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c/nottheonion · by KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 2d

3 Cybertrucks Caught Fire After Underbody Strikes. Tesla Now Sells a $3,500 Battery Shield Upgrade.

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.

498 points · 85 comments · view on lemmy.world

85 Comments

rockSlayer@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 110 pts · 2d (9 replies)

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

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 47 pts · 2d

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? :>

W98BSoD@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 16 pts · 2d

Wherever I'm going, I'll be there to apply the formula. I'll keep the secret intact.
It's simple arithmetic.
It's a story problem.
If a new car built by my company leaves Chicago traveling west at 60 miles per hour, and the rear differential locks up, and the car crashes and burns with everyone trapped inside, does my company initiate a recall?
You take the population of vehicles in the field (A) and multiple it by the probable rate of failure (B), then multiply the result by the average cost of an out-of-court settlement (C).
A times B times C equals X. This is what it will cost if we don't initiate a recall.
If X is greater than the cost of a recall, we recall the cars and no one gets hurt.
If X is less than the cost of a recall, then we don't recall.

Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 12 pts · 2d (2 replies)

they are joined at the hip, via EPSTEIN

JasonDJ@lemmy.zip · 2 pts · 2d

Terrible visual, that one...

Did it have to be the hip?

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 0 pts · 2d

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

Zorque@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2d (1 reply)

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

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 1 pts · 1d
[ removed ]
takeda@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 2 pts · 2d (1 reply)

But the owner of the company is frenemies with the fucking president

Enemies? That whole feud was faked to save Tesla. People were boycotting them very successfully. Musk continues to work helping trump including again paying to help in midterms.

Unfortunately this stunt worked.

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 1 pts · 1d

"this stunt worked" is relative.

Look at their sales chart. By comparison, Toyota moved 11-12 million.

Gravity is inevitable. 1.5 million units a year is a unsustainable failure if the stock price is $300+. They need to multiply it by something insane like 20x for the stock price to make sense.

Murse@slrpnk.net · 63 pts · 2d (2 replies)

3 Cybertrucks Caught Fire

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d (1 reply)

gagcar@lemmus.org · 2 pts · 1d

You yaself admitta yaself

ignotum@lemmy.world · 37 pts · 2d (2 replies)

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

ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 1d (1 reply)

They meant fish tank.

blargh513@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 1d

Two fish are in a tank, one says to the other, "I'll shoot the cannon, you drive!"

AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social · 36 pts · 2d (28 replies)

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?!

boonhet@lemmy.zip · 25 pts · 2d (8 replies)

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.

CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works · 7 pts · 2d (7 replies)

Isn't that guy a con-man?

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 7 pts · 2d (2 replies)

His videos are all bullshit.

CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 2d

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.

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

variaatio@nord.pub · 4 pts · 2d (3 replies)

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.

CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works · 3 pts · 2d (2 replies)

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

village604@adultswim.fan · 4 pts · 2d (1 reply)

They said he was arrested for tax evasion.

CanadianCarl@sh.itjust.works · 1 pts · 2d

He was arrested twice for it.

Bbbbbbbbbbb@lemmy.world · 14 pts · 2d (6 replies)

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

AbsolutelyNotAVelociraptor@piefed.social · 22 pts · 2d (3 replies)

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".

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 6 pts · 2d (1 reply)

The fact that "it didn't catch fire and the doors opened" is the measure of success means that the bar is really on the floor for Teslas.

For real though don't run over the bar with a Tesla, if it goes through the battery, you're toast

Boe@lemmy.blahaj.zone · 2 pts · 1d

bar is really on the floor for Teslas.

Just don’t run over that bar

captainlezbian@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d

It's an unintended use, but an expected condition. A vehicle should never add to the danger in an expected condition except in ways necessary for an expected function (reaching highway speeds for example is inherently dangerous)

Arola@sh.itjust.works · 10 pts · 2d (1 reply)

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"

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 5 pts · 2d

flaming COFFIN.

p03locke@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 13 pts · 2d

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.

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 10 pts · 2d

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

FatVegan@leminal.space · 9 pts · 2d

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

CaptPretentious@lemmy.world · 6 pts · 2d (1 reply)

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

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 4 pts · 2d

And the joker got away

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Unscheduled spontaneous de-wheeling.

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 1 pts · 1d

"The wheel rolled away autonomously, so FSD was achieved" - Elon

Tollana1234567@lemmy.today · 4 pts · 2d

the wheel just flew off i guess?

antianarchist@sopuli.xyz · 3 pts · 2d

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#

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d

adarza@lemmy.ca · 3 pts · 2d

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

RaoulDuke25@lemmy.dbzer0.com · 0 pts · 2d

Rhaedas@fedia.io · 26 pts · 2d

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?

SoupBrick@pawb.social · 18 pts · 2d (6 replies)

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/

huppakee@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d (5 replies)

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

Funwayguy@lemmy.world · 11 pts · 2d (3 replies)

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.

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 6 pts · 2d (1 reply)

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.

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 2 pts · 2d

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

huppakee@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d

TIL. Explains a lot really.

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 5 pts · 2d

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

MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 16 pts · 2d

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

hanke@feddit.nu · 16 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Tesla never liked strikes

KayLeadfoot@fedia.io · 3 pts · 2d

Happy Labor Day 😎

DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world · 13 pts · 2d

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

bobbyfiend@retrolemmy.com · 11 pts · 2d

A mere strike to the underbody, you say?

JeeBaiChow@lemmy.world · 10 pts · 2d (3 replies)

Its an ev version of the pinto

FuglyDuck@lemmy.world · 16 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Worse. Much. Worse.

VicksVaporBBQrub@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 2d

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).

SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.ca · 8 pts · 2d

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

NihilsineNefas@slrpnk.net · 8 pts · 1d

Any other company would have been sued into nonexistence if they released a car that;

Lied in its marketing

Can't tow for shit - aluminium frame holding tow bar collapses under 'rated' strain

Can't be driven in water - electronics fail

Can't offroad

Breaks when treated as anything but a soccermom suv

Stuck the accelerator on full blast during one user's drive

Autopilot feature was stuck behind and update for the first year

And now denonstrably sets fire to itself if damaged from the underside (but dont worry, the company now sells a product to bandaid that open chest wound)

SethTaylor@lemmy.world · 8 pts · 1d

Folks, please stop kicking Cybertrucks in the balls

And if you own a Cybertruck, please purchase our new jockstrap

possiblylinux127@lemmy.zip · 8 pts · 2d

There are many other EVa that don't have this problem

HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world · 7 pts · 2d (1 reply)

gagcar@lemmus.org · 1 pts · 1d

Ang steeringk wheel that flies out tha window while hyou are adrivingk. Itsa good idea and Ing stand by that.

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 6 pts · 2d (11 replies)

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.

OozingPositron@feddit.cl · 5 pts · 2d (1 reply)

I feel like you just wanted to tell people about your racecar, but I respect that. May I see a photo?

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 5 pts · 1d

I'm only going to say no cause I don't wanna give out my name that's on it lol. I will however give you the guy who won our divisions feature last weekend. Our car is similar under the hood, we just have an 80s Monte Carlo body kit.

invertedspear@lemmy.zip · 4 pts · 2d (4 replies)

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.

village604@adultswim.fan · 2 pts · 2d (3 replies)

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.

Bad_Ideas_In_Bulk@lemmy.world · 3 pts · 2d

Damage to the cells can make them ignite. Fires cause damage. They are known to reignite later.

But at least you can tow them somewhere else to burn.

NikkiDimes@lemmy.world · 1 pts · 2d (1 reply)

Putting lithium batteries in water doesn't sound like the move to me...

village604@adultswim.fan · 2 pts · 2d

Lithium batteries contain little to no pure lithium.

It's similar to saying that putting salt in water is a bad move because pure sodium reacts violently with water.

smeenz@lemmy.nz · 1 pts · 1d (3 replies)

Extra perfection?

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 1d (2 replies)

Clearly I didn't double check my swipe text again 🙃 I failed.

smeenz@lemmy.nz · 1 pts · 1d (1 reply)

And there I was thinking your oil pan was somehow less than perfect.

greatwhitebuffalo41@slrpnk.net · 1 pts · 7h

Just standard unfortunately lol

tigermountain@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d

It's a lot more than tacky.

fubarx@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d (2 replies)

MonkderVierte@lemmy.zip · 1 pts · 2d (1 reply)

A sausage car?

limelight79@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 2d

Oscar-Meyer Weinermobile. They have six or so of them wandering around the country, for advertising.

DarkFuture@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 2d

I mean short of directly funding a powerful Nazi, there appears to be a lot of other reasons not to own one of these things.

jxk@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 1d

Ah yes, the Boeing school of transport safety. Part of the vehicle keeps exploding? Just put some metal sheet around it.

myyass@lemmy.world · 2 pts · 1d

I would just buy a used MRAP, at least it looks cool and futuristic.