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Dennis Donovan

(29,931 posts)
Sat Feb 22, 2025, 09:44 AM Feb 22

Road & Track: Some Cybertruck Owners Say Their Trucks Are Shedding Body Panels; One Thinks He Knows Why

Road & Track - Some Cybertruck Owners Say Their Trucks Are Shedding Body Panels; One Thinks He Knows Why

A Tesla owner who wraps the vehicles for a living has come up with a hypothesis as to why his truck lost a piece of its bodywork at speed.

By Fred Smith
Published: Feb 21, 2025 11:56 AM EST

Every example of the Tesla Cybertruck on the road comes with two boomerang-shaped pieces of metal attached along its roofline, completing a unique sharp point at the top of the car's windshield. In at least two cases reported to the federal government, drivers have stated this part or a similar one has flown off the car at speed — and one Cybertruck owner even says he has video of it jettisoning a boomerang-shaped piece of metal into the the road at highway speeds.

(video at link)

The clip, recorded by the on-board cameras of owner Reid Tomasko's Cybertruck and shared with Road & Track, appears to show that trim piece flying off of the driver's side of the truck. The trim piece then seems to fly into the lane behind the vehicle.

Tomasko owns Shock Auto Styling, a New Hampshire-based car-wrapping business that he says has worked on dozens of Cybertrucks, and says he has seen many of the trucks up close and removed so many of the vehicle's panels while wrapping them. He says he has encountered the problem on multiple trucks owned by other customers. In a video shared to YouTube two weeks ago, Tomasko detailed what he has seen happening with both his own Cybertruck and another truck suffering from similar problems.



As the video illustrates, the trim piece that flew off of his truck is connected to a plastic frame bolted directly to the car; that trim piece, he says, is stuck to the frame with adhesive rather than welded or bolted to anything. That adhesive has seemingly failed in multiple places on his truck, leading to the loosened roofline trim panels.

The trim piece may not be the only part of the truck that is effectively secured only with adhesive: Tomasko says he believes other components, including the truck's quarter panels, also seem to be held on this way, and that those components maybe vulnerable to the same sort of failure. Tomasko's video illustrates a similar adhesive problem on different parts of each of his truck's two quarter panels. The customer-owned truck in his video also appears to show similar adhesive problems on both of its quarter panels, as well as the tailgate, but the latter is also welded on at points.

/snip


Their reputation for being pieces of shit is earned!
9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Road & Track: Some Cybertruck Owners Say Their Trucks Are Shedding Body Panels; One Thinks He Knows Why (Original Post) Dennis Donovan Feb 22 OP
Regardless of Musk I dont know WHY anyone would buy that thing. Callie1979 Feb 22 #1
Waddya mean? Who wouldn't love to be seen in a "truck" that looks designed by a six year old child? marble falls Feb 22 #4
And if you happen to be driving right behind viva la Feb 22 #2
What this tells me is get away from them Captain Zero Feb 22 #5
+1,000,000 Auggie Feb 22 #6
It's a bag of shit. But it is quality shit. I hope Felon Musk has eat each and every one. marble falls Feb 22 #3
"What a waste of machinery" DinahMoeHum Feb 22 #7
Geez, they're not safe to drive and it's not safe to drive anywhere near them. tanyev Feb 22 #8
"Unsafe at any speed" eppur_se_muova Feb 23 #9

Callie1979

(635 posts)
1. Regardless of Musk I dont know WHY anyone would buy that thing.
Sat Feb 22, 2025, 09:51 AM
Feb 22

Its the ugliest vehicle on the road & as a truck it seems its use is limited.

marble falls

(64,283 posts)
4. Waddya mean? Who wouldn't love to be seen in a "truck" that looks designed by a six year old child?
Sat Feb 22, 2025, 10:07 AM
Feb 22

Captain Zero

(7,779 posts)
5. What this tells me is get away from them
Sat Feb 22, 2025, 10:12 AM
Feb 22

When encountering on the highway. If you have to exit or move to an emergency lane and let them get far away. You might have a good lawsuit if any piece strikes you but if your dead it will be your family that needs to sue.

tanyev

(45,907 posts)
8. Geez, they're not safe to drive and it's not safe to drive anywhere near them.
Sat Feb 22, 2025, 01:50 PM
Feb 22

What a piece of crap.

Hey, let's put the guy responsible for them in charge of "fixing" the entire government!

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