“The panel fell off and there is no frame. It’s just plastic covered by that steel panel.”
According to an NPR story, the State Department announced recently that it is abandoning plans to purchase $400 million worth of armored Tesla vehicles, “after a public document detailing federal contracts for fiscal year 2025 gained wide attention.”
Or maybe they saw recent reports of the trucks shedding body parts while driving down the road and watched a video showing the cheap glue that holds them together. Maybe both. Who knows?
What we do know is that stories have been circulating about Tesla CyberTrucks resembling overloaded trash trucks on pickup day.
With reports of body parts flying across highways and putting lives in danger, it would seem Tesla has added “road hazard” to its list of standard features.
Then again, with self-igniting batteries and the tendency to explode while parked and unattended for weeks, I guess Tesla already had a big presence in the road hazard space. This is a link to a discussion group on Reddit for CyberTruck owners to commiserate.
A story published by Road & Track includes information on formal complaints filed with the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration about CyberTrucks falling apart. One of the reports states that the roofline trim piece "suddenly started falling off" at highway speeds.
Another example, detailed in a separate report, says an "upper passenger trim piece" fell off while the owner was driving their truck. A CyberTruck owners Facebook group has shared images and stories, and a YouTube video shows just how shoddy the workmanship appears to be. “That’s some cheap work. Just flew off.” There are plenty of theories about how and why such cheap materials and questionable construction methods were used, but that’s the subject of another story. The CyberTruck owner in one of the aforementioned National Traffic Highway Safety Administration complaints said they asked a Tesla service center to replace the same component on the truck's other side; but a brand representative told him that the location "will not do it unless [the panel] falls off." I’d say go ahead and get one ordered.
