- During a so-called "durability test" earlier this month, the rear subframe of a Tesla Cybertruck snapped off.
- WhistlinDiesel, the YouTuber who did the initial destruction, is back with another video.
- In it, he drops a gas-powered Ford F-150 on some concrete blocks to prove that the steel frame will hold.
Earlier this month, YouTuber WhistlinDiesel did one of his signature vehicle torture tests on a Tesla Cybertruck and a gas-powered Ford F-150. Long story short, the Cybertruck’s frame snapped at the rear after the tow hitch decided to leave the conversation (in fairness, Tesla’s pickup did better than the Ford in other tests.)
This is quite the safety risk, to put it mildly, and the YouTuber attributed the flaw to the use of an aluminum composite for the unibody-like structure of the Cybertruck, whereas Ford uses good-old steel for its traditional truck frames, including the all-electric F-150 Lightning.
Suffice it to say, some fans and enthusiasts alike didn’t buy it, saying that the Cybertruck’s sub-structure fractured when it hit a big concrete block during an earlier test and not while towing the F-150. You can watch the whole thing here if you’re interested in some Jackass-style destruction just for the fun of it.
Well, the YouTuber is back with a follow-up video where he tries to prove that the F-150’s tow hitch won’t go anywhere—by dropping it dozens of times on some concrete blocks and then dropping one of those blocks on the hitch from 15 feet high.
“Today, what we’re gonna be doing is dropping our truck from 5 feet on concrete blocks, 100 times,” the WhistlinDiesel said in the video embedded at the top of this page. They stopped after 40 drops.
Spoiler alert: the hitch, the receiver and the frame didn’t break, although the frame did bend from the repeated drops. It’s not something that a truck owner would normally do on a work day, that’s for sure, but it’s concerning to know that the Cybertruck, a $100,000 pickup that’s rated to tow up to 11,000 pounds, saw its hitch snap off.
Furthermore, the YouTuber claims he received a photo of another Cybertruck that lost its tow hitch on the highway after it hit a bump while towing a travel trailer. The image is embedded below but bear in mind that we could not verify any of this information.
He also claimed the damaged Cybertruck was at a Tesla service center and that he repeatedly tried to get in touch with the American automaker to get an official response for the initial torture test results, but never heard back. We also reached out to WhistlinDiesel but never heard back.
