Tesla’s Cybertruck, with its cutting-edge design, hasn’t officially launched yet, but a few test models have been spotted on California highways recently.
One particular incident caught attention when a Cybertruck’s hubcap came off and flew into the air on the 101 freeway, near San Francisco. This was reported by Electrek. A dashcam video uploaded to YouTube shows an all-electric Cybertruck driving in fast-moving traffic. At the 10-second mark, the hubcap can be seen flying off, soaring some distance before crashing back onto the fourth lane. The car in front of the dashcam vehicle brakes sharply to avoid hitting the hubcap but ends up driving over it. The hubcap then emerges from beneath the vehicle and rolls past the dashcam vehicle.
The situation could have been much worse when the hubcap landed back on the freeway. It’s hard to predict how drivers would react if it landed in front of them or on their vehicle while driving at high speeds.
There are various reasons why a hubcap might fall off. It could be due to improper attachment and a bump causes it to come off. Alternatively, it might be a design flaw, where it can’t handle high-speed airflow. Hopefully, that’s not the case here.
Tesla definitely doesn’t want to hear about multiple hubcaps flying off its new electric pickup right after its release. You can bet their engineers are investigating the incident to make sure it doesn’t happen again, if any adjustments are needed at all.
Tesla is expected to announce a launch event for the Cybertruck soon, as hinted by CEO Elon Musk in April. He suggested that the pickup would be handed to the first buyers in the third quarter of this year. However, Musk has missed deadlines before, so we’ll have to wait and see.
In July, Tesla posted a photo of the first Cybertruck rolling off the production line at its Giga Texas facility in Austin. Just last month, Musk shared a picture of himself driving a Cybertruck.
We’ll update you as soon as Tesla announces the rollout event for its new Cybertruck pickup.