The driver of said Tesla Cybertruck was also the only one who suffered any injuries from this accident.
While it may have been claimed to be able to stop arrow bolts and hit from a (foam-cored) ball, Tesla’s Cybertruck however doesn’t seem to have fared too well against a Toyota Corolla. Such is demonstrated by the fact that one example of this all-electric pickup is certainly all but totalled after meeting said sedan on a windy Californian backroad.
The first-ever recorded public collision of this new stainless steel-bodied all-electric truck, this accident took place on December 28 at around 2:05 PM local time on Skyline Boulevard in Palo Alto. The California Highway Patrol report states that the unintentional meeting between Tesla and Toyota took place due to the latter having went off the road and came back across the double yellow line to strike the former going the other direction.
Photos of the incident further evidences that the Corolla had sideswiped the Cybertruck with its right front corner. It also visually confirms for the impact to be rather hard, as it has caused the Tesla’s side curtain airbag to deploy, in addition to the deployment of both the Toyota’s front airbags.
Though the airbags deploying in the Toyota should hardly be surprising, given that the whole front of it has caved in somewhat. In what is perhaps a testament to crumple zones however, all occupants within the Corolla managed to walk away from this crash without any injuries.
As for the hard as (stainless) steel Cybertruck meanwhile, the driver behind the wheel was reported to have complained of pain following the incident but declined transport to the hospital. So there might just need to be some revision made to Mr. Musk’s claims of how this new all-electric pickup is “much safer per mile” than the others in its class…
What more is that while the Cybertruck may have only a rather large Corolla-shaped dent to its rear three quarter and some broken trim as a result of this accident, similar fender benders have already been sufficient to write off such new cars these days. And these are not even cars that are clad in the famously hard-to-repair stainless steel panels, mind.
In any case, it is worth highlighting that further reporting from various sources have stated that authorities do not suspect that driver aids — such as Autopilot — were being used by the Tesla at the time of the incident. The California Highway Patrol also incidentally they were notified of the incident via an automatic 911 call, though it remains unclear if that was triggered by the Cybertruck or a phone belonging to any one of the accident victims.
