Posted by droidjj 23 hours ago
Oh, very rigorous engineering standards. The wheels aren't supposed to fall off for a start.
The Front Fell Off: https://youtu.be/3m5qxZm_JqM?si=DprOulmmDK-H76LX
2026
Audi Q8 e-tron:
"Popular electric car recalled due to brake pedal problem" [1]
A problem with a "screw connection" (unclear whether this is a mounting screw or it serves some other purpose) can cause the brake pedal to malfunction.
or, in 2024
Audi Q4 e-tron, Volkswagen ID.3, ID.4, ID.5 and ID.7:
"Dangerous error in popular electric cars: brakes can cease functioning" [2]
It says that the ABS pump could drop off which would cause brake fluid to leak out which in turn causes the brakes to cease functioning.
[1] https://carup.se/popular-elbil-aterkallas-for-fel-pa-bromspe... (Swedish)
[2] https://nyheter24.se/nyheter/motor/1296418-farliga-felet-i-p... (Swedish)
https://www.autoevolution.com/news/vw-id4-recalled-over-door...
> "Dangerous error in popular electric cars: brakes can cease functioning" [2]
> It says that the ABS pump could drop off
Using a mechanical ABS in an electric car might be part of the problem
These are dangerous. Cars are not maintained to aircraft standards and will never be.
edit: as formerlyproven below states, the ones currently for sale also have a hydraulic backup.
Unless you're talking about electric parking brakes in a thread about ABS.
It is an electric car after all
So worst case you're rolling down the road on a chassis with no body panels, except you're not really rolling if the wheels fall off.
Hmm.. good job we're not letting in those cheap Chinese EV's and sticking to this top quality homemade stuff.
'Vibe-Engineering'
Meanwhile, about 63% of Tesla Model Ys failed their first mandatory inspection in Finland. The Tesla Model 3 did a bit better at 59% of cars failing their first inspection for the same model year. However, they're faring a lot worse than the third worst car, the Dacia Duster, at 23%, or other EVs like the Volkswagen ID.4 at 6%.
The insane part is the number of people who were somehow able to put up $120k for one, and proudly boast how awesome their new car was even though it spent most of its time in the repair shop or breaking doing very basic things, and failing to do "Truck" things that even my hatchback can manage.
Presumably it's not a coincidence that so many of them were bought by brand new weed shop owners.
For me a car is essentially a tool so it needs to be practical. But for others it's a hobby.
Possible
While mechanical failures can happen in all companies, that do sounds like an inexperienced design (maybe from Tesla, maybe from a partner?)
Doing a half baked job on a part for your super low volume "we only make this to advertise a low starting price" model is something just about any OEM would do.
I bet their supplier just took whatever Chevy Van rotor they had that was close and modified it to fit and as a result it got a little thin somewhere.
Edit: Nope, I couldn't find a picture but I found pictures of big brake kits for the 2wd and clearly it's not an old (read: cheap) integrated hub and rotor.
It’s the most poorly engineered “truck” there is. Can’t tow. Can’t haul (stupid bed design). It’s just a glorified pavement machine.
Go look back at the original concept art. The actual delivered vehicle dimensions are totally different, so he didn’t even succeed at that part. They couldn’t build what he wanted. It’s way more boxy and looks like shit on the road.
And lol at 173 total affected vehicles. What a failure.
I bought one and its the best car I've ever had. Event though I was never a "truck" buyer it checked off all my needs: - space for wife, car seats + another adult when needed - haul around my kids, 4 bikes, skis, camping gear, etc. - drives itself - we do a ton of road trips - luxury - electric, tired of going to gas stations
Wasn't another car on the market that checked those boxes.
Have you ever driven one? They are amazing to drive.
I've owned several luxury SUVs (volvo, mercedes), a porsche 911 and an s class (admittedly a while ago). The cybertruck to me feels in the same league. I know older/cheaper teslas might not be the same but try the Cybertruck - I think you'd be surprised. Its very comfortable.
honestly don't need much more than that - yes it doesn't have a fridge or massaging seats or whatever, but thats usually in cars with a higher price point too
People think they want a pickup truck, or an SUV, or a Cybertruck, but what they really want is a hybrid Toyota Sienna.
It was trivial to do this back before foldable seats were standard.
You can fit at least two bikes in just the shitty "trunk" space of your average minivan.
Every van ever made has more cargo space than the Cybertruck.
I own a station wagon, a minivan, a pickup truck and a hatch (and my spouse drives a boring crossover). I completely understand why "buy a crew cab truck" has become the norm for people who want to just write one check a month to cover every use case.
Additionally, frequent "truck" usage is an absolute menace on wagon/minivan interiors.
Literally most SUVs will tick most of these boxes at a significant discount.
"most of these boxes" - I need all.
Outside of "drives itself", I fail to see how much of what you described is unique. Seems very ordinary.
[x] $94K and $52K deprecation in the first 5 years.
Buyers who got an expensive and gaudy pile of shit will never want to admit their pile of shit doesn't smell to themselves.
I am not a Tesla the car hater, if only this monstrosity wasn't all sharp angles, otherwise to each their own.
You can try and claim Tesla's self-driving features are great and work 100% of the time, I suspect most people here know that is FUD and there is ample evidence that Tesla "FSD" is certainly no better than competitors and is arguably worse.
I have a friend with a CyberBeast and a friend with an F150-Lightning. The acceleration on the CyberBeast is absolutely magnificent and FSD is very capable. However as a truck, the frunk on the F150 is way more useful. The F150 is a better truck, but I'd say the Cybertruck is really good big weird car.
From my perspective, the only self-driving system I trust my kids with is Waymo.
When I go biking and snowboarding with my idiot friend that owns a Cybertruck, we have to use my Outback to haul the gear because it won't fit in his lemon.
The CT has less usable space than the average crossover SUV.
https://chatgpt.com/share/69fe71ad-7f48-83e8-8633-d628632c71...
And you def need to hang surfboards and bikes out the back in other trucks.
I personally don't like the cybertruck and wish they made something much closer to Rivian, but getting upset about a product you don't like is a small man ting
Right...?
But you’re exactly right. They’re for the polished shoes folks, not the steel toes
173...
That being said I wouldn't touch a Tesla with a barge pole for reasons numerous.
But agree, cybertruck is a really silly purchase for numerous reasons. The only reason you'd buy it is to signal your support for Elon. It's a very bad vehicle.
The battery pack is by far heavier than the motors. In the r1 they are also positioned with the wheels (quad) or front/back (dual) so weight distribution is great.
If the slate has a single motor and is RWD then I would assume the weight might be biased toward the rear where the drive unit is powering the rear wheels. Either way the motor is relatively small compared to ICE trucks and that’s where you want the weight anyway for a RWD vehicle.
Am I mistaken?
That said, your explanation makes sense. Slate engineers claimed it would handle well, but it was vague enough that I'd want more detail before I believe them.
(Not digging at you, I feel the same way you do. I just think it’s weird and amazing!)
At least in the U.S. below a certain ~longitude~ latitude it's quite common.
Volume wise it’s of course Texas with Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota having the largest ownership share.
There’s a whole community that doesn’t consider anything without front and rear lockers, dana 44 axels, frame on body, and 37s with bead lock a real off road rig.
In my mind, the biggest difference is whether front and rear drive shafts turn at exactly the same rate; if so it's "4WD". If clutch slippage or a differential allows different front and rear axle speeds then it's some form of AWD. But many AWD systems have clutches capable of effectively locking the front and rear driveshafts. E.g. the Suburban had tire-hop turning on pavement in 4WD mode which is about the most torque that drive-train would be expected to encounter.
> neogodless: <snip> At least in the U.S. below a certain longitude is quite common.
EDIT: ninja’ed https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48065792
So just remember that it's opposite to intuition, which will work until you've gotten comfortable enough that your intuition is correct and will then guide you exactly opposite.
Edit: oh, boo, you fixed it.
Lots of wines advertise their latitude of origin
Longitudes are meaningless for wines
Unpowered wheels become uni-directional skis, regardless of their ability to turn left and right.
Of course, when it snows, it's diffferent, but local geography means if it's snowing enough to matter and the plows haven't gotten around, it's not worth it to be driving, regardless of drive configuration.
If driving throw unplowed roads with snow and ice is a regular thing for you, sure. But lots of people never drive in those conditions, so AWD adds weight and complexity that's unnecessary. But people like to be prepared for everything.
I used to occasionally drive a V8 with no traction control in Wisconsin winters. It was fine, just took a little care. A modern electric drivetrain is about a million times better.
Unpowered wheels still steer just fine. AWD certainly does better. But I'd rather be cautious and take it slow anyway.
I frequently think about this when weather gets bad! I already have AWB (all wheel braking?). Seems like AWD could make it too easy to get in a situation where my AWB isn’t sufficient to stop
A FWD vehicle with snow tires is frequently better in the snow than an AWD without snow tires. Better control, better stopping, better uphill on snowy roads.
All cars are “all wheel stop”
All wheel drive doesn’t matter when you lose traction and need to stop. When you are sliding on ice all cars perform the same, and the quality of your tires is what matters. AWD just gives people false confidence to drive faster than they can stop.
I convinced my wife to stop buying the absolute cheapest tires by telling her it is literally the only part of the car that actually touches the road. Why would you cheap out on that?
Control and stopping of course, but I'd love to see the justification behind "better uphill"
Napkin math says that doubling the contact patch over which the motive force applies still wins because snow tires aren't going to double your friction coefficient. And this is before you consider unloading of the front suspension on a hill (though for most grades it's still probably got more weight than the rear of RWD).
Furthermore, this seems to be corroborated by reality. People in snowy climates tend to go AWD rather than snow tires and snow tire makers typically advertise by comparing stopping/handling rather than acceleration.
The coefficient of friction drops fast on snowy ground, with all season dropping as low as 1/3-1/4 of their dry value.
Of course, snow tires plus AWD is even better, but I find snow tires on a FWD vehicle to be plenty to drive up steep hills in snowy weather. (Before learning of the wonders of snow tires, I used to have to take different routes home if it began snowing because I couldn't reliably make it uphill without losing traction.)
It's the opposite. You're more likely to carry too much speed into a situation in a FWD/RWD vehicle because doing so improves things a lot of the time. Take for example a highway merge. You can't accelerate well, so you carry more speed through the turn to make the merge more safe. Well that works great and improves safety for all until some moron stops at the end of the ramp. With the AWD vehicle you can come into that situation and many, many more with less speed.
Acceleration is the weakest link in the snow. The sketch factor goes way down once you get AWD. This is why no matter how hard the internet screeches about snow tires the median consumer who drives in a fair bit of snow will choose AWD first.
Trouble accelerating in snow is common and a non-issue. Trouble stopping is uncommon but a potential disaster.
You carry just a hair too much speed into a curve because you're anticipating not wanting to have to use any gas pedal on the rise just beyond and you wind up in the ditch. Or you go wide into a curb because you took a less optimal gap in traffic at a ~5 roll when taking a left turn because that way makes you less likely to get T-boned than coming to a stop and trying to find an even bigger gap in traffic. Or you slide backwards down some stupid driveway or bump something in a parking lot (ask any delivery, parking lots and driveways are the worst).
All the braking power happens in the rear if you only brake the rear wheels
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/honda-...
The overly cautious recall announcement was promptly clarified to owners by dealerships, and impacted a small subset. (I have a Civic.)
Please don't do this.
Quote an authoritative source. Not some AI bot known for ~~hallucinating~~ bullshitting.
What a disaster. I don't really know anyone who is voluntarily buying Teslas when there are so many other viable options in an increasingly crowded marketplace.
I don't know why, I buy trucks to haul stuff. (and I really wish there was an affordable truck to haul stuff with - everything I can find is 12+ years old and showing age)
Two counterpoints: for all the opinionated criticisms, the cybertruck is at least quite noticeable, and thusly you may think that they are a higher proportion of trucks than they really are.
Also, you're far more likely to see them drive around in certain locales due to the cost, so that may introduce additional biases.
> but it’s “not aware of any collisions, fatalities, or injuries” related to the recall.
It also, strangely, doesn't count fatality incidents.
No crashes, injuries or fatalities have occurred. Much bigger recalls from other auto-makers in the past:
Toyota: 8-9 million worldwide recalled for "sticking" accelerator pedals and floor mats that would trap pedals, and a $1.2B DOJ penalty.
Kia 2015: also sticky pedals in various models.
Ford (1970's): 1.5 million vehicles recalled due to read-end collision fires from the fuel tank placement.
Lmao