Cybertruck car wash mishap exposes HW4 software bug causing 5-hour reset time

There are plenty of Cybertruck horror stories floating around the internet, these days. Just two weeks ago, Notebookcheck covered a series of Cybertruck failures relating to the high-voltage battery system. Now, a new Cybertruck owner, who goes by @captain.ad on TikTok, reports that his Cybertruck has experienced a major meltdown after he hosed it down after a beach visit.

According to his TikTok video about the Cybertruck failure, @captain.ad went to the beach with his Cybertruck. When he got home, he washed the Cybertruck, as one does, and, upon noticing some sand in the bed of the electric pickup truck, opened the tonneau cover and hosed the bed down with water.

After the excursion and cleaning endeavour, he pulled the Cybertruck into his garage and parked it. When he tried to start the truck later, the Cybertruck seemingly refused to do anything, with the infotainment screen completely black. Even after resetting the infotainment screen, which is accompanied by a loud pop, similar to a fuse blowing or circuit breaker tripping, the infotainment screen remains black, making it impossible to drive safely. While

Those familiar with Tesla EVs will know that Tesla has a Car Wash Mode, although it is unclear whether this particular Cybertruck was in Car Wash Mode before he hosed it down. Regardless, it doesn't sound like the Cybertruck was subjected to a lot of water, and Tesla EVs have something of a reputation for spontaneously giving up the ghost when driven through puddles or in heavy rain.

As the user, who goes by @StonkKing14 on social media platform X, points out, this becomes problematic when you read through Tesla's warranty documentation. There's a clause in Tesla's warranty that explicitly excludes any damage caused to its EVs by car washes, seemingly with or without Car Wash Mode enabled.

Failure to put Cybertruck in Car Wash Mode may result in damage (for example, to the charge port or windshield wipers). Damage caused by car washes is not covered by the warranty.

In a subsequent post on TikTok, the user explained that the Cybertruck was working again the following morning. Early that morning, he received a call from Tesla, explaining that there is a known issue with the Cybertruck, and that initiating an infotainment screen reset takes as long as five hours.

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