On December 28, 2023 at approximately 2:05 pm, CHP Redwood City units were dispatched to a two-vehicle crash on SR-35 (Skyline Boulevard), south of Page Mill Road. Our preliminary investigation indicates a Toyota Corolla was traveling south on SR-35 southbound, south of Page Mill Road, at an unknown speed, when the driver, for unknown reasons, turned to the right and subsequently struck a dirt embankment on the right shoulder. The Toyota then re-entered the roadway, crossed over the double yellow lines into the northbound lane, and crashed into a Tesla Cybertruck traveling north on SR-35 northbound.
The Corolla looks pretty messed up. Unfortunately, we don’t get to see the damaged side of the Cybertruck. The side airbags went off, but no idea yet if this was a “that’ll buff out” situation.
How would the Cybertruck (and more importantly, its occupants) fare in a forward collision with a massive stationary object? Indestructible panels aren’t easily consistent with crumple zones.
I went to look thinking that now that it has been released, there must be crash test information. Well, sort of. There are lots of videos of crash tests, and pictures of crash tested Cybertrucks, but as of right now, no NHTSA (government) or IIHS (insurance industry) results or analysis for the Cybertruck.
As expected, those show lots of crumpled up Cybertrucks. (Or the same truck shared in lots of places.)
The professional and amateur automotive pundit response is all over the place, and shows just how divisive and biased some people can be when talking about Tesla. Lots of people claiming the results are terrible, and the Cybertruck is a terror that means death for pedestrians and occupants. Some say there is too much damage showing it is poorly made, others that there is not enough damage and the occupants will be pulped.
Other responses come back saying that without sensors the look of the damage is impossible to interpret, and that all trucks are bad for pedestrians. So maybe the results are bad, maybe they aren’t?
All I can say is that Tesla vehicles have historically performed extremely well in crash tests, with regard to protecting the occupants. So I would be disappointed if the Cybertruck does poorly.
Also, the energy level between a sledge hammer and a Corolla at speed are very different. “Immune to door dings” and “impervious to crash damage” are not the same. Designing a car with a hard skin, but a frame designed to predictably deform to absorb impacts are not mutually exclusive.
…Wait, aren’t the NHTSA tests mandatory, before a car can be sold to the public?
And yeah, you could design a car to be impervious to hammers but which would still crumple reliably and consistently in a crash, but it’d be very hard, hard enough that it’d be interesting to see someone do it.
My understanding is that there are minimum Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that must be met, but can be verified through internal testing (which we’ve seen videos of from the early reviews). NHTSA has a voluntary program which allows them to advertise “five-star safety” or the like, but it’s not required. There’s also IIHS ratings, which is a non-governmental agency, but has a similar ratings program.
We may not see these ratings for a while, since they’re mostly about advertising, and Tesla will be production-limited for a while. It’s possible that they want to tweak the software and some other things before submitting it for testing (since collision avoidance, etc. makes a difference).
Those are the FMVSS tests, as I mentioned (which, AFAIK, are generally performed by the automaker themselves). The NHTSA tests are so automakers can advertise safety above and beyond the minimum levels.
As to the alphabet soup of testing regimes there’s also a difference between
The test(s) have been performed and the results have been given to the relevant government agency which found them satisfactory.
and
The written test report(s) in detail and all relevant vids are available for the public to download and digest as they choose.
Clearly Cybertruck has met my first hurdle. Equally clearly we don’t yet have the second one. Nor may we ever. I’ve got no clue on disclosure requirements for that stuff, but I doubt full disclosure is mandatory. I’ve sure never seen it for other vehicles.
I put down a $200 deposit for the Cybertruck when it was announced.
I saw one in person just before Christmas. Honestly it was more impressive than I expected. From some angles it actually looks good, though the rear 3/4 view is still incredibly awkward. Mostly I respect that Tesla is trying to do something novel.
I am a “car guy” and I have about 4 cars / trucks which I replace at the rate of 1 per year. So I’m definitely open to trying to the Cybertruck and probably the best target market Tesla could hope for right now. I also think EVs are fantastic and better cars than ICE in most cases.
Then last week I got my email notification that I could place my order and configure my truck. The cheapest configuration available - costs $99,990.
This is a non-starter. Aside from being stupidly expensive even by pickup truck standards - I have zero confidence in Tesla’s engineering prowess when it comes to actually making cars. Conventional manufacturers put thousands of miles on their prototypes in all kinds of different situations to make sure they’ll perform as expected - before finalizing the design and putting it on sale. As far as I can tell, Tesla only started testing the Cybertruck at any scale back in September. They seem content to let their first customers be the beta testers.
For $40k I might give this a chance, or even $50k depending on specs. But at $100k, no way. I’ll wait for the Ford Raptor Lightning - or maybe the Ram Procharger, which looks really cool. Hell, even the clown car Hummer EV is a better option at that price.
Interesting. Right now this minute over on the regular Tesla website the “order my Cybertruck” page shows $61K estimated price for the base RWD model, $80K estimated price for the midrange AWD model, and $100K estimated price for the de luxo AWD performance “Cyberbeast” model.
Sounds like those “estimates” are about $40K low before you add any options. FYI the deposit is now $250. Which you (any you) need to pay before you can even see what the prices and options are.
Since you’ve got access to actual(?) pricing, can you check a couple things for me / everyone and report back?
What is the Cyberbeast base price?
Is there any difference between the three models in terms of interiors, trim levels, accessories, etc., or are you just paying for more power and maybe more battery capacity and possibly range?
What sort of options are available on these things at what sorts of round prices? I’m not meaning accessories like camper shells, I’m talking different seats, hot or cold weather packages, tow hitch, autopilot, ludicrous mode, etc. IOW the usual crap car makers use to add 20% to the price and 100% to the profit of selling you a new car.
Another wrinkle is that they are currently only selling the “Foundation” series models, which is a $20k options package. My impression is that the options do roughly add up to the price, though barely. It includes FSD, the Powershare connector, lifetime premium connectivity, and some other things. That will go away eventually, but seems to be an “early adopter fee” for the time being.
The cheap, single motor model isn’t going to be available for a couple of years. This is common with EV makers - the release the upscale, high priced versions first because that’s where the profit is, and because they probably can’t scale to mass market yet.
I wouldn’t buy any EV truck yet. They just aren’t very practical as trucks, and they are very new and the bugs haven’t been shaken out yet. But if I was in the market, I’d give the Cybertruck a good look.
Great. Better than I’d feared. I thought one of the lower trims would be first so the price delta @Absolute mentioned was an increase, not a model difference.
Right now, there are two configurations available for order. Both are described as “Foundation Series, Limited Edition, Fully Optioned”.
All-Wheel Drive
$99,990
Delivers January 2024 - March 2024
Dual motor All-wheel drive
318 mile range
600 horsepower
Cyberbeast
$119,990
Delivers Mid-Late 2024
Tri motor All-wheel drive
301 mile range
845 horsepower
There are no options to select and there don’t appear to be any differences between the two configurations other than the specs I listed here. The only other choice to make is whether you want to place a deposit for the range extender.
Range Extender
Estimated $16,000
470+ mile total range
Requires installation at a Tesla Service Center
Production planned to begin in late 2024
Non-refundable $500 deposit required now
This is all verbatim quotes from the ordering system, including the “estimated” price of the range extender, and “production planned to begin”, language, hah.
EDIT: I just noticed there is 1 difference between the Cyberbeast configuration list and the all-wheel drive, the Cyberbeast includes an “Off-road LED light bar”. There’s no other information about this and no pictures. Otherwise both models list the same features.
There are several things listed as included that are clearly going to be optional in the future. Full-self driving, “Premium Accessories”, PowerShare Outlets, PowerShare Home Backup, 20" wheels with 35" tires, and the white interior package.
