Leaky Tesla Cybertruck smacks of early Model 3 production woes as complaints mount

Since the launch of the Tesla Cybertruck, there have been a handful of reviews going over the best and worst features and the performance of the electric pickup. However, one big concern going into the official release of the Cybertruck was the final finish and quality control, since many of the pre-production test units had uneven panel gaps, misaligned panels, and occasional finish issues. One user on X (formerly Twitter) calls into question the Cybertruck's quality control and build quality, with similar water ingress issues that plagued the Tesla Model 3 and Model Y.

@OutOfSpecDetail posted an image of the waterlogged interior of his Tesla Cybertruck bed, despite the tonneau cover covering the bed entirely. In the comments, the poster elaborated that the water ingress occurred in light rain instead of the heavy rainfall one might expect from such a cover leaking water.

Tesla bills the Cybertruck's bed as lockable, covered storage that could take the place of the trunk of an SUV. Although Tesla makes no claims of it being waterproof, having water leak into the covered bed in "light rain" calls into question the usefulness of the feature.

This quality control issue comes after a recent highway range test that reveals the Cybertruck falls short of its predicted EPA range by as much as 20%, even in above-freezing conditions. To Tesla's credit, it's too early to tell if the Cybertruck really has a quality control issue or if it is simply one bad delivery, but given how few Cybertrucks have been delivered so far, these might be early signs that the electric pickup is falling short of the ambitious claims Tesla made about the vehicle when it was first announced.

Furthermore, quality control issues are common in electric vehicles, with studies finding that electric vehicles were close to the bottom of the list when it comes to initial quality, despite Tesla's ongoing efforts to improve its build quality. The Rivian R1T, one of the Cybertruck's most popular competitors, has also had reports of issues with water ingress in the bed, although that was due to a flaw in the spare wheel cover, so the stakes are a little lower.

Read about the rise of Tesla EVs in Walter Isaacson's biography of Elon Musk, also on Amazon.