Tesla, the electric car company owned by Elon Musk, has recalled thousands of its new Cybertrucks over safety concerns.
It is because their accelerator pedals currently risk getting trapped by the interior trim, increasing the possibility of crashes.
The BBC recently spoke to a whistleblower at the company who had raised concerns over the safety of pedals of previous Tesla models.
Tesla has been contacted for comment.
The recall affects 3,878 Cybertrucks, which cost roughly $61,000 (£48,320), made between November 2023 and April 2024.
“A trapped accelerator pedal can cause the vehicle to accelerate unintentionally, increasing the risk of a crash,” the US Department of Transportation wrote in a notification of the recall.
3,878 fuglytruks is the apparently the entire fleet. That is the really big story here. The fuglytruk is a flop. Nobody wants an 80k rust bucket.
No reasonable personwants one, but apparently there are thousands of morons with too much money that want an ugly novelty truck.
I think MKBHD’s (follow up?) review was probably the best take on it. He specifically did not review it as “a truck” and pretty much described it like an SUV where the trunk region is on the exterior the entire time.
Which I think is a vehicle a lot of people would want. Me and my buddies are sickos who go on multi day camping/climbing trips and would not want to leave all our crap in the open (stuff is either in a tent or locked in the car at night). But for the average person? Throw little timmy’s football pads in the back or put a tarp over your fifty suitcases on the way to a hotel. And make sure you have an empty toolchest so people think you work for a living. Groceries are an issue but basically every truck I have ever had the displeasure of parking near just opens their passenger door all the way (almost always dinging the car next to them) and takes twelve minutes to load three bags.
But as an actual truck? it is dogshit. But also… Simone Giertz kind of created Truckla, the dream vehicle of every single millennial who knows what a Lowe’s is: the El Camino. Form factor of a sedan/crossover but with a truckbed so we don’t have to hold a hand out to keep the pipe from shooting forward and cracking the windshield when we stop. And it would have let them reuse almost the entire existing assembly line and designs.
I’m 40 and drive an 84 El Camino, you’re spot on lol
This just made me think of a great feature for all these cars with sensors nowadays.
Side door ding avoidance - as the door is opened if it detects its about to hit another vehicle, it will halt the door opening.
Of course now you need all the fancy tech in the door to halt the door but think of all dings saved!
One day maybe. One day.
Having computer logic to decide if you are allowed to open your door is how you get people drowning in their cars or getting heat stroke because they started a firmware update.
That said, this is very much the kind of problem that can be solved… basically the same way cabinets solve it. A few springs to increase the resistance so that you can’t slam the door open. But that probably has issues with needing to close a door REALLY fast for Reasons.
Personally? I don’t really care. Cars are going to get dings and those trucknuts are too weak to do any real damage. But the audacity I have seen from some drivers who slam their door open while on the phone and take ten minutes to put four bags in the passenger foot area. All while the driver of the car they just damaged is standing there and staring at them.
Vehicles that aren’t vans should have sliding doors.
I guess those are all fair points, but maybe the thing that holds it could be easily overpowered even with the computer 100% trying to stop you.
That might not be enough for a strong wind, but accidental openings maybe?
Couldn’t you just line the door edge with rubber so if it dings, it bounces and there are no visible markings on either car?
You’d need rubber on the cars exterior for that to work.
The Santa Cruz is basically that. They took the Tucson and turned the trunk into a bed. I love mine, but it would be neat if it were electric.
Agreed entirely. I live my SC and describe it as “for people who could get away with an SUV or hatchback but need a bed”. Like I get to have more of a car (albeit big for a car) but the messy stuff doesn’t get in the cab.
My bet is on Ford doing a mav EV before Hyundai does a SC EV though. Just glad to see more tiny trucks out there.
Should just get a Chevy Avalanche since they’re almost as ugly
3,878 specifically lmfao
That’s how many were delivered so far. There are plenty more morons still eagerly waiting for these turds.
Tesla: Recalls are easier and cheaper if you keep sales low
Taps forehead meme
Sadly it’s more of a production problem than a demand problem. I believe there are 100s of thousands of preorders pending. They are just hard to build to any decent standard. Or apparently impossible to build to even a basic working standard.
That’s more than Ford F150 lighting sold in the same starting period back in 2022,and its more than GM sold of the Silverado EV that started months earlier.
Ramps aren’t linear and start slow.
Ramps gonna start real slow with a recall
The stop sale is already over.
The F150 EV is not exactly a success.
I mean in the grand scheme of things you’re right, but clearly the CyberTruck is doing better than the non fugly trucks in the same time frame.
It’ll be awhile longer though before we actually know how it’s going to do.