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Tesla Cybertruck Rear Giga Casting Snaps In Half While Trying to Pull a Ford F-150, & Yes, It’s a Good Thing

A truck durability test pitting the Tesla Cybertrck against a Ford F-150 has indeed with the Cybertruck’s tow hitch sheering off together with the rear giga casting. Here is why the Cybertruck performed exactly as designed.

Cody from the WhistlinDiesel YouTube channel has just released his long-awaited Cybertruck durability test. And Cody’s brand of extreme testing has shed light on some of the Cybertruck's strengths and weaknesses.

For his test, Cody pitted the Tesla Cybertruck against a Ford F-150, with the main objective being to answer the question, “Is the Cybertruck a real truck?” once and for all.

Cody’s durability test goes far beyond any reasonable day-to-day use, and it is hard to justify some of the testing for anything beyond the entertainment value.

Having said that, during this unconventional testing, Cody believes he has uncovered one critical Cybertruck failure that could affect the truck in a regular daily use case.

The Ford F-150, which was being tested for durability alongside the Cybertruck, got stuck, so Cody decided to use his Cybertruck to pull it out.

Up to this point, everything was relatively normal; however, while the Cybertruck was pulling the Ford, the F-150 ran into another ditch, and this abrupt stop sheered off the Cybertruck’s tow hitch together with the rear giga casting.

Here is what Cody said as he got out of his Cybertruck to analyze the damage…

“Did something just break off? I think we broke the rear bumper. Look at the Cybertruck. What? No, are you kidding me? Our whole frame just snapped.

The hitch is hooked up to what? It just came off. You can't even fix that; that's a totaled truck. What good does the hitch do if it's barely bolted on aluminum? If you were towing a trailer, it would have just fallen off. That's crazy.

Any other normal truck could pull that F-150, and you're not going to break the frame because it’s made of steel. You have to have a steel core, and you have to have something holding the tow hitch together. 

The Cybertruck looks cheap; it’s cast aluminum—that's what they bought that press for. Let's say your trailer hits a pothole or gets a flat; it could shear the whole giga casting off.

What's the towing capacity? 11,000 pounds? To get that certified, they have to go through a ton of testing. A normal truck would never break like this. It's got to be able to do truck things. That was the most truck thing ever, which is to pull out another truck.”

It will be putting it mildly to say Cody was disappointed to see the Cybertruck’s giga casting break in half while trying to pull the Ford.

This is understandable since being able to pull and tow is one of the core functionalities of a pickup truck.

However, before we condemn the Cybertruck, if we examine the whole situation, we can see that not only did the Cybertruck perform the way it was designed to, but the fact that the Cybertruck giga casting sheered off is actually a good thing.

If the Cybertruck’s giga casting fell apart while simply trying to pull a stuck vehicle, of course, that wouldn’t be good; however, in this case, Cody has been severely damaging his Cybertruck, and he specifically damaged the tow hitch and rear casting in one of his previous tests.

Cody ran a speed bump test to evaluate the Cybertruck's suspension. During this test, the Cybertruck went over large tree logs at high speeds. After completing the run, Cody went to analyze the Cybertruck and discovered a piece of wood stuck to the tow hitch.

Cody even says, pointing to the tow hitch, “Is that the part that got hit? I didn’t even know that was there. We just discovered the Cybertruck has a tow hitch.”

It appears that the tow hitch and the rear giga casting were damaged during the suspension test, and that’s most likely why the giga casting sheered off while trying to pull the F-150.

Okay, this explains the damage, but you might be wondering how the rear giga casting sheering off could be according to design and, more importantly, a good thing.

Tesla designed the giga castings on the Cybertruck and Model Y to break off if they come under stress outside the intended load path.

By breaking off at predetermined points, the giga castings will not transfer the energy of the impact into the vehicle's cabin. This allows the giga castings to serve as crumple zones during a crash.

Another advantage of the Cybertruck giga casting breaking off cleanly is its repairability. Because it is a single gigantic piece of aluminum, when Tesla first introduced giga castings, people were rightfully worried that this component would be difficult to repair following an accident.

However, the clean way the giga casting sheers off suggests that during an accident, you don’t have to replace the entire giga cast, but rather, you can break off a section of the giga cast and replace only that part. This makes the Cybertruck much more easily repairable. 

Despite this one point about the giga casting sheering off, WhistlinDiesel’s first Cybertruck durability test appears largely fair. This is the first installment of what will likely be a durability test series, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted as the next video drops.

Until then, visit our site, torquenews.com/Tesla, regularly for the latest updates.

So, what do you think? Are you surprised to see the Cybertruck’s giga casting falling off while trying to pull an F-150? Also, do you think the Cybertruck needs a steel core to be better at towing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments by clicking the red “Add new comment” button below.

Image: Screenshot from WhistlinDiesel YouTube channel

For more information, check out: My Tesla Cybertruck Rear-Ended a Chevy Silverado, The Silverado is Worse Off, but My Cybertruck Will Cost More to Repair

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

Steven Mcgulifer (not verified)    August 3, 2024 - 1:23PM

What? This makes no sense. Car frames are not designed to shear under any circumstances. Crumple yes, but when would you ever want part of your frame to fall off "because it was loaded wrong." Also how did they even load it wrong? They were doing a towing test. You can say "damage from the suspension test" all you want, but driving over logs wouldn't cause enough damage to break the frame off. There's a reason no other vehicle does this, and it's not because they're too dumb to figure it out.

Willy (not verified)    August 3, 2024 - 5:24PM

"but rather, you can break off a section of the giga cast and replace only that part."
Seriously? Please explain the process you would follow to get a portion of an aluminum casting and attach it to the original remaining casting. Do you have any experience with aluminum castings?

Raithe (not verified)    August 4, 2024 - 8:34PM

All I know is that you are the last person I want testifying for me in court. Lol
Your ability to describe events as they occurred are let's just say lacking!!
The events that led up to the casting snapping were wildly entertaining but had absolutely no practical value. But undoubtedly led to that structural failure.
My only issue was that he could have done a little bit more practical testing before he went completely off the rails with it. He could have gotten way more content out of this. But oh well.

FamousRodent (not verified)    August 4, 2024 - 9:51PM

This was a significant failure. This type of situation could have occurred in a legit street use, such as a 7500 lb trailer hitting the curb or large obstacle in the road. Should the entire hitch/bumper assembly <em>SEPARATE</em> from the vehicle and let the trailer go wild? The emergency trailer brakes would not activate because all of the chains and safety cables would still be attached. A regarding repair, please explain how "you can break off a section of the giga cast and replace only that part." This is a pipe dream not supported by any evidence or fact. How are you gonig to break it off cleanly, and then reattach? Cast aluminum is not an easily welded material.

Barry Stevens (not verified)    August 5, 2024 - 1:38AM

This is funny spin to try to put on this situation. Any other truck would have gotten that F150 out. The CT failed in comparison because sometimes...you just need it to work, even beyond spec.
Having a hitch point fail, maybe, but this is akin to half the frame failing.

This damage isn't going to be cheap to repair either. The part might be cheap but the labor is going to be hella expensive.

The CT just failed at doing the most truck thing ever...

Gary A Amedee (not verified)    August 5, 2024 - 6:57PM

You should get a job that doesn't involve reviewing vehicles....also avoid any vocation that includes welding aluminium. You don't have a clue about either. This entire article is delusional rot. You're either dishonest or misinformed.

WankPanzer (not verified)    August 5, 2024 - 11:24PM

However, the clean way the giga casting sheers off suggests that during an accident, you don’t have to replace the entire giga cast, but rather, you can break off a section of the giga cast and replace only that part. This makes the Cybertruck much more easily repairable.

What you've just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever heard. At no point in your rambling, incoherent response were you even close to anything that could be considered a rational thought. Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.

WildGuess (not verified)    August 5, 2024 - 11:33PM

That is one ignorant article that looks like it had been written by AI. The bumper broke off earlier when the car fell several feet and hit a boulder with all its weight, not because it was pulling a Ford.

Phil (not verified)    August 6, 2024 - 12:31AM

How is that a good thing? one of the worst thing th a t can happen to a car is the frame snapping. Welding it back together now gives you a weak point and a salvage title. So now your 100k beta test is worth half that if your lucky. I just want to know what's in the Kool aid everyone is drinking. If this had been a corvette, G-tr, or Porsche having all these issues people would be outraged and pushing for a full recall

Steffen (not verified)    August 6, 2024 - 2:00AM

Will the repaired/welded cast aluminium frame be as strong, and I use that word loosely, as before the crack? Didn't anyone tell Elon that you shouldn't weld cast anything since it's brittle from the off?

Edward K (not verified)    August 7, 2024 - 6:31AM

While it may sound good to say a bad thing Isn't bad, it is bad unfortunately. Gigacasting is cast aluminum and cast aluminum is brittle by nature. You can't " just replace " the damaged part of it because welding cast aluminum makes it even more fragile. This was not designed to be replaced, no way it could have been. So it stands that that towing reliability and safety is questionable, especially in the case of impacts, hard braking and hard acceleration. If I had a CT, I wouldn't attempt any of them with a heavy load after seeing that test.

Chris Moore (not verified)    August 7, 2024 - 9:32AM

You're not going to easily weld a cast piece of material to another cast piece of material. Aluminum is also notoriously difficult to weld the only hope would be to tig weld and given the confined location, I wish you luck in producing something that would ever be safe to tow with or provide adequate safety.

Jason Ward (not verified)    August 9, 2024 - 9:06AM

Uh. So as an MSE guy I have some questions about.. details that are pretty scientific - I don't necessarily.. doubt that it was designed to shear off.. . However, were talking about cast aluminum, so it should easily do that regardless of what stress risers you cut into it. It'll crack it's porous. As far as... The austenitic alloy used for the truck which, yes I do have the composition tests for, and other knowledge, yeah it's not the best use of materials. Or, additionally, the people processing them can make mistakes it happens VERY often in the industry. The research labs are separate from the production facilities with their own test firing furnaces of smaller capacity, there's people involved, enough said.

sish (not verified)    August 23, 2024 - 7:31AM

hold on, you say “ Because it is a single gigantic piece of aluminum, […] people were rightfully worried…” and then later say “… but rather, you can break off a section of the giga cast and replace only that part.”

What do you mean by “replace only that part” if the frame is one big piece? Surely if a piece of wood snapped in a construction project you’d replace the whole plank? Your logic doesn’t line up here.

No (not verified)    August 23, 2024 - 4:43PM

"Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars, to Elon Musk, the energy business and autonomy. "

So you're an Elon Musk fan, ok. But don't be a fool.

The frame of a car should never break, under any circumstance. You're delusional, like all the other Elon fans

Old MSgt (not verified)    August 24, 2024 - 2:05PM

Structures mounting tow hitches etc should not shatter and snap off (not to be confused with failing gracefully under load). Losing trailers is extremely dangerous and delicate cast mounts do not improve with age (or near coastal areas). If we examine vehicles designed to tow their bumpers and frames are far different for good reasons including graceful degradation when damaged the better for the driver to get combination of truck and trailer off the road under control. A lost trailer is not under control.

How does someone writing about trucks know so little about the most basic of truck tasks and design? In future find someone with appropriate mechanical experience. I found this page because it was forwarded for ridicule (I guess that's good for views).

This Tesla structure design design is a glass cannon. Buzzword compliant? Of course. "Giga" must be good.

Chris Vedeler (not verified)    August 24, 2024 - 3:19PM

Classic Cyber Truck. Bullet proof stainless steel on the outside, weak aluminum frame on the inside. All show, no substance.

A quick physics lesson... The F150 was being pulled by the CT on the hitch. The F150 didn't break, but the CT did. The forces were the same for each truck (thanks to Newton).

Alfonso (not verified)    August 29, 2024 - 8:01AM

What??? Dude,I'm starting to believe that you are paid from Tesla to promote this piece of garbage called Cybertruck. I don't see any reason to be called cyber rather than Dumbtruck.
Wake up and please don't be biased, see the facts acar/truck frame should not snap like this, period.
P.S They took our jobs

Jeep_Dave (not verified)    September 3, 2024 - 2:38PM

The guy who wrote this should be fired and blocked from ever writing about cars again.

Who would think that tearing off part of your frame was a "good" thing?

Not fixable without replacing the frame, and not something I've ever seen happen under even worse abuse from any pickup manufactured from steel.