Upside down Cybertruck recovery video -- "Cyber Truck Turns Into A Teeter Totter After Losing All Its Brakes!"

[bg002h]

I’m glad his defective tesla didn’t kill him. But choosing to kill the vehicle or be killed isn’t a friendly position for a car company to put its customers in.

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[CyberTrk]

I’m glad his defective tesla didn’t kill him. But choosing to kill the vehicle or be killed isn’t a friendly position for a car company to put its customers in.

I wonder if there was any defect or if it was a driver fault?

 

[bg002h]

I wonder if there was any defect or if it was a driver fault?

It is possible he accidentally did something to cause the brakes to stop functioning (example: unrecognized physical damage to the mechanical brakes and reliance on inductive breaking which only works when there is a place to store energy), which of course is still a potentially lethal product defect, or his brakes functioned perfectly well and he stated otherwise.

If I were Tesla, I would replace his vehicle for free on the condition that 1) he agrees to pay for replacement should it be proven that he is lying and 2) he provides the damaged vehicle for autopsy (and probably add some secrecy provisions as that’s what silicon valley does for everything).

I know I would like to know exactly what happened.

 

[CyberTrk]

I know I would like to know exactly what happened.

Was he going up or down, or does he rolled on the side?

I wonder if there was any video recording?

Don't the Tesla Dashcam automatically saves the last 10 minutes recording
when there is safety-critical events like accidents or airbag deployment.

 

[bg002h]

Was he going up or down, or does he rolled on the side?

I wonder if there was any video recording?

Don't the Tesla Dashcam automatically saves the last 10 minutes recording
when there is safety-critical events like accidents or airbag deployment.

According to the video, while going down hill and approaching a cliff, he lost all braking ability and therefore he chose to turn the vehicle suddenly to avoid death by involuntary cliff jumping.

 

[CyberTrk]

According to the video, while going down hill and approaching a cliff, he lost all braking ability and therefore he chose to turn the vehicle suddenly to avoid death by involuntary cliff jumping.

I wonder if the driver didn't put accidently his Cybertruck in Neutral? Because when going downhill the regenerative braking or "regen" slows down quite a while the vehicle without using the brakes.

So the question is to determine if the regen by itself would stop the Cybertruck without using the brakes?

In the video below, you can see that when you take your foot off the accelerator pedal on a downhill or uphill slope, Tesla vehicles come to a complete stop.​

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This video is about the Model Y Juniper, but I believe the Cybertruck will exhibit similar behavior.​

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Around 1:44 into the video, the "Deceleration Mode" in the "Dynamics" settings is set to "Standard."​

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Then, around 2:53, the video shows the vehicle immediately stopping when the driver takes his foot off the accelerator pedal on a very steep downhill slope (the same phenomenon is seen at 3:20, 3:50, and on even steeper downhill slopes at 4:15 and 4:50).​

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Furthermore, around 6:15, the video shows the vehicle immediately stopping and not rolling backward when the driver takes his foot off the accelerator pedal on an uphill slope.​

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[SlegMD]

I do hope the data is shared at some point. That being said it’s likely the result of the decision(s) of the driver that led to the accident unless proven otherwise.

 

[HaulingAss]

I wonder if the driver didn't put accidently his Cybertruck in Neutral? Because when going downhill the regenerative braking or "regen" slows down quite a while the vehicle without using the brakes.

So the question is to determine if the regen by itself would stop the Cybertruck without using the brakes?

That's really not the question. Assuming normal battery temperatures (regen not limited by cold battery or other reasons), yes, regen is more than sufficiently powerful to bring the Cybertruck to a stop, even on a hill that steep.

However, as all off-road drivers have encountered, there is this pesky little variable called traction, and it can be highly variable depending upon the surface. Anyone with sufficient experience knows (or should know) that the ability to "read" the available traction on the surfaces you drive on is one of the foundational skills necessary to safely drive off-road.

Regen, no matter how strong it is, cannot overcome the traction limits of a steep slope. Similar to anti-lock brakes, the regen is programmed to back off when it detects limited traction to prevent loss of traction and subsequent loss of control. In the menu of Cybertruck's Off-Road modes there are numerous settings the driver is expected to familiarize themselves with to be competent driving in various challenging situations. These setting control various behaviors of the braking and regen to deal with unique situations.

When in doubt, do not activate settings you do not fully understand because some of them transfer more responsibility to the driver, while reducing the automatic traction control settings. This customization can be useful (or even necessary) to accomplish certain things but not every setting is suitable for every situation. When in doubt, leave the electronic nannies active, they could save your life.

While we cannot know what happened in this instance without having access to vehicle data, it's nearly a 100% chance that this was driver error, not a brake failure. The grade is steeper than it looks and it's very dry and dusty which limits traction. The driver made no mention of brake failure alerts.

My guess is the Trail Assist Mode (a form of off-road cruise control) was activated (either accidentally or on purpose) but he accidentally increased the set speed too high (by scrolling the right scroll wheel). The speed settings are selectable in 0.5 mph increments between 1 mph and 25 mph. In this mode applying the brake will over-ride the set speed but only until the brake is released at which point it will attempt to reach the set speed by a combination of turning regen braking off and applying throttle if necessary.

He braked fine for the corner about 100 feet uphill of the accident site, claims he came around the corner at 5 mph (my guess is he might have been going 10-12 mph), then, when he let off the brake to come around the corner, it accelerated to the set speed and his attempt to control the descent failed due to the low traction surface and that every time he let off the brake it would attempt to accelerate to the set speed. The grade is steep enough and dry/loose enough that applying the brakes may not have been very effective leading him to let off the brakes whereby Trail Assist would accelerate. I will have to try to replicate this on a steep grade with Trail Assist set to 25 mph to see how plausible this scenario is.

In any case, the driver's story is very suspect because he points to a corner about 100 feet uphill, claims he came around it about 5 mph, he said "it kept gaining speed, I was on the footbrake hard, it wouldn't slow down, I had about 30 seconds, so I chose that." (pointing to the embankment he claims he steered into). However, even if the truck never accelerated at all, and he was only going 5 mph the entire way, he would have covered 220 feet in 30 seconds, not 100 feet. So his estimate of 30 seconds is obviously not even close. But it implies he had time to be terrified. It's odd that he doesn't mention pumping the brakes, which is the first thing most drivers would try if standing on the brakes wasn't doing anything.

Speed can build very rapidly downhill even with a short burst of throttle. I think he just made one or two consecutive mistakes, saw the rugged terrain approaching too fast, ditched it into the embankment, rolled over and made up a "brakes not working" story to cover for his driver error.

The position of the wheels on the upside down truck makes it clear he was in one of the off-road modes and jacked pretty high. I've said this before, but it bears repeating, avoid raising the suspension higher than necessary for the terrain you are on (because the suspension works best at about 10.4" of ground clearance). Sure, you have to be more vigilant about not making a mistake and puncturing the battery, but I think many would be amazed at how rugged of terrain you can traverse with "only" 10.4" of ground clearance if you choose good lines and use appropriate speed control.

It's clear the truck barely rolled over (or it would have kept rolling down the hill) and it may not have rolled at all if it wasn't jacked so high.

Use your heads peeps! The Cybertruck is so easy to drive off-road it can provide a false sense of security, just remember, it can't overcome physics when it comes to the amount of traction available and the dynamics of rolling over. Learn how to use your tools, use appropriate seating positions for off-road driving (generally up and forward) and don't assume things you don't know.

 

[Friday]

Just do a Google search for "crown king rollover" and you will get pages and pages of all sorts of vehicles that met similar fates, at least one or two a month reported, on news unsure how many go unreported in news but there are lots. It has been that way for years, decades. Bradshaw Mtns and Crown King trails are rough country. It hates you. The causes are A: driver failures or B: vehicle failures for terrain and weather. On those CK trails, it's not an unusual story at all.

If this had happened in someone's long, winding maintained downhill driveway, I think I'd be more concerned.

 

[CyberTrk]

It would be interesting to look at the location of the incident to really understand what happen.

From the driver comments it seems that the CT was going down the hill (?) and was not trying to pass over some boulders. However the braking defect seems skeptical.

Looking at some Crown King trail videos I would be impressed if the CT was able to handle some of the obstacles...

 

[HaulingAss]

Just do a Google search for "crown king rollover" and you will get pages and pages of all sorts of vehicles that met similar fates, at least one or two a month reported, on news unsure how many go unreported in news but there are lots. It has been that way for years, decades. Bradshaw Mtns and Crown King trails are rough country. It hates you. The causes are A: driver failures or B: vehicle failures for terrain and weather. On those CK trails, it's not an unusual story at all.

If this had happened in someone's long, winding maintained downhill driveway, I think I'd be more concerned.

Even in someone's winding maintained downhill driveway my first inclination would be to assume driver error, especially on a truck this new. All it takes is a brief moment of inattention.

Humans are not as reliable of drivers as they tend to think they are.

 

[TheLastStarfighter]

I have significant doubts the brakes failed, seeing as they worked just fine for the recovery team.

 

[Gaximus]

Has anyone confirmed this was a braking issue? As someone that offloads a lot, in a dedicated off-road vehicle, tires sliding on dirt or gravel, can feel a lot like brakes not working.

 

[BrockN]

I, for one, have not heard much of anything about this story since the initial claims of the owner. If it was anything mechanical that could be blamed on Tesla, the haters and media would have blown this into a raging inferno. So I'm still leaning towards operator error.

From what I could see of the hill itself, it was tricky enough that I would have been coming down at a snail's place. One half m V squared. Build too much kinetic energy and you are going to have a bad day.

 

[bg002h]

I wonder if the driver didn't put accidently his Cybertruck in Neutral? Because when going downhill the regenerative braking or "regen" slows down quite a while the vehicle without using the brakes.

So the question is to determine if the regen by itself would stop the Cybertruck without using the brakes?

In the video below, you can see that when you take your foot off the accelerator pedal on a downhill or uphill slope, Tesla vehicles come to a complete stop.​

​

This video is about the Model Y Juniper, but I believe the Cybertruck will exhibit similar behavior.​

​

Around 1:44 into the video, the "Deceleration Mode" in the "Dynamics" settings is set to "Standard."​

​

Then, around 2:53, the video shows the vehicle immediately stopping when the driver takes his foot off the accelerator pedal on a very steep downhill slope (the same phenomenon is seen at 3:20, 3:50, and on even steeper downhill slopes at 4:15 and 4:50).​

​

Furthermore, around 6:15, the video shows the vehicle immediately stopping and not rolling backward when the driver takes his foot off the accelerator pedal on an uphill slope.​

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I get that the CT isn’t supposed to malfunction and kill people. But what actually happens and what is intended to happen do not have to be the same thing.

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