Have you ever had the absolute pleasure of shutting your fingers in the door of your car? Or how about a hood falling onto them by accident (something I remember my dad warning me about as a kid whilst wrenching on his cars)? It’s not a great feeling, but something you might not think about every day…except if you plan on owning a Tesla Cybertruck.
Get Fully Charged
The sharp edges on the Cybertruck look dangerous, but are they?
The Cybertruck can do some major damage to hot dogs and carrots, so be careful where you place your fingers.
Several YouTubers have had the same idea: take some sort of finger-shaped object, put it somewhere the Cybertruck might pinch it while closing the frunk, doors, or tailgate, and see what happens. And it turns out, Tesla may have accidentally made a Cyber “Guillotine” for your appendages.
The first, and perhaps most comprehensive test, comes from Out of Spec Reviews. A video posted to YouTube shows the truck being put under a series of tests with carrots, hot dogs, bananas, and other finger-like foods. The hope was that the Cybertruck would recognize that an object was being pinched and stop the door or frunk from closing automatically.
First up was a crush test for the front trunk. The Cybertruck managed to close and wedge a carrot in the frunk when approached front and center, but it was able to be pulled out. This is similar to the Ford F-150 Lightning, where a carrot was placed in the Mega Power Frunk (yes, that’s what it’s actually called), but was unable to be fully removed until the F-150’s frunk was fully opened.
However, things get a bit dicey depending on where the carrot (or finger) might be placed. When moving to the back of the frunk where it meets the a-pillar, the power-closing frunk absolutely annihilates the carrot, taking a huge chunk out of the carrot with the corner of the hood.
The same test was performed on the Rivian R1T. In Rivian’s case, a thinner carrot was used and the hood immediately recognized the obstruction and opened back up without leaving a mark. To be fair—the Cybertruck faired better than the Rivian R1T when shutting something in the tailgate, but at least the R1T recognized something obstructing the rear of the frunk.
It’s not clear exactly why the Cybertruck’s frunk is able to close on a finger-like object like this, but if we had to guess, the motor measuring the load on the frunk opening and closing cannot detect the small change of force of the carrot due to the location of the fulcrum. Somehow, the Rivian can.
I know what you’re thinking. Surely a hand would trigger the safety mechanism, right? I mean, it’s not like someone would try this—oh, wait.
Another YouTuber decided that they would also try to shut their hand in the frunk. They first showed that the truck would immediately raise the frunk back up if it detected resistance when entering from the front. Next, they used a gloved hand at the side of the truck, and it was yet again detected. But when the YouTuber removed the glove, the Cybertruck closed directly on their fingers.
According to the YouTuber, it wasn’t comfortable, but there was no blood or broken bones. They would not put their hands up higher, however, which is probably smart given the carrot results.
This has been a known issue with the Tesla Model X’s falcon wing doors as well. As demonstrated in the Out of Spec YouTube video above, one side of the Model X’s doors will still manage to take out a carrot with ease, as will sitting a finger on the roof closest to the hinge.
Out of Spec’s video also tests how the carrot fares shutting in one of the Cybertruck’s passenger doors and, unsurprisingly, it manages to shear the vegetable in two. The truck does have a mechanism to prevent the door from closing when it’s just a tad propped, however, so that could end up saving someone’s digits in the long run.
To be fair, the Cybertruck owner’s manual does explicitly warn owners to make sure that “all hands and other objects are free of the powered frunk before closing it.” But it’s a bit sketchy that a sharp pinch zone did that much damage to a carrot. It feels like a waiting game before someone falls victim to the so-called Cyber Guillotine.
