Link: https://fuelarc.com/evs/3-cybertrucks-caught-fire-after-underbody-strikes-tesla-sells-a-3500-option-to-prevent-it/

I mean, I'm glad Tesla built a fix, but it's sort of tacky to ship a $75,000+ truck and then sell the fireproofing separately.

I'm going to propose that they already had this fix in mind, they just didn't make it standard equipment because they tried to save money raise profits by not putting it on them. Didn't Teslas have this issue before and they designed a retrofit for them?

I won't be surprised to hear that the NHTSA is surpressing Tesla accident data.

In a functioning society, these things would have been recalled a dozen times by now. But the owner of the company is frenemies with the fucking president so we just have to live with fire bomb hazards driving on our streets

I was just thinking... last time this happened, in 2013, the NHTSA investigated 2 fires and Tesla issued a free fix.

I wonder what changed to make Tesla fear the NHTSA so little? :>

Only eleven times, sadly, not an even dozen :(

Its an ev version of the pinto

Worse. Much. Worse.

Kinda funny seeing this and the attached post so close together.

https://electrek.co/2026/09/06/another-chinese-ev-myth-busted-as-gac-geely-and-leapmotor-ace-euro-ncap/

A third Cybertruck drove over a highway cable barrier, lost a wheel, and burned for hours despite the fire department’s best efforts on-scene.

Wha... what... what in the ever-fucking love do you mean it lost a wheel?!

I... I'm at a loss here, you... cars are not supposed to lose wheels?!

Youre not supposed to drive over steel poles either. Unintended use cases can result in unexpected behavior

It's a Cybertruck thing! If you look at photos of wrecks, you'll see an inordinate number that tossed a wheel.

3 Cybertrucks Caught Fire

One of the three hit a fire hydrant and a tree before the battery ignited. The flaming prison cell on three wheels is not the expected behaviour following a minor road traffic accident either: "In this total nightmare scenario, the doors would not open, and the driver couldn’t break the Cybertruck’s “armored” windows from inside"

So the Batmobile that lost it's wheel, was a Cybertruck!

EM: Well, there are a lot of these cars going around the world all the time, and very seldom does anything like this happen … I just don’t want people thinking that Cybertrucks aren’t safe.

R: Was this Cybertruck safe?

EM: Well I was thinking more about the other ones…

R: The ones that are safe...

EM: Yeah... the ones the wheel doesn’t fall off.

My previous EV, an extremely humble (and cheap) Dacia Spring, got hit by a semi on the highway. It was totaled, completely destroyed. It finished upside down and even then, it didn't catch fire and the doors opened. Also didn't lose any of the wheels. I'd say that was the most unintended use case of the car and still, a barely 15k euros car ended in a better shape than a $75k+ monstrosity that is marketed as a truck "for the apocalypse".

they are joined at the hip, via EPSTEIN

the wheel just flew off i guess?

flaming COFFIN.

So true. If the Pinto line had continued it would have been the most safety-minded car in the '70s - to use air bags, a proper redesigned fuel tank, and implement a preliminary frame body safety cage (so doors are openable after collisions).

His style can be a bit annoying but go watch WhistlingDiesels CyberTruck durability tests.

Dude had to keep pumping money to the Tesla center for repairs just to get the thing running again for more video content. Tow hitch module fell off after some off roading and the thing couldn't move anymore. Because that's how well it's built.

He's done this to a bunch of vehicles and nothing is this finicky. The actual king of status symbol trucks, the Mercedes G class, survived everything he threw at it pretty much.

If you hit a cable barrier, I hope you will lose all wheels immediately. The barrier is there for a reason. You are not supposed to hit that. Because on the other side of it, there might be #insert_living_organism_here#

A mere strike to the underbody, you say?

Tesla never liked strikes

I saw a video of a guy how had an accident in his cybertruck. He lost a wheel and filmed the aftermath and talked about it. The wheel at the breaking points looked like it was melted together out of old monster cans. You could see millions of pretty sizable pores. So i'm kinda shocked that it's not happening more frequently to be honest

Isn't that guy a con-man?

NCAP is rigged I think, Cybertruck scored 5/5 stars: https://www.nhtsa.gov/vehicle/2024/TESLA/CYBERTRUCK/PU%25252FCC/AWD

Depends on your definition of con-man. He has been arrested and charged for tax evasion. As far as I know he isn't "conman" as such as having conned/frauded say viewers or so on out of money.

Well, there is this. Also, just found a video of him getting arrested, because of tax fraud.

US NHTSA run their own NCAP with their own rules.

BYD, Geely, and GWM typically go through Euro NCAP. Tesla has refused to submit their vehicles to their tests which tells you everything you need to know and conveniently ensures you will always get the bullshit US rating if you search "NCAP Cybertruck".

Given the existing safety issues with oversized trucks with low visibility or pedestrian impact survivability, I'm not at all surprised that a low-poly shitbox is somehow considered 'good' in the US which allows these kind of fuckass designs.

TIL. Explains a lot really.

Unscheduled spontaneous de-wheeling.

His videos are all bullshit.

And the joker got away

NTHSA is not NCAP. US truck safety standards are lower. People ironically buy big trucks thinking they are safer.

Our product is shit? Buy more shit, to make the shit less shit!

A sausage car?

Cyber truck can't sell in Europe, so of course they won't do Euro NCAP. The design fails pedestrian safety standards. USA hates pedestrians.

The Pinto was cheap and reliable and did not fund Nazism.

Terrible visual, that one...

Did it have to be the hip?

They said it was built like a tank, now i get what they mean; the underside is a weakpoint

I don't watch his stuff, I only knew about the name because of coffeezilla. Did some digging, and he has been arrested twice for tax evasion. And got a mail order bride from Russia.

A shield upgrade? My racecar has that. Made out of 1/4" steel to give extra perfection protection to the oil pan. It was free. Left over metal on the shop floor. Also my racecar isn't prone to catching on fire like a Tesla but, I still have a fire extinguisher in it.

And only one of them for a functional butt hole out of the deal 🤣

I giggle every time I see your username, thank you lol

they must use the same glue to hold the wheels on as they do the side panels and bumpers.

A fire extinguisher ain’t gonna touch a battery fire. There really isn’t much you can do besides keep things away from it while it burns itself out.

You can drop the whole thing into a tank of water. Cooling it down is basically the only way to stop an EV fire because it's an exothermic, often self oxidizing reaction.

Fire departments are starting to deploy mobile water containers for it.