The owner of a new Tesla Cybertruck says his truck unexpectedly surged forward while he was trying to brake on a downhill stretch, leaving him convinced the crash that followed could not be avoided. His account adds to a growing list of Cybertruck drivers who describe brake failures, steering problems, or software behavior that turned routine drives into split‑second life‑or‑death decisions. Together, their stories raise urgent questions about how Tesla’s most polarizing vehicle behaves at the edge of its performance envelope and what happens when something goes wrong.
As more of these stainless‑steel pickups reach public roads, the pattern in driver testimony is becoming harder to dismiss as isolated bad luck. From catastrophic loss of braking and steering to collisions that owners say were triggered by “Full Self‑Driving,” the Cybertruck is now at the center of a safety debate that stretches from online forums to federal crash investigations.
The downhill surge that set off new alarm bells
In the latest case, a driver recounts heading downhill in his Cybertruck when a routine braking maneuver turned into a terrifying sprint toward an obstacle. He says he pressed the pedal expecting the truck’s powerful regenerative and friction brakes to slow him, only to feel the vehicle keep rolling and then surge, as if the system had decided to add power instead of scrubbing off speed. Faced with a rapidly closing gap and a heavy electric pickup that was not responding as expected, he concluded that a collision was no longer something he could avoid through normal braking alone. That driver later described the moment as a forced choice between colliding at higher speed or trying to steer into a less dangerous impact, echoing language used by another owner who said a Tesla Cybertruck Owner Says His Vehicle Failed To Stop While Going Downhill, He Adds, Had, Make, Choice when the truck would not slow at what he described as a very low speed. In both accounts, the core allegation is the same: the driver believed the braking system was not doing what it should, and the only remaining option was to pick the least catastrophic crash scenario available in the seconds before impact.
“I was forced to deliberately crash my truck”
The sense of being boxed into a crash is even more explicit in another widely shared account from a Cybertruck driver who says the vehicle kept accelerating despite his attempts to slow it. That owner says he was pressing the brake pedal and yet felt the truck continue to pick up speed, a mismatch between input and response that he describes as so alarming that he decided his safest move was to steer into a controlled collision rather than risk hitting other road users at full power. In his telling, the Cybertruck’s behavior turned him from a driver into a passenger managing a runaway machine.
He later summarized the experience with the stark phrase that a Tesla Cybertruck Owner Says, Was Forced, Deliberately Crash My Truck Because It Kept Accelerating Even Though he was trying to stop, and he credits his decision with limiting the outcome to only minor scrapes. The language he uses, “forced” and “deliberately crash,” underscores how little control he felt he had once the truck’s acceleration and braking no longer aligned with his expectations, and it mirrors the downhill driver’s claim that the crash was unavoidable once the system misbehaved.
A brand‑new Cybertruck, a brake pedal that “did nothing”
Earlier in the Cybertruck rollout, another owner, Bruce Freshwater, described a similar loss of confidence in the truck’s most basic safety systems. Freshwater says he was driving his new Cybertruck when the brakes suddenly stopped working, leaving him pressing a pedal that, in his words, did nothing as the vehicle continued forward. He ultimately crashed, and afterward he said he could no longer trust the truck, a remarkable statement from someone who had just taken delivery of one of Tesla’s most hyped products.
Freshwater’s account, which surfaced after he shared his story online, is detailed enough that he says a Tesla manager later became involved, although he also says the company declined to comment on the situation publicly. In coverage of the incident, the driver is identified as a Tesla, Cybertruck, Bruce Freshwater who insists that when he pressed the pedal, the truck simply did not respond. A separate report on the same crash notes that a Jun, Copy, Email Facebook, Bluesky Threads An, Tesla owner said his brand‑new truck’s brakes did not work, reinforcing the picture of a driver who believed a fundamental safety system had failed on a vehicle that was barely out of the showroom.
“Catastrophic failure” with a family on board
Not all of the alarming Cybertruck stories involve single drivers alone on the road. One owner says he was traveling with his wife and toddler when he experienced what he called a catastrophic failure of both brakes and steering. According to his account, the truck suddenly stopped responding to the two controls that matter most when something goes wrong, leaving him to wrestle a heavy electric pickup that no longer steered or slowed the way it should while his family sat strapped inside.
That driver later took his concerns directly to Elon Musk, saying that He told the billionaire that the brakes and steering had failed as he drove with his wife and toddler in a truck that can cost up to $100,000 for higher spec vehicles. In a separate online post, the same owner wrote that he still loves his truck but described a Mar, Sure “catastrophe failure” and argued that sure, parts fail all the time, but not at the same time on the same vehicle and definitely not on two safety critical components. His choice of words, and the fact that he was carrying a toddler when it happened, sharpen the stakes of any discussion about Cybertruck reliability.
Full Self‑Driving and a crash that “nearly got us killed”
Mechanical systems are only part of the story. Several Cybertruck owners say software, particularly Tesla’s “Full Self‑Driving” package, has played a direct role in serious crashes. One driver says he engaged the system and then watched in horror as the truck made a series of decisions that ended in a violent collision, leaving the vehicle with significant damage and the occupants shaken. He later summarized the experience with a blunt warning that they nearly died because of what the software chose to do.
In his account, the owner says We Nearly Got Killed, Tesla Cybertruck Owner Says, Full Self, Driving, Caused Massive Crash and that Tesla has not responded to his complaint despite the fact the truck has “significant damage.” A related summary of the same incident notes that the Feb, Tesla driver believes the automated system caused a massive crash and says the company has not yet explained what went wrong. For a product that leans heavily on software‑driven features as a selling point, a claim that Full Self‑Driving “nearly got us killed” is a direct challenge to Tesla’s narrative that its code makes driving safer.
Federal scrutiny after a deadly Cybertruck crash
Individual stories can be dismissed as anecdotes, but regulators are now paying closer attention to Cybertruck crashes as well. In California, a fatal collision involving a Cybertruck carrying college students has triggered a federal probe into what exactly the vehicle did in the moments before impact. Investigators are examining whether driver behavior, vehicle systems, or some combination of both caused the truck to leave the roadway and strike fixed objects with lethal force.
According to local authorities, The Tesla had “jumped the curb, struck a cement wall, and then wedged in between the wall and a tree,” a sequence that killed three college students in the crash, he said. The description from Bowers of a Cybertruck that left the roadway, hit a cement barrier, and became trapped between the wall and a tree underscores how violently things can go wrong when a heavy electric pickup loses its line. While investigators have not yet released final findings, the fact that federal officials are involved at all signals that safety questions around the Cybertruck are no longer confined to online debates.
Software, sensors, and the limits of “Full Self‑Driving”
Beyond individual crashes, the Cybertruck is also testing the limits of Tesla’s broader promise that its software can safely handle complex driving tasks. One high‑profile incident involved a driver named Challinger, who says his Cybertruck was using Tesla’s “Full Self‑Driving” software when it crashed. The truck reportedly lost control in conditions that included rain, raising questions about how the system interprets sensor data and road markings when visibility is compromised.
Coverage of that crash notes that Challinger, Cybertruck, Are, National Highway Traffic Saf are all part of a debate over who counts as a “hater” of the truck and its software, with some critics pointing out that investigators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are among those scrutinizing the system. It was reportedly raining at the time of the crash, a detail that matters because automated driving systems can struggle when cameras and sensors are dealing with glare, spray, and distorted lane lines. For Cybertruck owners who rely on Full Self‑Driving, the idea that weather can tip the system into dangerous behavior is another variable to manage on top of the truck’s raw power and weight.
A pattern of edge‑case failures or a deeper design problem?
Looking across these incidents, a pattern emerges that goes beyond any single driver’s story. Owners describe brakes that do not respond, steering that suddenly stops working, and software that steers them into harm’s way instead of out of it. In several cases, they say they had to choose their own crash, whether by steering into a barrier to avoid other cars or accepting that a downhill impact was inevitable once the truck failed to slow. The language they use, from “catastrophic failure” to “we nearly got killed,” reflects a level of fear that is not typical of routine mechanical glitches.At the same time, it is important to note what remains unverified based on available sources. None of the reports cited here include final technical findings that conclusively prove a single root cause, and Tesla has not publicly provided detailed explanations for the specific failures these owners describe. What is clear is that multiple Cybertruck drivers, from the Tesla Cybertruck Owner Says His Vehicle Failed To Stop While Going Downhill, He Adds, Had, Make, Choice to the driver who says he experienced a Mar, Sure “catastrophe failure,” are independently describing moments when they believed the truck’s systems left them with no safe way out. Whether those edge‑case failures point to software bugs, hardware defects, or a deeper design issue is precisely what regulators and engineers will now have to determine.
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