Cybertruck issues seem to be flooding the web, from misaligned panels to poor mileage — but a malfunction in California could have been deadly.
A Tesla customer claimed the EV’s brakes malfunctioned just weeks after purchase, sending the vehicle crashing into the pole of a road sign.
Images of the incident showed the shiny steel front end smashed, the side panel hanging off and the hood bent on the side of the impact.
The driver said they attempted to slow the Cybertruck by pressing the brakes, only to find they did not engage – and noted the air bags also did not deploy when the EV collided with the pole.
The stainless steel hood was bent and buckled by the reported crash, which occurred mid-corner, according to the driver
The Cybertruck owner posted photos of the damage to the car after the crash. A broken bumper cover can be seen here
In a post on the Cyber Truck Owners Club forum, the driver explained that they were mid-corner when they lifted their foot off the accelerator – but the truck did not slow down.
These problems tend to center around the regenerative braking system, which is designed to automatically brake once a driver takes their foot off the accelerator – generating electricity from the car’s inertial motion in the process.
It’s not clear what went wrong with the recently crashed Cybertruck, but its owner reported that it is in the hands of Tesla technicians who should be able to provide some answers.
He also reported that he has asked for the electronic logs.
So far the post has garnered 12 pages of replies on the message board.
The driver wrote: ‘Guys I had my Truck for less than 350 miles. Something happened I can’t explain… I was driving like usual and when coming into a turn releasing the accelerator but the speed wasn’t reducing… so I pressed the brake… but it didn’t engage…. until it was too late and I hit a signal light pole, also airbags didn’t deploy.’
According to the driver’s replies to questions, they had only been driving the truck for five days, and the issue happened suddenly and abruptly.
No other issues had shown themselves before the crash.
Some commenters suggested that the issue may have involved the Tesla regenerative braking.
The driver confirmed that the regenerative braking did not feel like it was working at 100 percent:
‘Regen was working but it was limited it was different than before ( I’m doing a bad job of explaining), hence the application of brakes which also had a delayed feeling,’ they wrote.
The Cybertruck owner reported being sore but otherwise uninjured, and said, ‘Still love the truck though.’
DailyMail.com has reached out to Tesla for comment.
Problems with the regenerative braking have dogged Tesla, but the company ignored them when they were brought up back in 2021.
The issue led to 1.1 million Teslas being recalled in China in 2023, after multiple high-profile incidents where cars ran out of control.
Critics charged that software guiding the automated deployment of regenerative braking can conflict with a driver’s own directives as they attempt pumping either the brakes or the accelerator, with consequences that can prove fatal.
The glitch has been suspected in one Model Y’s murderous rampage in November 2022 in Chaozhou city, northeast of Hong Kong.
But in the US, a 2019 petition pleading with regulators to deal with the same issue was written off in 2021.
The truck has a large gap between the fender and the hood and bumper, and the fender flare is hanging off after the crash
The Cybertruck’s door and fender were misaligned after the accident, which saw the car run headlong into a light pole
The Cybertruck owner shared this photo of the pole that the truck ran into. Dents can be seen at about bumper height
In 2021, a statement by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (US NHTSA) claimed it found ‘no evidence’ of nearly identical design problems reported by US citizens.
In a 2020 press release, Tesla accused the petitioners of making ‘completely false’ claims at the instigation of ‘a Tesla short-seller.’
‘The explanation for the China recall appears to run counter to NHTSA’s findings in 2021,’ Michael Brooks, the executive director of the nonprofit consumer advocacy group the Center for Auto Safety, told the DailyMail.com via email.
The Center, including retired electronics engineer and physics PhD. Ronald Belt who studied the braking and acceleration problem extensively, contributed reports to the NHTSA petition.
The petition had been sent on the initiative of a Tesla short-seller, Brian Sparks of Berkeley, California.
The wrecked Tesla Model Y after it sped through Chaozhou city’s streets on November 5, 2022
‘The China action raises questions about whether there are design factors related to the regenerative braking that were not previously considered in the agency’s review,’ Brooks added.
A representative for the US NHTSA told the DailyMail.com that federal regulators are closely following the recall situation in China and ‘gathering more information from the manufacturer.’
Tesla vowed that it would fix the vehicles with a software update sent wirelessly to each car, according to a statement by Chinese regulators.
The update will reportedly add the option for drivers to select different regenerative braking strengths, and the option to change the feature’s default configuration.
The software update will also warn drivers when they have gone too hard on the accelerator.
Regenerative braking is a pre-programmed feature intended to contribute to an electric vehicles ‘green’ energy efficiency. ‘Regen’ kicks-in at the moment a driver starts to let up on the acceleration pedal, but this automated braking can vary in how gradual deceleration occurs or in its response to manual overrides.
While this has led to confusion among drivers, there have also been indications that a technical glitch between the automatic ‘regenerative braking’ system and the driver-controlled pedal braking system might also be contributing to accidents.
It is unclear if that is what occurred in this case, but since the 2021 recall, Tesla has sent multiple software updates to try to fix the regenerative braking issues.
The Cybertruck owner clarified that there were no warning indicator lights before the incident: The truck ‘didn’t decelerate fast enough, and brakes didn’t engage fast enough, there was a delay.’
Nonetheless, the owner’s enthusiasm for their Cybertruck did not seem diminished.
‘Everything was spectacular I enjoy the vehicle and I’m glad I am not injured in any way,’ they wrote, noting that the airbags did not deploy.
‘Definitely have whiplash,’ they added.
