The Tesla Cybertruck has been out of service for a little over a week, and people are already ready to declare it a safety nightmare.
“Unguided missile” and “death machine” are some of the loaded phrases that get thrown around. Safety experts are ‘raising concerns’ about the truck’s crumple zones (or lack thereof). TikTok and other social media platforms are full of videos highlighting poor sightlines and lack of visibility for drivers and passengers.
But if the Cybertruck is particularly deadly to pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users, that’s because it’s America’s big truck in 2023. We have plenty of data to show that America’s favorite type of vehicle is also one of its most popular. deadly. We have very little data on the Cybertruck in particular, because it was only available for a couple of weeks and in very limited quantities.
But if the Cybertruck is particularly lethal to pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable road users, that’s because it’s a big truck in America in 2023.
We need more data — and testing — before we know more about the specific risks posed by this sharp-angled stainless steel tool. Currently, neither the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) nor the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) — two independent bodies that test new vehicles — have any plans to conduct crash safety tests with the Cybertruck.
All trucks are dangerous
But based on the specifications we know, we can definitely draw some conclusions about the Cybertruck. Like other trucks in its class, the Cybertruck is heavy, clunky to drive, very fast, and potentially very deadly to anyone unlucky enough to stumble into its path.
Last month, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) released a study that confirms much of what we already know: trucks and SUVs with long, flat fronts and high hoods are more dangerous to pedestrians than compact vehicles.
“A long front end increases the risk,” says Raul Arbelaez, vice president of the IIHS Center for Vehicle Research. “For medium-height vehicles, blocky or blunt front ends also increase the risk. A higher impact point increases the risk for cyclists.”
These characteristics are not unique to the Cybertruck. Trucks from Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Ram and others are also extremely deadly to pedestrians. EV trucks, in particular, are more lethal due to their increased weight due to the battery. However, for some reason, you don’t see many media stories calling out, say, the F-150 Lightning, Rivian R1T, or Chevy Silverado EV.
“The weight of vehicles in our fleet has continued to rise over the past 20 years,” says Arbelaez. “Electricity takes excess weight to another level that will lead to dangerous consequences.”
We need more data
Despite these conclusions, Arbelaez and other safety experts are taking a wait-and-see approach to the Cybertruck. “We haven’t had a chance to measure the front end of the Cybertruck, so we don’t know how it will compare to other pickups or SUVs,” he says.
A Consumer Reports spokesperson says the same thing: “We will wait for more data,” citing the need for independent testing data from the NHTSA and IIHS.
Tesla conducted its own crash tests with the Cybertruck in-house, videos of which were shown during a delivery event last month. But NHTSA has not yet performed its own tasks. In the United States, auto companies “self-certify” that their cars comply with federal safety standards that require everything from side mirrors to airbags to automatic emergency braking. There is no “pre-approval” before an automaker is allowed to sell its cars to the public.
“We will wait for more data.”
This allows Tesla to sell cars equipped with driver-assistance systems that safety experts say put drivers and pedestrians at risk. It is allowed to sell a truck made of stainless steel and without rounded edges. The Cybertruck meets “performance standards” for criteria such as lane departure warnings and dynamic brake support, according to the NHTSA website. But there is no five-star safety rating, and the Cybertruck is not mentioned on the agency’s list of vehicles it will test in 2024.
Areas of collapse, or lack thereof
So far, the aforementioned crash test videos that Tesla showed off during the delivery event have been the focus of most questions, with many of them focusing on the truck’s crumple zones, or lack thereof.
A crumple zone is the area of a vehicle that is designed to be crushed or crumbled upon impact. The crumple zone is often located at the front of the vehicle and absorbs some of the impact of the collision, protecting the driver and other passengers.
By absorbing and dissipating energy, crumple zones help prevent or reduce injuries to vehicle occupants during a collision. A harder compound, perhaps made of stainless steel, can complicate this process.
There are other design choices that make the Cybertruck a worrying addition to our roads.
There are other design choices that make the Cybertruck a worrying addition to our roads. When the hood is down, blind spots in corners look menacing. Tesla has added cameras to compensate for these blind spots, but it’s unclear what the driver will actually be able to see. The steering is digital rather than mechanical (“steer by wire”), the side mirrors can be removed, and there’s no rear-view mirror at all – the only way to see what’s to the side or behind is via the center console screen which is also the instrument panel, GPS mapping, Bluetooth and radio controls. The exterior is made of “bullet-resistant” steel with reinforced Gorilla Glass windows.
But again, all we have are a few videos. What we need is data, independently verified, before we can definitively say that this truck will cause mass death and destruction. Safety experts quoted by Reuters acknowledge that there may be some shock-absorbing mechanism that compensates for the apparent lack of collapse zones. We don’t know yet.
Elon Musk is “very confident” that the Cybertruck will be safer than other trucks on the road for passengers and pedestrians. Tesla has historically achieved high safety ratings thanks to its infrastructure, which makes the car stiffer and provides better protection for passengers. The battery’s location in the floor of the vehicle also gives the Model Y and other Tesla vehicles a lower center of gravity, which improves road stability and reduces the chance of a rollover. All four Tesla vehicles, the Model S,
But the Cybertruck is a truck, and trucks have historically been a pedestrian safety nightmare. The same is true for every Ford, GMC, Hummer and Ram truck on the road today. It is fundamental issues related to weight, height and dimensions that have contributed to the current crisis in pedestrian safety, with more people dying on the road than at any time in the past 40 years.
The Cybertruck is unlikely to be sold in Europe, which has much higher standards for pedestrian safety than the United States. One of Tesla’s lead designers said as much in an interview with TopGear Netherlands, blaming the inflexible stainless steel exterior.
There is no such rule here in the United States. Our vehicle safety rating system only takes into account people inside the car, not outside. The production and sale of giant, aggressive machines that are adept at killing us is depressingly legal and will likely remain so until something changes.
