Wet Cybertruck Catches Fire After Hitting Fire Hydrant - The Cybertruck ignited outside a Bass Pro Shop in Texas after its battery pack got wet following a crash with a fire hydrant

  • Want to keep track of this thread?
    Accounts can bookmark posts, watch threads for updates, and jump back to where you stopped reading.
    Create account
4998085aeed6096b1c62cd0d906d6ab0.png
By: Owen Bellwood

Article: Jalopnik Archive: Archive

Tesla’s flagship Cybertruck electric pickup does not like water. The truck has been bricked going into car washes, got stranded on the banks of a small European lake and now a Cybertruck has burst into flames after hitting a fire hydrant that drenched its battery pack.

The latest Cybertruck fire was sparked outside a Bass Pro Shop in Harlingen, Texas, on Tuesday, reports local news outlet Valley Central. The truck reportedly crashed into a fire hydrant, which subsequently leaked water all over the angular truck. The water found its way into the Cybertruck’s battery pack, causing it to ignite. As Valley Central reports:

Assistant Fire Chief Ruben Balboa with the Harlingen Fire Department said the Cybertruck’s battery ignited after the water from the fire hydrant soaked it.
Click to expand...
First responders say they thought they had extinguished the flames coming from the Cybertruck, but shortly after stopping the water flow onto the battery, the fire began again.
Authorities have not disclosed if any injuries resulted from the accident — only that a Cybertruck was involved.
Click to expand...

Video of the crash shared on Reddit shows fire coming from the base of the truck following the collision, and smoke can also be seen billowing from the rear of the Cybertruck.



While electric cars are statistically no more likely to catch fire than gas-powered models, this is already the third blaze to hit Tesla’s Cybertruck since the ridiculous contraption launched at the end of last year. Earlier this month, another Texas Cybertruck burst into flames after it came off the road and crashed into a culvert.

As well as the Cybertruck fire, Tesla has also faced issues with its Semi electric truck. A Tesla Semi in California caught fire last week forcing authorities to close a highway in both directions as toxic fumes from its battery packs filled the air. Incidents like this go to show that we’ve still got a lot to learn when it comes to containing electric vehicle fires.
 
Click to expand...
Cybertrucks make me feel like I'm looking at a polygonal car rendered on an early PlayStation 1 game.

It kind of resembles an automobile if you squint and use your imagination, but it's just not quite there...
 
It doesn't handle well, can't feasibly offroad, hauls about as much as any other truck in its price bracket, can't go far, and it becomes a flaming brick when wet. And it's about as aesthetically pleasing as a brick, too.
 
Schwarzwald said:
Cybertrucks make me feel like I'm looking at a polygonal car rendered on an early PlayStation 1 game.

It kind of resembles an automobile if you squint and use your imagination, but it's just not quite there...
Click to expand...
Right? I've seen cars I assembled with LEGO bricks when I was like 8 that looked more fit for the roads than whatever the fuck that thing is. Goofy looking piece of shit.
 
BoobWhiskers said:
Geez, does it just take the battery pack getting wet to light the thing up? Flooding situations from hurricanes and the like are about to get a lot more interesting.
Click to expand...
I see a lot of them here in NY, and we always get struck with Tropical Storms and Hurricanes when that time of year shows up.

After reading about this, doesn't seem like the wisest investment.
 
Say what you will about the cyber truck, Elon, Tesla, etc. I actually support the idea of innovation in the auto industry, even if the cyber truck is a solution to a problem no one had. (The first iteration of a product rarely resembles the product that eventually fills the niche.)

But (((SOMEONE))) wants it dead/Elon broke. There's been too much coordinated, astroturfed outrage lately for these articles to not be straight up hit pieces. Journoscum got their marching orders and are complying like good little prostitutes.
 
To be fair, modern ICE cars are so packed full of electronics and sensors that water in the wrong place can fatally short them out too. I've seen BMWs get totaled because the owner drove through a deep parking lot puddle my old 78' Dodge could (and did) drive through without slowing down, but theirs got water into a wiring harness mounted on the firewall bottom and the whole thing fried. Too much water just meant my headlights and wipers went out for a second or two, on an entry-level vehicle. But, nowadays? One measly puddle bricked an entire luxury SUV, because without 50 sensor inputs? The motor has no idea what to do. And the cost to fix 50 sensors is 80% of the way to a new one.

Screw all that "innovation" EVERYONE these days who builds cars puts too many electric bells and whistles in them and each only introduces a new and "innovating" failure mode. Doubly so when they cheap on the materials and overuse plastic. When I towed cars, a half-dozen a year were the results of the hundred-dollar electric keys losing their program and being unable to start the car. The only thing that would stop that in my old car was if the metal cut key broke, something you'd have to deliberately do with a hammer, and a duplicate could be made at a hardware store for $2.

That's "innovation" I can live without.

Your Greatest Ally said:
But (((SOMEONE))) wants it dead/Elon broke. There's been too much coordinated, astroturfed outrage lately for these articles to not be straight up hit pieces. Journoscum got their marching orders and are complying like good little prostitutes.
Click to expand...
Disagree, the build quality on them was lousy and their utility questionable even before Musk became public enemy number one to the media.

And to be fair, catching fire from a benign fender-bender accident IS a fundamental problem with the Cybertruck by design, it's not something completely made up or a poor choice that only Elon could've made by doing something no other EV maker does in regards to the battery packs.

The added chance of catastrophe from even a minor accident really is an issue EV vehicles are causing right now, and it's worth it to discuss it, since the government and the social-tinkering elites are trying to FORCE us to accept these IMMEDIATELY and any questioning if we've worked out the kinks yet is strictly VERBOTEN.
 
Last edited:
Your Greatest Ally said:
Say what you will about the cyber truck, Elon, Tesla, etc. I actually support the idea of innovation in the auto industry, even if the cyber truck is a solution to a problem no one had. (The first iteration of a product rarely resembles the product that eventually fills the niche.)

But (((SOMEONE))) wants it dead/Elon broke. There's been too much coordinated, astroturfed outrage lately for these articles to not be straight up hit pieces. Journoscum got their marching orders and are complying like good little prostitutes.
Click to expand...
Yeah, like this article needs to say tesla bad but also electric vehicle good and it just can't
 
Talk about free advertising material for gas-powered vehicles. A Ford that's probably 20+ years old completely fine while a piece of shit Tesla burns up.

Your Greatest Ally said:
But (((SOMEONE))) wants it dead/Elon broke. There's been too much coordinated, astroturfed outrage lately for these articles to not be straight up hit pieces. Journoscum got their marching orders and are complying like good little prostitutes.
Click to expand...
Elon's not on your side. He's a weirdo with strange ideas.
 
Your Greatest Ally said:
But (((SOMEONE))) wants it dead/Elon broke. There's been too much coordinated, astroturfed outrage lately for these articles to not be straight up hit pieces. Journoscum got their marching orders and are complying like good little prostitutes.
Click to expand...
Theres no grand conspiracy its just a bad product. The only reason it hasn't completely flopped is the amount of tesla cult people and the fact it looks funny.
 
Your Greatest Ally said:
But (((SOMEONE))) wants it dead/Elon broke. There's been too much coordinated, astroturfed outrage lately for these articles to not be straight up hit pieces. Journoscum got their marching orders and are complying like good little prostitutes.
Click to expand...
Where have you been? Teslas are shit. They have always been shit. There are instances of the same model coming off the same line with rivets and bolts in different places.

I will say it again, and I will say it until I'm blue in the face of everyone gets it, Tesla is not a car company, it is a tech company that makes cars. Would you buy an Apple or Microsoft car? Didn't think so.
 
Last edited:
Agamemnon Busmalis said:
Elon's not on your side. He's a weirdo with strange ideas.
Click to expand...
Agreed.
A Cardboard Box said:
Where have you been? Teslas are shit. They have always been shit.
Click to expand...
Agreed.

Elon is shit. Teslas are shit. The Cybertruck is shit. Yall hopped on my nuts awful quick with willful misinterpretatiom. lol

Breaking up the monopoly in the auto industry is not shit. If someone were to come along that made a reliable, useful car that everyone could afford, that'd be great. That's all.

Unlikely to ever happen because of globohomo, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't be good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom