Cybertruck water crossing breaks plastic components despite 30-minute wade mode

Since the Tesla Cybertruck's launch in late 2023, there have been more than a handful of instances wherein the electric pickup truck came up short during off-road exercises.

In this particular incident, posted to X (formerly Twitter) by @mrkylefield, a Tesla Cybertruck is seen crossing what appears to be a moderately deep stream at a not-unreasonable speed. While the Cybertruck does manage to wade through the water seemingly fairly easily, it does not do so unscathed.

Upon exiting the water, the Cybertruck starts exhibiting an alarming mix of scraping and banging noises. Upon inspection, the owner realised that part of the plastic lining of the front wheel well had disconnected and needed to be "field repaired." The Cybertruck's front fog lights also started behaving oddly, but that could probably just be attributed to a light sensor or camera becoming blocked by mud, tricking the truck into thinking it's dark.

All-in-all, a minor trail-side repair isn't a huge inconvenience, but, this being at least the second time a Cybertruck has started coming apart as a result of a water crossing, there are some questions about the truck's true durability and longevity. For context, Tesla includes a “Wade mode” on all Cybertrucks, which claims to allow the EV to wade through water with levels not exceeding the top bumper for up to 30 minutes.

Previously, a YouTuber managed to tear off pieces of his Cybertruck attempting to summit a small dusty hill, then there was a catastrophic part failure at the King of Hammers off-road event — which seems to have been as a result of third-party modifications. But before all that, a Tesla Cybertruck prototype managed to bend its upper control arm in an off-road test run by Tesla itself.

Part of the Cybertruck's ongoing failure to succeed off-road seem to come down to its design and the compromises that had to be made to keep costs to a reasonable level. Less than a week ago, we reported on a Cybertruck off-road benchmark that resulted in a less-than-stellar impression, thanks to the combination of air suspension and rather pedestrian suspension design.

Read about the development of the Cybertruck in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk from Amazon, or buy a Cybertruck 1/24 die-cast scale model from Amazon.