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Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla Cybertruck Body Panels Are Flying Off While Driving, And This Wrap Shop Owner Figured Out Why
For a truck that was supposed to be the toughest truck ever built, the Tesla Cybertruck sure has had a lot of problems. So far, it's been subject to seven recalls and two investigations, snapped its subframe in a WhistlinDiesel test, been defeated by a car wash and continues to regularly get stuck in the snow. It also has a habit of losing its sometimes razor-sharp body panels, which is decidedly Not Great. And while it's hard to imagine Tesla will actually do anything about it now that its CEO is busy dismantling the federal government from within, our friends at Road & Track recently spoke with one shop owner who believes he's figured out why Cybertrucks like to lose their bodywork. Reid Tomasko owns Shock Auto Styling, a New Hampshire car-wrapping business that has reportedly worked on dozens of Cybertrucks. Tomasko is also an owner, and unfortunately for him, his experience with the issue was especially dangerous. As he told Road & Track, not only did the boomerang-shaped piece of trim on the roofline fall off, it did so while he was driving, putting other drivers in serious danger. You don't have to take Tomasko's word for it, either. He also managed to capture it on video. After looking at what happened to his truck and others, he posted a video on his YouTube channel explaining what he thinks is happening. Read more: Tesla Cybertrucks Are Rusting Despite Being Made Of Stainless Steel According to Tomasko, Tesla attaches these body panels to plastic frames that are bolted to the body of the truck. Instead of bolting the panels to the frames, though, Tesla uses an adhesive to stick them on. And so far, none of that is particularly concerning. Fancy glue tech has come a long way over the years, and you may be surprised just how strong those bonds can be. They even use adhesives to bond steel beams used in building construction. That said, whether Tesla cheaped out on the adhesive it used or didn't have the proper process in place to ensure proper bonding, the adhesive appears to be what failed when Tomasko's giant boomerang-shaped trim piece fell off. It isn't just that particular trim piece that's the problem, either. Tomasko told Road & Track he believes it's an issue with the actual body panels themselves, including two of his quarter-panels and the tailgate. To the tailgate's credit, though, it also has a few welds that should help hold it in place even if the adhesive doesn't hold, so at least you don't have to worry about the Cybertruck you see on the road dropping metal off the back of its tailgate and killing you. Just the other body panels and trim pieces. The good news is, he claims to have only seen similar issues on about 15 to 20 percent of the incEl Caminos he's worked on. The bad news is that he says it appears to be more common on new trucks than older ones, which suggests Cybertrucks are actually getting worse, and even a one-in-seven chance is still far too high. As Road & Track points out, Tomasko is far from the first person to run into issues with their Cybertruck trim or body panels falling off: Similar problems have been reported in two separate formal complaints to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration. The first, from an owner in Brooklyn, states that his roofline trim piece "suddenly started falling off" at highway speeds. Another complaint from an owner in Illinois claims that an "upper passenger trim piece," seemingly the same panel, fell off while the owner was driving their truck. The owner then claims that they asked a Tesla service center to replace the same component on the truck's other side, but a brand representative told him that the location "will not do it unless [the panel] falls off." Other examples of the problem have been reported on a Cybertruck owner Facebook group. Screenshots shared with R&T like the one above show four additional cases of trucks that have allegedly shed their roofline trim piece. At least one owner in the group claims that the piece flew off while they were driving. So is it the adhesive itself? A problem with Tesla's manufacturing process? Tomasko doesn't and likely can't know for sure, but as he told R&T, he suspects it's related to cold weather, but that may not be it either: "Based on research and responses that I've had to the video, it seems that something, the glue is not flexing with the panels, so what happens is the stainless steel seems to flex when it gets cold when it gets cold and hot, but the glue that they use is kind of brittle, so my guess is the glue is separating," Tomasko says. "Also, I have a friend with an earlier build than mine, and he lives in Vermont; I live in New Hampshire, he lives in Vermont, so we're both in cold climates. His truck, his is fine, same amount of miles and everything, his is fine, but then mine is falling apart. So I don't quite know, maybe it's a glue batch that was incorrectly made — I don't know." If you thought Tomasko would dump his truck after losing a massive trim piece while driving and move on from the automaker that doesn't care about quality or other people's safety, he claims it isn't that simple. His truck is currently at a nearby Tesla Service Center while he pursues a buyback. He also told R&T that he "[feels] like a new vehicle shouldn't really have to have all the panels replaced" and that Tesla fans have said he's "just a hater." If you've read other stories about Cybertruck owners discovering all the problems with their $100,000 MAGA-mobiles, you know exactly where this is going. "No, I'm not a hater. I have the truck, I love the truck. I bought one! I love the truck. I wrap, mostly, exclusively Teslas in the Northeast at my wrap shop. So I love Teslas," he told the magazine. "I'm just trying to share what's going on to better help the engineers to fix this super fast." He's also upset because finding more problems with the Cybertruck only reinforces the objectively correct belief that they're terribly made douche-wagons that fund the destruction of our representative democracy: "It does suck, because everybody kind of makes fun of the Cybertruck. To the outside person, it's kind of weird, it's ugly, whatever. Once you actually get in it, drive it, you realize it's pretty frickin' cool," he says. "It's kind of been sad, because I've been trying to prove to people that it's a really awesome truck that's not falling apart, and then mine starts to fall apart, so it's just... Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate and sad." While the Tesla Cybertruck's first recall landed on January 30, 2024, a mere two months after the production Cybertruck was revealed, the fun didn't really get started until April when Tesla was forced to recall the Cybertruck due to unintended acceleration. Apparently, no one noticed the plastic cover on the accelerator could easily come loose, pinning the pedal to the floor. The ridiculous windshield wiper also started causing problems, and Tesla was forced once again to recall the Cybertruck and fix it. About the same time, Tesla issued a separate recall because a piece of bed trim may not have been attached correctly and could fly off. The Cybertruck also had to be recalled in November over faulty inverters that could cause a total loss of power while driving. Those aren't the only Cybertruck recalls, of course, but they're definitely the most serious. We also have a roundup of all the Cybertruck screwups from the first six months of production if you're interested in that sort of thing. But only click if you're interested. It also isn't like no one buying a Cybertruck could have possibly known that it would be a turd or that Elon Musk was a far-right lunatic who lies constantly. You could maybe make the argument that regular people didn't know about Tesla's history of poor build quality and long repair times, failure to use automotive-grade components, environmental damage, worker abuse, rampant racism in the factories and constant exaggerations or outright lies. But by the time the Cybertruck came along, the era of plausible deniability was all over. Everyone who bought a Cybertruck knew what they were buying, and they liked it. After all, why else would you give $100,000 to a drugged-out oligarch who had allied himself with a party dedicated to destroying the planet? Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Tesla Cybertruck Body Panels Are Flying Off While Driving, And This Wrap Shop Owner Figured Out Why
For a truck that was supposed to be the toughest truck ever built, the Tesla Cybertruck sure has had a lot of problems. So far, it's been subject to seven recalls and two investigations, snapped its subframe in a WhistlinDiesel test, been defeated by a car wash and continues to regularly get stuck in the snow. It also has a habit of losing its sometimes razor-sharp body panels, which is decidedly Not Great. And while it's hard to imagine Tesla will actually do anything about it now that its CEO is busy dismantling the federal government from within, our friends at Road & Track recently spoke with one shop owner who believes he's figured out why Cybertrucks like to lose their bodywork. Reid Tomasko owns Shock Auto Styling, a New Hampshire car-wrapping business that has reportedly worked on dozens of Cybertrucks. Tomasko is also an owner, and unfortunately for him, his experience with the issue was especially dangerous. As he told Road & Track, not only did the boomerang-shaped piece of trim on the roofline fall off, it did so while he was driving, putting other drivers in serious danger. You don't have to take Tomasko's word for it, either. He also managed to capture it on video. After looking at what happened to his truck and others, he posted a video on his YouTube channel explaining what he thinks is happening. Read more: Tesla Cybertrucks Are Rusting Despite Being Made Of Stainless Steel According to Tomasko, Tesla attaches these body panels to plastic frames that are bolted to the body of the truck. Instead of bolting the panels to the frames, though, Tesla uses an adhesive to stick them on. And so far, none of that is particularly concerning. Fancy glue tech has come a long way over the years, and you may be surprised just how strong those bonds can be. They even use adhesives to bond steel beams used in building construction. That said, whether Tesla cheaped out on the adhesive it used or didn't have the proper process in place to ensure proper bonding, the adhesive appears to be what failed when Tomasko's giant boomerang-shaped trim piece fell off. It isn't just that particular trim piece that's the problem, either. Tomasko told Road & Track he believes it's an issue with the actual body panels themselves, including two of his quarter-panels and the tailgate. To the tailgate's credit, though, it also has a few welds that should help hold it in place even if the adhesive doesn't hold, so at least you don't have to worry about the Cybertruck you see on the road dropping metal off the back of its tailgate and killing you. Just the other body panels and trim pieces. The good news is, he claims to have only seen similar issues on about 15 to 20 percent of the incEl Caminos he's worked on. The bad news is that he says it appears to be more common on new trucks than older ones, which suggests Cybertrucks are actually getting worse, and even a one-in-seven chance is still far too high. As Road & Track points out, Tomasko is far from the first person to run into issues with their Cybertruck trim or body panels falling off: Similar problems have been reported in two separate formal complaints to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration. The first, from an owner in Brooklyn, states that his roofline trim piece "suddenly started falling off" at highway speeds. Another complaint from an owner in Illinois claims that an "upper passenger trim piece," seemingly the same panel, fell off while the owner was driving their truck. The owner then claims that they asked a Tesla service center to replace the same component on the truck's other side, but a brand representative told him that the location "will not do it unless [the panel] falls off." Other examples of the problem have been reported on a Cybertruck owner Facebook group. Screenshots shared with R&T like the one above show four additional cases of trucks that have allegedly shed their roofline trim piece. At least one owner in the group claims that the piece flew off while they were driving. So is it the adhesive itself? A problem with Tesla's manufacturing process? Tomasko doesn't and likely can't know for sure, but as he told R&T, he suspects it's related to cold weather, but that may not be it either: "Based on research and responses that I've had to the video, it seems that something, the glue is not flexing with the panels, so what happens is the stainless steel seems to flex when it gets cold when it gets cold and hot, but the glue that they use is kind of brittle, so my guess is the glue is separating," Tomasko says. "Also, I have a friend with an earlier build than mine, and he lives in Vermont; I live in New Hampshire, he lives in Vermont, so we're both in cold climates. His truck, his is fine, same amount of miles and everything, his is fine, but then mine is falling apart. So I don't quite know, maybe it's a glue batch that was incorrectly made — I don't know." If you thought Tomasko would dump his truck after losing a massive trim piece while driving and move on from the automaker that doesn't care about quality or other people's safety, he claims it isn't that simple. His truck is currently at a nearby Tesla Service Center while he pursues a buyback. He also told R&T that he "[feels] like a new vehicle shouldn't really have to have all the panels replaced" and that Tesla fans have said he's "just a hater." If you've read other stories about Cybertruck owners discovering all the problems with their $100,000 MAGA-mobiles, you know exactly where this is going. "No, I'm not a hater. I have the truck, I love the truck. I bought one! I love the truck. I wrap, mostly, exclusively Teslas in the Northeast at my wrap shop. So I love Teslas," he told the magazine. "I'm just trying to share what's going on to better help the engineers to fix this super fast." He's also upset because finding more problems with the Cybertruck only reinforces the objectively correct belief that they're terribly made douche-wagons that fund the destruction of our representative democracy: "It does suck, because everybody kind of makes fun of the Cybertruck. To the outside person, it's kind of weird, it's ugly, whatever. Once you actually get in it, drive it, you realize it's pretty frickin' cool," he says. "It's kind of been sad, because I've been trying to prove to people that it's a really awesome truck that's not falling apart, and then mine starts to fall apart, so it's just... Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate and sad." While the Tesla Cybertruck's first recall landed on January 30, 2024, a mere two months after the production Cybertruck was revealed, the fun didn't really get started until April when Tesla was forced to recall the Cybertruck due to unintended acceleration. Apparently, no one noticed the plastic cover on the accelerator could easily come loose, pinning the pedal to the floor. The ridiculous windshield wiper also started causing problems, and Tesla was forced once again to recall the Cybertruck and fix it. About the same time, Tesla issued a separate recall because a piece of bed trim may not have been attached correctly and could fly off. The Cybertruck also had to be recalled in November over faulty inverters that could cause a total loss of power while driving. Those aren't the only Cybertruck recalls, of course, but they're definitely the most serious. We also have a roundup of all the Cybertruck screwups from the first six months of production if you're interested in that sort of thing. But only click if you're interested. It also isn't like no one buying a Cybertruck could have possibly known that it would be a turd or that Elon Musk was a far-right lunatic who lies constantly. You could maybe make the argument that regular people didn't know about Tesla's history of poor build quality and long repair times, failure to use automotive-grade components, environmental damage, worker abuse, rampant racism in the factories and constant exaggerations or outright lies. But by the time the Cybertruck came along, the era of plausible deniability was all over. Everyone who bought a Cybertruck knew what they were buying, and they liked it. After all, why else would you give $100,000 to a drugged-out oligarch who had allied himself with a party dedicated to destroying the planet? Read the original article on Jalopnik.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Owners Say Cybertrucks Are Shedding Body Panels. One Thinks He Knows Why
Every single example of the Tesla Cybertruck on the road comes with two pieces of metal attached along its roofline, completing a unique sharp point at the top of the car's windscreen. In at least two cases reported to the federal government, drivers have stated this part has flown off the car at speed — and one Cybertruck owner even says he has video of it jettisoning a boomerang-shaped piece of metal into the the road at highway speeds. The clip, recorded by the on-board cameras of owner Reid Tomasko's Cybertruck and shared with Road & Track, appears to show that trim piece flying off of the driver's side of the truck. The trim piece then seems to fly into the lane behind the vehicle. Tomasko owns Shock Auto Styling, a New Hampshire-based car-wrapping business that he says has worked on dozens of Cybertrucks, and says he has seen many of the trucks up close and removed so many of the vehicle's panels while wrapping them. He says he has encountered the problem on multiple trucks owned by other customers. In a video shared to YouTube two weeks ago, Tomasko detailed what he has seen happening with both his own Cybertruck and another truck suffering from similar problems. As the video illustrates, the trim piece that flew off of his truck is connected to a plastic frame bolted directly to the car; that trim piece, he says, is stuck to the frame with adhesive rather than welded or bolted to anything. That adhesive has seemingly failed in multiple places on his truck, leading to the loosened roofline trim panels. The trim piece may not be the only part of the truck that is effectively secured only with adhesive: Tomasko says he believes other components, including the truck's quarter panels, also seem to be held on this way, and that those components maybe vulnerable to the same sort of failure. Tomasko's video illustrates a similar adhesive problem on different parts of each of his truck's two quarter panels. The customer-owned truck in his video also appears to show similar adhesive problems on both of its quarter panels, as well as the tailgate, but the latter is also welded on at points. Tomasko estimates that he has wrapped "30 to 35" Cybertrucks. He tells R&T that he has seen signs of adhesive problems on "five to seven" trucks, including his own truck with a VIN around 15000 and the customer unit in the video. He estimates that relatively new trucks with "VINs from 30,000 up to 60,000" seem to be more frequently impacted, and notes that he has not seen the problem on earlier trucks, "probably VIN 3,000 to 10,000." Similar problems have been reported in two separate formal complaints to the National Traffic Highway Safety Administration. The first, from an owner in Brooklyn, states that his roofline trim piece "suddenly started falling off" at highway speeds. Another complaint from an owner in Illinois claims that an "upper passenger trim piece," seemingly the same panel, fell off while the owner was driving their truck. The owner then claims that they asked a Tesla service center to replace the same component on the truck's other side, but a brand representative told him that the location "will not do it unless [the panel] falls off." Other examples of the problem have been reported on a Cybertruck owner Facebook group. Screenshots shared with R&T like the one above show four additional cases of trucks that have allegedly shed their roofline trim piece. At least one owner in the group claims that the piece flew off while they were driving. The cause of the issue is still unknown, but Tomasko speculates that cold weather may have something to do with the problem. He also notes that at least one other owner he knows has not experienced any problems. "Based on research and responses that I've had to the video, it seems that something, the glue is not flexing with the panels, so what happens is the stainless steel seems to flex when it gets cold when it gets cold and hot, but the glue that they use is kind of brittle, so my guess is the glue is separating," Tomasko says. "Also, I have a friend with an earlier build than mine, and he lives in Vermont; I live in New Hampshire, he lives in Vermont, so we're both in cold climates. His truck, his is fine, same amount of miles and everything, his is fine, but then mine is falling apart. So I don't quite know, maybe it's a glue batch that was incorrectly made — I don't know." Tomasko tells R&T that he has pursued a buyback, noting that he "[feels] like a new vehicle shouldn't really have to have all the panels replaced." He adds that some other Cybertruck owners have accused him of being "just a hater," even though he bought the vehicle, and "definitely [misses]" his truck, which he says is currently at a Tesla Service Center. "No, I'm not a hater. I have the truck, I love the truck. I bought one! I love the truck. I wrap, mostly, exclusively Teslas in the Northeast at my wrap shop. So I love Teslas," he says. "I'm just trying to share what's going on to better help the engineers to fix this super fast." Tomasko says the problems he has faced are frustrating, in part, because they play into negative perceptions of the Cybertruck from others. "It does suck, because everybody kind of makes fun of the Cybertruck. To the outside person, it's kind of weird, it's ugly, whatever. Once you actually get in it, drive it, you realize it's pretty frickin' cool," he says. "It's kind of been sad, because I've been trying to prove to people that it's a really awesome truck that's not falling apart, and then mine starts to fall apart, so it's just... Yeah, it's kind of unfortunate and sad." Road & Track has reached out to Tesla for comment, but has not received a response as of this story's Friday afternoon publication. We'll update this story with any reply from the carmaker, should we receive one. You Might Also Like You Need a Torque Wrench in Your Toolbox Tested: Best Car Interior Cleaners The Man Who Signs Every Car
