Elon Musk touts Cybertruck pedestrian safety after avoiding EU launch over missed pedestrian safety regulations for vehicle design

Since its unveiling, the Tesla Cybertruck has seen its fair share of criticism over its angular design. One aspect of the design that's often overlooked is safety. Not only were there concerns about ineffective or non-existent crumple zones, Australia's car safety chief said in an interview with News.com.au that he had concerns about the truck's sharp edges and how they will affect pedestrian collisions.

Elon Musk, however, recently took to X (fka Twitter) to defend the Cybertruck, stating the following in reply to a post from another user:

Yes, we are highly confident that Cybertruck will be much safer per mile than other trucks, both for occupants and pedestrians.

As it turns out, the European Union's vehicle design regulations — the same ones that basically killed pop-up headlights — dictate that all front-facing surfaces must have a minimum radius of 3.2 mm. This minimum radius is to reduce the severity of pedestrian injuries during a frontal collision.

Since the Cybertruck is made of 1.4 mm stainless steel plates, this radius is nearly impossible to achieve — and actually impossible where the panels simply terminate on a seam. Tesla's Vice President of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Maravy, recently revealed in a Top Gear interview that this is likely the reason why the Cybertruck probably wouldn't be sold in Europe — because it likely can't be.

It appears as though Tesla dug its own grave with the Cybertruck in more than one sense, and the large EV continues the trend of modern car brands using technology, like ADAS, to make up for questionable designs and safety decisions. Aside from that, the Cybertruck is probably going to be a little out of place in the narrower city streets of many European cities.

Tesla has teased crash test data in a recent controversial video that has seen comparisons to actual IIHS test footage for other similar vehicles. However, it's currently unclear just how the Tesla Cybertruck will score, as is whether the Cybertruck will prove safer than the Model3, S, X, and Y, which have all scored very highly in IIHS's tesing.

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