The Cybertruck was such a misfire for Tesla that Elon Musk, close to tears, told investors “we dug our own grave” in the effort to launch the vehicle. But after years of delays, failed promises, and on-stage gaffs, the truck finally made it onto the streets and into the hands of drivers. For better or worse, the Cybertruck is one of Tesla’s biggest bets, and it’s the product that could make or break the company’s reputation. Unfortunately for Musk, a lot of the truck’s earliest adopters are people with really bad ideas.
Many of these de-influencers made their mistakes for the sake of content. Some, like streamer Adin Ross, tested the company’s bolder claims with antics like firing a gun at the vehicle. Others took the Cybertruck places it shouldn’t go, like onto the beach or slamming into iconic road signs in Los Angeles. And then there are the Cybertruck owners who added their own aesthetic touches to Tesla’s already ostentatious design, with winning flourishes like gigantic bullhorns on the truck’s hood, or spraypainted graffiti-style art.
For Musk’s detractors, the litany of Cybertruck fails have been a never-ending source of entertainment. Tesla already had a hard road in its effort to prove this is a vehicle that should be taken seriously, and Cybertruck drivers’ public self-humilations could make that difficult task impossible.
Here are ten of the most embarrassing moments from Cybertruck owner’s first few months. If nothing else, these marred, stranded, and defaced vehicles are artifacts of a truly bizarre moment in car history.
“Definitely bulletproof,” i.e., not bulletproof
Whoops
An “all-terrain” vehicle
Is this better or worse?
Turns out you can’t jump on the windshield
The Cybertruck can’t tug
Tesla CEO Elon Musk tweeted a video of a Cybertruck pulling an F-150 uphill in a game of tug-of-war in 2019, but when real people attempted a similar stunt with a diesel Silverado HD, the stock Cybertruck disabled power.
It turns out, the Cybertruck can’t tug without the CPU shutting the whole thing down, as Inside EVs reports,
Unfortunately, the Cybertuck can’t tug. Once the Silverado begins to pull the Cybertruck, some sort of failsafe kicks in and disables the motors/cuts power to the Cybertruck. This was a big letdown, especially since Tesla hyped the Cybertruck tug-of-war abilities during the debut. The Cybertruck does manage to pull the Silverado but only when its in park (with nobody inside the truck for some odd reason too).
In the video, you’ll see that they even disconnected the ABS sensors on the Cybertruck, but that still didn’t allow it to tug. Maybe there is a workaround? If so, we think someone will find it soon enough, so stay tuned to see if a tampered-with Cybertruck can tug-of-war.
It seems we may have been duped by Tesla and Elon Musk because replicating something like what’s seen in the video below doesn’t appear to be possible with a stock Cybertruck.