all the time.
8. The Cybertruck Has Some Towing Issues
One of the big selling features of the Cybertruck was its towing capacity. Tesla is trying to compete with things like the Ford F-150 or the Chevy Silverado by providing a tough truck to Consumers that could stand up to some heavy work. The listed towing capacity is 11,000 pounds. A 2024 Ford F-150 has a capacity of 13,500 pounds and a Silverado maxes out at 13,300 pounds. Tesla is providing some decent competition at those numbers.
One of the problems with the towing capacity is not how much it can tow but how far. The more a Cybertruck is hauling the more it strains the battery of the electric vehicle.
In one test the truck only made it 145 km or just over 90 miles before the battery gave out towing at full capacity. The listed range for a Cybertruck not towing anything is 301 miles and the real-world test by Car and Driver made it 250 miles.
In another test, the Cybertruck was actually beaten by a different Tesla. The Model X, towing 3,250 pounds, made it 235 miles while the Cybertruck covered just 160 miles.
Against different manufacturers, things were not so great, either. Although early promos for the Cybertruck show it handily defeating a Ford F-150, a tug of war against a Chevy Silverado has Chevy winning handily and the Cybertruck is only able to pull the other when it was in park.
7. It’s Notorious for Panel Gaps
One of the biggest critiques of the Cybertruck since its debut has been just how those stainless steel panels fit together. The panel gaps are very noticeable on some of these trucks to the point that they almost become comical.
The gap issue varies between individual trucks so that some might have no noticeable issues While others can have multiple places where panels look misaligned and there are noticeable gaps. One of the most well-known issues came from a review by YouTuber Marques Brownlee.
Brownlee was reviewing a truck for which he actually had a good deal of praise. But he noted that the gap in the driver’s door was so bad it seemed like the door was still open when it was closed. He was just one of many who have pointed out the issue so much that Elon Musk took the time to explain that a very small number of trucks had an issue with a door striker and it’s been addressed.
6. The Basecamp Tent Was Not as Advertised
To prove that the Cybertruck is the kind of vehicle you can take on the road and off the road, Tesla included the option to convert the bed of your Cybertruck into a tent for camping. This has been done with several vehicles in the past, but the Cybertruck is the snazzy new kid on the block.
For an extra $3,000, a Cybertruck owner can get what is called the base camp tent. When it was unveiled as a concept it looked like it was at least a part of the vehicle it was being sold for. What actually ended up shipping and looked decidedly different.
The actual tent was very flimsy looking, didn’t attach well and the auto leveling feature was missing, which meant for at least one user they could feel themselves rolling downhill when they tried to lay in the bed. The manual instructs you to activate Tent Mode in your Cybertruck once you have it set up, except no Cybertrucks have been shipped with that feature included.
5. Rust-Gate
Remember when we said it’s hard to keep your Cybertruck clean? Sure you do, it was just a minute ago. Well, there’s even more to it than you thought. Keeping that stainless steel exterior looking polished and new is looking like it’s going to be an uphill task.
You may have heard some early stories that people’s Cybertrucks are already rusty. Tesla says that is not the case. And, realistically, if a Cybertruck is made of stainless steel it shouldn’t be rusty. Certainly not this quickly.
So what is happening? Some of the discoloration that can be seen in pictures of Cybertrucks is apparently the fault of rail dust. That is iron particulate kicked up by trains. It can be easily cleaned off with some of the sanctioned cleaners and a cloth.
Now, you may be wondering what makes this a failure for the Cybertruck and it’s not really the Cybertruck rusting. You could make a good case that your vehicle looking like it’s rusting within days of buying it just because there are trains somewhere in the town you live in is sort of a design flaw.
4. Questionable Design Specs
You want to have a certain amount of peace of mind when you are purchasing a vehicle and driving it around with your family in it. You want to know that it was made with care and is the result of some quality engineering. Ideally, there should be some solid science behind how any vehicle is put together.
There’s every reason to believe that a Cybertruck is a soundly made vehicle, and most of them seem to be problem-free, minus that little accelerator pedal issue that affected all of them. But the design specs are curious at best if only thanks to comments made by Elon Musk.
In 2023, leaked emails from Tesla showed Musk demanding that all elements of the truck be designed and built to a sub-10 micron accuracy. Doing something like that would be impossible without a total redesign. But Lego manufactures their products to those specs, so it was what Elon wanted.
3. The Headlights Collect Snow
Love it or hate it, you can’t deny the look of the Cybertruck is fairly unique and unusual. An unusual design isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but you want it to be practical above all if you’re driving in it at a fast rate of speed and people’s lives could potentially be in danger. For instance, you want to make sure nothing can block the headlights when you’re on the road.
Cybertruck drivers who have taken their vehicles out in the snow have noticed that the headlights can actually collect snow, which will obscure and cover the lights, rendering them useless.
The headlights on a Cybertruck are located fairly low on the front end right above the bumper and below the front facia. They are recessed just enough that if you were driving into the snow, it will collect into that recessed area and, if it’s bad enough, block the lights entirely.
2. The Cybertruck Has Not Undergone Independent Crash Testing
Did you know that independent crash testing is it necessarily required for a vehicle on the road? That is to say that neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) did any crash testing on the Cybertruck before it hit the market.
If that sounds sketchy, you should know it’s not uncommon. They can’t test every vehicle and often the manufacturer is responsible for this and they just pass test results along. So if you trust Tesla to give you accurate results then you can trust that the Cybertruck passes crash test safety requirements. Take from that what you will.
In any event, while many people want to believe the Cybertruck is a safety nightmare, there is really not enough data to say one way or the other.
1. They Pose a Finger Chopping Risk
Do you like your fingers? Most people do. If you’ve grown attached to yours, you may want to watch out for anything on a Cybertruck that works with a hinge like a door or the trunk. Turns out those things are finger-chopping monsters.
Now, to be fair, no one has reported losing an actual finger in the Cybertruck trunk. However, some people noticed that the doors and trunk have extremely sharp edges thanks to the stainless steel panels and their weight causes them to slam shut easily.
In order to test the theory that these things were dangerous you can find a number of reviews where people use their Cybertruck to chop carrots and cucumbers, and even a ballistics gel hand at one point.
Most other vehicles on the market have either automatic doors that close slowly or sensors that notice if something is in the way. Early Cybertrucks have not been shipped with any features like that meaning the potential for damage is there.