The Tesla Cybertruck looks like nothing else on the road, but it’s not just polarizing in looks. It’s faced controversy since it was first announced, and that’s only intensified since deliveries started late last year. The Cybertruck has already been in the news for rust and wild error messages. Now, it seems like it’s got a new thirst for blood.
The news comes to us from the Cybertruck Owner’s Club, a forum for owners of Tesla’s first pickup. There, owner CyberWade wrote to warn others about the perils posed by the vehicle’s stainless steel door panels.
“I parked on an incline, exited the truck and as I was closing the door I manage to clip the very corner of the door against my leg,” said CyberWade. “When I got home the wife said I needed to go get stitches, so I did.” No kidding—the gory photo accompanying the post was quite something. Scroll on if you dare.
https://twitter.com/youwouldntpost/status/1787228522773369159
The resulting gash is quite something; it looks to be almost a half-inch deep. CyberWade took full responsibility for the incident but still felt the need to share with other Cybertruck owners so that they could avoid a similar fate.
In any case, it didn’t hurt his love for Tesla product one jot. “I still love the truck!” his post exclaims.
I’ve had similar incidents myself, where I’ve heavily clipped the edge of a door with my shin. However, at best, I’ve received a small surface scratch or a minor bruise. I’ve never had to seek expert medical help to put my flesh back together.
The responses from the forum are enlightening. “This beast has some sharp angles,” said Nobell32. “I cut my finger while washing the car.” He notes it was a “lesson learned” and that he’ll be more careful around the edges in future. Meanwhile, others expected Tesla to solve the issue for customers. “Tesla needs to find a way to round the edges on the SS [stainless steel] cause not everyone is going to take it on the chin,” said Alpine. “There could be lawsuits coming.”
Cyberman gets the strangest comment award, however. “Don’t take this wrong, dude, but it kinda looks like a vagine on your leg.” I’m not going to correct his spelling because I don’t want to touch that comment with a ten-foot pole.
It’s hard to say at a glance whether the Cybertruck’s design played a major role here. The edge of the door is a touch pointier than some other vehicles. The Cybertruck’s elevated ride height also puts the edge of the door at a more dangerous height. You certainly wouldn’t want a toddler to run into it, for example. Regardless, this isn’t outright a major problem for the Cybertruck.
However, other parts of the vehicle are proving sharp enough to cause problems. “Also take note of the speaker grill,” says flamaest on the forum. “My CT speaker grill is metal and I have skinned my knee to bleeding twice. It’s like a cheese grater.”
Other owners have taken matters into their own hands. Kevin Erickson took to YouTube to show how he’s been sanding and deburring the edges of various panels. He found that the panels had sharp spots on several edges, including where one’s hands would often grab the door.
In a more shocking test, EverydayChris was able to cut vegetables using the stainless steel panels. One edge was able to slice straight through a hot dog.
I don’t have to tell you that this is unusual. I can’t name any other automaker currently selling a car in the US that you have to sand the sharp edges off yourself. Hilariously, in a report on this issue back in December last year, American Cars and Racing noted that “the U.S. doesn’t have regulations regarding this type of design issue.” That’s probably because most automakers try to design cars that won’t cut you.
Traditionally, most other cars have rolled edges that eliminate a lot of these problems. Otherwise, manufacturers insist on deburring steps to clean things up prior to delivery. The raw nature of the Cybertruck’s panels, combined with a lack of extra processing steps, are clearly causing some issues here.
In any case, if you’re buying a shiny metal car that looks like it could cut you, it probably can. Take the time to rectify the problem, lest you slice your hand open and spill blood all over your outfit. Otherwise, when you walk in to your restaurant reservation, you’ll likely get snark from the waiter. “Ah, I see you drove the Cybertruck tonight, sir.”
Image credits: Tesla
Late-model Dodge Durangos (Durangoes?) have a razor-sharp parrot’s beak edge on both outer tail lights that is exposed with the rear hatch open. Many a Durango owner has been gouged/cut/torn by those while loading/unloading stuff through the hatch. I have a 1″ scar on the inside of my arm from this. I used some 300 grit emery cloth to smooth the edge so that it can’t lay me open anymore. https://www.dodgedurango.net/threads/mauled-by-taillight.80765/
Similarly, the Mk7 golf has a recall/TSB for shifter trim becoming razor sharp as the finish peels off the plastic housing. I’ve got a solid 1″ scar on the bottom of my right thumb because it peeled up and sliced my hand wide open when I went to pull my phone out from the little cubby when parking on my ’18. My solution was sell the car to someone else (which I was doing anyways) also I had a spare shift knob/trim assembly that I swapped out.
Back when GM’s “Dustbuster” minivans were a thing, there was a huge problem with people slicing their head open on the pointed trailing upper tip of the front doors. It was bad enough that GM ended up having to put warning labels on the inside edge of the doors.
Durangi
Dur-did-dodge-doodly-ango!
“The edge of the door is a touch pointier than some other vehicles.”
“Traditionally, most other cars have rolled edges that eliminate a lot of these problems.”
I don’t know of any other production volume program that does not have rolled edges, as far as I know, it is simply how it is done. Suspect this program was authoritarian ruled, and ignored many reasonable engineer corrections.
I always think of Legal and Quality as the two main babysitters of any manufacturing company. I cannot imagine being in either field at Tesla.
Quality: This is an obviously poor design.
Legal: We are going to get sued.
Elon: *bong hit*
Yo, don’t blame it on weed. Elon is a walking midlife crisis and a terrible person who just happened to make some good bets with his inherited wealth – and many terrible ones later on. Most of us cannabis afficionados aren’t going around being professional dickheads all the time.
I don’t even care to be a non professional dickhead.
And I thank God for the good weed preventing that. Weed jokes are getting sort of old these days…
Right? If anything, weed’s preventing him from acting even crazier.
I didn’t mean to blame it on weed– just kind of making fun of Elon’s very public consumption of it. As if it makes him soooooo cool and edgy to smoke it. “I’m not like other CEOs, I’m a cool CEO.”
Yeah, to be fair that is worth making fun of, because it’s just another aspect in which he’s so detached from reality. Nothing edgy about smoking weed on camera, desperate for other people to validate your coolness.
I can see why they didn’t roll the edges – they’re pretty thick as-is, and I assume there’d be some challenges. Rounding the edges would probably be the right solution, especially at that price point, but not even bothering to deburr any of the edges is ridiculous at any price.
Stockholm Syndrome
Someone get out the JC Whitney catalog and buy those chrome guards, you can put them on every panel of the cybertruck.
I think I’d rather order an entire truck from JC Whitney than have one of these.
Do they sell the chrome guards in black?
Nothing screams Cybertruck owner like being literally hurt by the truck and still clarifying that you love it. Not to mention it being casually accepted that you have to sand and deburr your brand new vehicle to reduce the odds of it. Mememobile just keeps on producing content.
Abusive relationships seldom end pretty.
Moreover I can see Tesla denying any warranty claims (if needed) due to the vehicle having aftermarket mods (sand and deburring)
It is funny reading this here, a level headed place, with an editorial line of “don’t stir shit up just for clicks”, and then imagining how the old side will have a field day with it. I imagine headlines like “Elon Musk Personally Slashed a fanboy leg open and he is fine with it!”
It is not that I blame the writes there, I know this is coming from above. But damn, they will have a lot to say about this if they find out…
Musk is such a dumpster fire that there’s really no need to put a thumb on the scale.
No pain, no gain.
Can we also laugh at the fact that the poster lists his occupation as a “Cybercontractor”?
You lose your finger here,
You slice your shin right there,
Lose the pedal here, and you shake it all about
You keep the brand in focus, and you give Elon some clout,
That’s what it’s all about!
Perfect. No notes.
Thank you. For once, mentally never leaving pre-school has paid off!
If this doesn’t get COTD I’m gonna do it! *holds cybertruck door to own throat*
Hear me out:
Christine Pt 2: Cybertruck edition
It’s writing itself, maiming and dismemberment, truck controls itself, you can even have a HAL-9000-esqe antagonist with Autopilot.
If anyone from Hollywood is reading, contact me for production rights!
Seems to me that if you didn’t want to engage that comment, you wouldn’t have boosted it in the article? $0.02
He didn’t want to TOUCH it, he can still stare at it, horrified, like a car wreck on the side of the highway.
Gotta admit that I thought the same thing this Cyberman dude wrote. Then again, I only thought it, he went there and wrote it (and even did it wrong).
Im thinking he spelled it that way to reference Borat, as tesla people seem to only speak in short bursts of memes
Puts the “Darmok” episode of “Star Trek: The New Generation” in an entirelly new (and unflattering) perspective…
“Greg Gutfeld, on Outnumbered, when gas prices rose”
I’m just here for the schadenfreude
If any other OEM did this, they’d be scutinize and laughed out the door but because Tesla, people just casually overlook it and call it a perk.
Have you not been on the internet elsewhere? People are scrutinizing and laughing about this amongst other CyberTruck things.
The only ones doing so are non-Tesla owners. OTOH Tesla owners are some of the most brand loyal despite clear design and craftsmanship defects over the years (regardless of the model)
One suggestion is to get some door edge guard material from an auto parts store like the one I work at. It may affect the style of the truck but you won’t cut yourself up so much!
if they own a Cybertruck they aren’t worried about styling
Worked in stainless sheet steel manufacturing for roughly 20 years. This is no joke. We were required to wear woven kevlar sleeves over our shirts on the factory floor in the cold rolling and finishing areas to protect against accidental contact. Gloves were required for ALL jobs.
Slightly better than working in glass
Sounds like at that employer, safety was job #1, not so much at Tesla.
It will be a badge of ownership, like cyclists with their chainring scars
Indisputable proof that Musk is the ultimate edgelord.
Sheesh, this thing’s going to shave meat off pedestrians like a Hobart slicer going through a deli ham.
On one hand, I sympathize to an extent, having burned a circle into my calf multiple times exiting my Viper.
On the other hand, LOL.
On the third hand, “gnarly” and “vagine” both appearing in the same sentence? Yeah that seems like a CT forum.
I thin it’s ok for some cars to be kind of dangerous by simply existing; at the end of they contain a tank of gasoline with about ~115K BTU of energy per gallon and they are at LEAST 2500lbs these days and they can go 100MPH or more! They are complex machines to be treated with respect. Some are more friendly than others.
Now, is a slice machine like this ok? I’m not sure. Throw aside the safety issue, it just seems unfinished. What else is?
Heat is inevitable in a car, and while most manufacturers attempt to minimize the risk of harm from hot parts, it can’t be eliminated. Owner training and awareness make up the rest. People who get burned by their cars have my sympathy.
Dangerous unfinished sharp edges can 100% be eliminated and are not inherent in a car. People don’t expect to get sliced up by their car, because slicing people up isn’t something cars do. Enthusiastic Cybertruck owners who get injured by their truck’s asshat design and manufacturing do not have my sympathy.
Side pipes that burn your shins can 100% be eliminated and are nothing more than a design choice for style over safety.
I accept that risk when I drive the car, but the idea is exactly the same as this.
One could make the argument that given a Viper is by design a “race car” and side pipes are shorter than your standard exhaust therefor lighter, it would make sense to have them. That extra 4 foot of exhaust would probably add more than a few lbs worth of weight.
A body panel on an overpriced meme slicing you open because of shitty manufacturing isn’t the same IMHO.
Every Tesla owner is Chip Diller.
“Thank you sir may I have another?”
TIL automobiles can be vectors for a disease, originating from Stockholm.
The Swedes are striking against the company developing this turd because of his “disruptive” labor practices. Leave Stockholm out of this!
Where’s Darth Nader when you need him?
So, I’ve only seen two Cybertrucks in the real world – one moving, one parked in a parking lot. As I walked past the one in the parking lot, I looked for the sharp edges that had been reported. Despite seeing photos and pictures of injuries, I was still surprised how sharp and rough the edges were. I’m far less surprised by the reports of injuries and more surprised that owners and Tesla don’t seem to care more about this.
Pointy tail fins were one of the safety hazards Ralph Nader railed against back in the day (contrary to popular belief, that book actually has more than one chapter), kind of seems like this is the ’59 Cadillac situation all over again, except worse, because those fins were extremely unlikely to ever be a problem for the person owning and driving the car, just for anyone else who might run into them, and also because the Caddy was at least attractive to look at
Some people will literally bleed for Tesla.
It’s just a flesh wound. C’mon ya pansy!
Only pedophiles whine about being cut by their cars.
This puts a whole new meaning to bleeding edge technology.
The cognitive dissonance is real. Could you imagine the lawsuits and online shit talking that would occur if every one of these owners wasn’t a fucking cultist! The shit these people put up with cause they are blind fanboys blows my mind. Like this should be a safety hazard. Once one of these things slices up a child then we will see some response online.
Well, I think single-make online forums generally tend to be echo chambers of sycophantic brand loyalists regardless of automaker, I think Tesla is going to get pretty openly criticized about this by the wider media
I’d hope so. This is not ok. It is one thing to smash one’s fingers but if the bottom of my doors could do that to my leg I would be crazy angry.
yes, but single make forums don’t have to deal with shit that will hurt you just by touching or brushing against it. For issues like this the maker doesn’t get a free pass, and they are actually being called on it. Where members felate each other is that said maker is better than any another maker.
will it slice a child or just mow them down in fsd mode?
Why not both lol
It’ll be like the guy who fell in the toxic waste at the end of Robocop. Hit them and they explode in gore with a fart-sounding noise.
It IS a safety hazard. Sorry to go all lawyery, but these sharp edges are an inherent design defect that are crying out for product liability lawsuits. Everyone of these dumbass forums has plaintiffs attorneys trolling for potential suits. I cannot believe this truck got made.
This. I don’t know enough about the legal system to say for sure but I feel like anyone who got cut badly enough to need stitches would have a good case. Not a good look for Tesla, since the edges could have been smoothed out in production, but for some reason (cost/time probably) were not.
The Cult of Elon will severely punish any child who dares to bleed all over the Cybertruck.
well, it will get Sandy Hooked by the cultists…