A Tesla Cybertruck driver died in what is believed to be the first reported fatal crash in the electric pickup truck that has yet to be third-party crash tested.
Tesla has a stellar crash testing record over the years, and several of its vehicles are the safety leaders in their categories.
The automaker has signaled that it expects the same for its Cybertruck, which it claims is built ruggedly.
We are starting to see more Cybertrucks on the roads, an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 units, and therefore, we are unsurprisingly starting to see some crashes. The electric truck seems to have performed fairly well on the first few reported crashes.
However, we now learn of the first fatal Cybertruck crash.
The accident happened last night in Chambers County, Texas. According to the state troopers (via KHOO), the Cybertruck lost control for an unknown reason, went off-road, and crashed into a concrete culvert.
Following the crash, the Cybertruck caught on fire. Images of the aftermath (above) show that much of the vehicle was burnt.
The driver unfortunately died at the scene. The identity of the driver hasn’t been made public.
The state troopers are investigating the crash for the cause.
Electrek’s Take
This is tragic.
Top comment by Tom D
Tesla has made its own crash tests, and we assume it performed well enough that it is comfortable releasing the product, but the truck hasn’t been independently tested yet.
I wouldn't necessarily assume that in the absence of any solid information. I might suspect that if Tesla's internal test data looked really good, they would probably be delighted to share that data outside the company. But even that is a guess. Until Tesla either shares their test data or independent testing is performed, any guesses about the safety of the vehicle are just guesses.
We don’t know the cause of the crash. It could be anything, but at least, we know it’s not Autopilot/Full Self-Driving since they are not yet available on the Cybertruck.
In terms of newsworthiness, we are more interested in the crash performance of the Cybertruck due to its novel structure.
Tesla has made its own crash tests, and we assume it performed well enough that it is comfortable releasing the product, but the truck hasn’t been independently tested yet. We don’t know when it will be tested.
We will await more information from this crash.
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