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Tesla Cybertruck Owner in Canada Says the Truck is “Dangerous” After Experiencing First Drive in the Snow; Forced to Slow Down to 25 Mph on the Highway & Stop Multiple Times to Clean the Headlights

A new Tesla Cybertruck owner in Canada describes his horrifying experience following his first drive in the snow. He says he was forced to lower his speed to 25 mph & also had to stop multiple times on the highway to clear the snow off the headlights.

Brock Nanson is a new Cybertruck owner from Canada, and after experiencing his first drive in the snow, Brock says the Cybertruck “is not just inconvenient but dangerous.”

Brock also adds that he can’t believe Tesla wasn’t able to catch all the cold weather issues during testing and says the last vehicle he drove, which was this bad in the snow, was built in 1976.

The issue with the Cybertruck’s recessed headlights and snow accumulation has been covered extensively, and during his drive, Brock had to deal with this design oversight; however, surprisingly, according to the Canadian Cybertruck owner, the most frustrating part of driving a Cybertruck while it’s snowing isn’t the headlights but the light bar.

These are the large daytime running lights on the Cybertruck hood extending from end to end. Although seemingly large and impressive, the light bar is only there for aesthetic purposes and the real headlights are situated recessed between where the hood meets the front bumper.

Brock says the diffuse light coming off the light bar reflects light from the falling snow and completely shrouds what’s going on the road.

Couple this issue with the headlights that let snow accumulate in front of them, and Brock says he had to slow down to 25 mph on the highway because of bad visibility.

The frustrated Cybertruck owner describes all the issues he uncovered while driving his truck on the snow during the night time.

Here is what he wrote…

“Well, I had my first night drive in the snow tonight. Admittedly, it is probably the worst combination of conditions. The temperature was right at zero, and the snow was coming down in big chunks.

The first problem, which I consider to be a complete fail that absolutely needs to be addressed, is the light bar across the front of the frunk. It's a giant frosted bulb that doesn't focus the light anywhere. Instead, it lights up the falling snow as you drive down the highway as if you have your high beams on. Actually, it's worse than high beams because they at least have a cut-off line.

I was down to 40 or 50 km/h (24 mph) because all I could see was snow. It felt as if I was jumping to warp speed. This was not just difficult—it was actually dangerous.

The second problem was the snow sticking to the headlights themselves. I was forced to stop every few kilometers to wipe it off the lenses so the headlights could form an actual pattern and not just add to the frunk light bar light pollution.

Sure, I've had this sort of problem with cars in the past, but the last one that did this was built in 1976. Seriously!  The aerodynamics of the Cybertruck plaster the snow on the lights instead of blowing it by. Maybe I hit the worst-case set of conditions tonight, but those conditions are far from rare.

I've been living with only Tesla vehicles since the beginning of 2015, so believe me, I've put up with growing pains along the way. I've been willing to forgive Tesla for everything through those 10 years. But this is not just inconvenient - it's dangerous. And I can't believe that winter testing didn't reveal it to be a problem.

At the very least (VERY LEAST), there needs to be a toggle in the lighting settings that allows you to have that band of light automatically go off when the headlights go on, and it's obviously getting dark.

I'm incredibly disappointed. I expected better from Tesla, especially at this price point. I would have been much safer in my 2015 Model S 85D. I've never had this sort of issue with it. Photos from when I got home. It was worse on the highway, but I wasn't going to stand next to the traffic to take a photo.”

Below his post, Brock included a picture of his Cybertruck with the headlights occluded by the snow that has frosted over them.

A brand new $165,990 CAD truck that can’t handle the snow is certainly frustrating, especially when the truck is being sold in Canada.

However, fellow Cybertruck owners say that the truck is fine, and Brock seems like the kind of person who could never be pleased by anything and shouldn’t have bought the truck if he can’t handle these minor issues.

Fellow Cybertruck owner Doug Lukinuk writes…

“I live in Canada and drive regularly through all kinds of snow. The Cybertruck works fantastic. Some people are just very picky. The people who when you look online at a resort or reviews, you see hundreds of 4 or 5-star reviews and a handful of people you will just never please as they can't be pleased and find fault in everything.

Cybertruck is a new build with steer-by-wire and 48-volt architecture, etc, so if you didn't expect a few small detail issues, then you shouldn't have been an early adopter.

Yes, a bit of snow accumulation on the headlights can happen, but it's not like it makes you blind yourself or others. Driving in snow is easy in the cybertruck.”

Personally, I would categorize being forced to lower your speed to 25 mph on the highway and having to stop multiple times to clear the snow off the headlights as major problems.

However, please let me know if you disagree. Share your ideas by clicking the red “Add new comment” button below. Also, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

Image: Screenshot from Now You Know YouTube channel

For more information, check out: I Ordered a Cybertruck Today and Was Assigned a VIN Immediately; Now I’m Afraid Tesla Has Matched Me With a Rejected Truck

Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and the evolution of the EV space daily for several years. He covers everything about Tesla, from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.

Comments

Joe Silva (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 1:44PM

As far as safety this is a major issue. Anyone who states it's only a minor problem shouldn't be driving. Next time I see a Cybetruck in winter conditions I'm giving it a wide berth.

Eric (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:07PM

On one hand, what a shock, 100 years of engineering iteration and experience out of Detroit might have value after all. On the other hand, there lots of $160k cars that aren't suited for snow driving. Trouble with the cybertruck is no one really knows exactly what its actual use case is and no one is confused about what an Aston Martin is for.

Bobm (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:08PM

LOL. "Doug's comment is exactly what I would expect from the Tesla cult. Sure, snow blocks the headlights but I'm a Musk cult member, so I don't mind.

Napoleon Sullivan (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:29PM

I think the cyber truck is a generic version of one of the military tank or the new bat mobile. No back window to see who is behind you if you trying to switch lanes.

Tony Oostendarp (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:30PM

Seems like when someone speaks up about a major issue with the cyber truck, other owners snap back at the owners having legitimate concerns. That's the problem now with social media. Anytime someone complains or speaks their opinion people don't like it. Too bad.

Dr.Z~ (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:31PM

Shocker.

This is what happens when there's no actual testing of your vehicle before being released on the Public..

Mark Hardy (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:32PM

When the driver states that "The temperature was right at zero," I assume he means that it was right at freezing (0°C). A little clarification for those of us in English-units-land.

Brunettes (not verified)    December 30, 2024 - 11:24AM

In reply to by Mark Hardy (not verified)

The post is in Canada and he posted in KPH not MPH I highly doubt he would be posting in *F it wouldn't make much sense. Even if it was -17C that's temperature is not that uncommon either. Unfortunately in my opinion fully electric vehicles are not currently designated or the Canadian market. Excluding Toronto but even Toronto gets snow storms. At that price you would have much more fun in an AWD Porsche with studded snow tires.

Justin Lewry (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 2:44PM

Doug Sounds like a city guy.. Cybertruck is great for town driving, where streetlights make the lackluster lighting a moot point and flat land blowing snow don't exist .. Out in the rest of Canada, Where real dark, Driving snow, non existent charging infrastructure and barely maintained roads are the norm, Cybertruck's flaws are more than apparent..

Terry (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 3:40PM

Brock is correct. These trucks are not well designed at all! It's become a joke, what's the latest cyber truck fail!
Hard to fathom the money people will dump on this for all the problems it is having.

Randy Wynn (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 4:02PM

It's in the eyes of the beholder, I have no interest in EV architecture, regardless of manufacturer. The Tesla truck to me is perhaps the single most butt-ugly vehicle since the Edsel.
Design in the 60's and 70's could be appreciated, today's EV designs are so similar it's hard to tell one from the other.

Peter Derviller (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 4:04PM

At this point I'm thinking the obvious mental mess of the Trumpoid and the immovable first-adopter conviction of the EVfanatic, have much in common... a lunatic commitment to the absurd, especially when it is apparently "justified" by the bizarre mathematics of mass delusion.

CC (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 4:28PM

CT owners always blame the victims/owners and not the CT! CTs are perfect. The world around them are the problem! If you wash your CT and it fails, it's your fault for washing it. If your dog gets cut going under the CT door, it's the dog's fault! If you aren't happy with all the CT design issues, it's your fault for buying an early version of the piece of crap!

Brian (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 5:01PM

Ha ha, this monstrosity is terrible in every way. From the disgusting looks to being completely useless on the road. Also, the interior is beyond unacceptable, especially for a pos that's being sold for $166k. It's absolutely comical. Besides being cheap and missing a cluster, like the rest of the useless Teslas, the interior is way too cramped. No leg room at all if you're anywhere close to being a full-sized man. Anyone over 170cm CANNOT fit in this piece of junk comfortably.
And, in case I forgot to mention this, it is the UGLIEST pos I've ever seen. Absolutely terrible. How stupid does one have to be to want one, never mind to actually buy one????

Rick Buckley (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 5:02PM

Most car companies have what's called a Product Excellence Group. Their assignment is to benchmark the competition on multiple attributes and confirm their product meets or exceeds the competitions' systems. Even determine best in class and consider wherever to achieve similar system performance. It appears Tesla slipped on exterior lighting.

Wtf (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 7:35PM

What a piece of crap.
How can people Subject themselves to buying something that only works under very narrow conditions and calls itself a truck?

Stuff (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 7:55PM

So a guy with admittedly no winter driving experience and I'm expecting no winter tires blames his CT for poor driving. More like an elitest moron in the snow.

Mansplain (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 9:27PM

Someone should start selling some magnetic attached blocks of plexiglass that go over the headlights to keep the snow off.... can make an opaque one to cover the light bar too while you're at it...

Richard L Jones (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 9:34PM

Let the fools who 1-support Musk and his cronies now messing with Americans political system and 2-would pay and insane amount for what's obviously not a "real" working man's truck deserve whatever faults the "vehicle" brings upon them. I'll take a Silverado, F150 or Ram any day. Just stay the h**l away from me.

Chris (not verified)    December 29, 2024 - 10:22PM

I live in Buffalo. We get SNOW. "Heavy" and "snow" don't mix. Snow compromises your traction, and weight adds to your momentum. That's stopping and turning - that's bad.
High horsepower is potentially bad - the more horsepower, the more gentle you have to be with the throttle or you'll spin the tires.
Even AWD is only an advantage to get moving from a stop.

So here you have this high horsepower, uber-heavy truck with headlights in a recessed cavity above a snow-collecting shelf of a bumper, and a daytime running light bar at the upper edge of the front end -
On top of the weight -
On top of the fact that lithium batteries lose capacity in freezing temperatures -
Of COURSE this is an going to be terrible in a winter climate.

The result is not only predictable, but inevitable. Not sorry that the result was exactly what you should have expected!