It’s valid to hate the Tesla Cybertruck because Elon Musk is a creep and because it was designed specifically to appeal to the kinds of dads who get kicked out of little league games for screaming at the umpire, but it’s also just a bad truck. It’s been recalled eight times so far, might snap its frame if you tow with it and was famously defeated by a regular old car wash. Now, one Tesla owner’s forum user claims to have encountered a new issue with their Cybertruck — the truck’s suspension exploding in their driveway.
According to Tesla Owners Online user DeanS, their Cybertruck was parked in the driveway at about 3 p.m. on a Saturday when they heard “a shotgun-like bang.” When they looked outside, they reportedly saw “what looked like ‘smoke’ or dust” coming off their Cybertruck’s bed. While the truck’s battery hadn’t suddenly burst into flames, they say diagnostics later showed the problem was with the passenger-side air suspension. Oops.
They then had the truck towed to a Tesla service center, where they were told “the damage was due to an ‘outside influence’ and not covered by warranty,” leaving them with a $250 bill if they wanted the truck released. Sadly, they didn’t say how much they expect it to cost to repair a blown air suspension where “the spring pushed itself through the [bed frame] and broke some hard components.” Everything about that sentence sure sounds expensive, though. What a shame.
According to DeanS, they believe “[e]xtreme heat caused air to expand blowing the air suspension,” since the Cybertruck “was literally sitting in [their] driveway, and had not been driven in 12+ hours.” While they got some support for that theory, with one user calling it “a clear design error,” others were quick to point out that air suspensions don’t really explode on their own, at least under anything approaching normal conditions, even in Texas.
What did they do?
When asked about what they’d done before the suspension exploded and whether or not they’d attempted to recreate the Baja 1000 in their Cybertruck, DeanS didn’t give many details but did say that “[l]iving in a rural part of Texas not all of the roads are paved, so yes it’s driven off-road, through pastures, hay fields, etc.” Hmmm…
Anyway, user zroger73 pushed back strongly on the whole “it just sat in the hot sun too long” theory, writing:
Given that you appear to be in Texas and your distance from Houston, the temperature of the vehicle’s components would likely have fluctuated less than 80°F assuming a low temperature of 70°F overnight and a maximum temperature of 150°F in direct sunlight at 3:00 PM. According to ideal gas law, that’s less than an 8 PSI difference.
The Cybertruck’s air reservoir is tested to 261 PSI. The working pressure is significantly lower than that. The pressure in each air spring is even lower – roughly 60 PSI given the size of the Cybertruck’s air springs and the curb weight.
They then concluded that “the most likely cause of failure in my opinion is external damage that weakened the casting rather than a defect or design flaw with the suspension system. When the casting broke causing the suspension to collapse, the bladder or air line was cut causing a sudden and uncontrolled pressure release which explains the ‘smoke’ you saw.”
That certainly sounds a lot more plausible than the air suspension spontaneously exploding, completely unprompted. Especially since DeanS already admitted to off-roading their Cybertruck regularly. On the other hand, this is a Tesla Cybertruck we’re talking about, so you never know. Maybe the Cybertruck’s air suspension really does just do that.
H/T: CarScoops
