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I Hit a Deer at 75Mph With My Tesla Cybertruck, & My Wife, Sitting in the Passenger Seat, Barely Noticed it—the Deer Bounced Right off Cleanly

torquenews.com 2 days ago

A new Tesla Cybertruck owner driving 75mph on the highway accidentally hit a deer. Describing the incident, the Cybertruck owner said that his wife, who was next to him, barely felt the collision, and the deer “bounced right off cleanly.”

Tesla Cybertruck

As the first mass-market vehicle to come standard with a thick and sharp stainless steel exoskeleton, the Cybertruck raises safety concerns for pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

Due to the vehicle’s design, when Tesla first showed off the Cybertruck prototype in 2019, many people thought it would not be road-legal and that Tesla would have to make major changes before the truck could be sold to the public.

Despite the initial concerns, Tesla retained the Cybertruck’s design for its final version. However, the vehicle’s design is also the reason why the Cybertruck is currently only legal for sale in North America.

European regulations stipulate that vehicle corners need rounded edges to protect vulnerable road users.

Musk has said that next year, Tesla will launch a special Europe- and China-compliant version of the Cybertruck, which will require significant design changes.

The redesigned Cybertruck is for next year and markets outside North America; however, Tesla is still selling the hard-edged, thick stainless steel Cybertruck in the US. This raises the question of whether the Cybertruck is more dangerous for pedestrians and other road users than conventional vehicles.

An unfortunate event involving a Cybertruck and a deer on the highway sheds some light on the possible issues.

Doug shared his story in the comments section of a Cybertruck Owners Club forum discussion pertaining to the repairability of the Cybertruck. The original poster, Zantosh76, shared a picture of his Cybertruck after he accidentally ran into his fence while trying to park his Cybertruck at his house.

Zantosh76 shared pictures showing the damage to his Cybertruck and the chunk taken from the wooden pillars holding up his fence.

The Cybertruck’s sharp corners held onto the wood and sheered off the pillars, simultaneously damaging the stainless steel panel.

Zanthos76 asked the community for ideas about repair and the best way to fix the damage. Surprisingly enough, another person, Doug, who goes by the handle of ZeroCO2 on the Cybertruck Owners Club forum, chimed in, sharing a picture of the recent damage he sustained on his Cybertruck.

However, in Doug’s case, rather than bumping into his fence at low speed, he was involved in a high-speed collision on the highway with a deer. Doug expressed his frustration trying to get Tesla to fix his Cybertruck and wrote, “Hit a deer at 75 mph. Good luck getting Tesla to respond.”

Doug also shared a picture of the Cybertruck showing the accident's aftermath. As you can see, the front end of his Cybertruck has been deformed, and there is now a large opening between his power frunk and front stainless steel side panels.

Naturally, people were interested in the details of the crash and asked Doug further questions, including why the Cybertruck’s emergency braking did not activate and whether the incident was “messy.”

In response, Doug noted that the emergency braking did not activate, but that was actually better because there was a lot of traffic behind him on the highway, and if the truck had suddenly stopped, the Cybertruck would have caused more accidents.

Dough wrote, “The Cybertruck did the right thing. If it had emergency brakes, it would have been a disaster …my wife was like, what was that … She did not even realize we hit a deer. This was on the NYS thruway during rush hour on Friday night, and there was heavy traffic volume.”

Even more surprisingly, for people who inquired whether the accident was messy, Doug responded, “Nope. By the time I was able to pull over, I was a good couple of miles down the highway…the deer bounced right off cleanly.”

Looking at Doug’s Cybertruck, although visibly damaged, the Cybertruck has held up exceedingly well for a vehicle that was just involved in a collision at 75 miles per hour.

This is certainly good for the Cybertruck owner; however, it raises the question of what if it was a pedestrian rather than a deer on the receiving end of the Cybertruck.

One thing to note here is that although the Cybertruck’s stainless steel exoskeleton is sharper and thicker than the body panels of any other vehicle, when a crash happens at high speed, the impact from the panels is quickly overcome by the engine and other hard vehicle parts.

If we agree that it is horrible to be hit with the Cybertruck’s thick stainless steel, it would then mean it’s even worse to be hit by other vehicle parts, including the engine, chassis, and suspension, which are orders of magnitude thicker and stronger than the Cybertruck’s body panels.

Unfortunately, we have yet to find any better means of transport than metal traveling at high speeds, and short of banning all cars, it doesn’t appear that the Cybertruck meaningfully increases injury risk during an accident.

Having said that, we’ll be sure to keep you posted if we receive further information that disproves our conclusion. Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

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So, what do you think? Are you surprised to see the damage done to the Cybertruck after a 75mph collision with a deer? Also, do you think the Cybertruck is more dangerous for pedestrians than other vehicles? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below by clicking the red “Add new comment” button.

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