Tesla’s Stuck Cybertruck Was a Christmas Gift to the Internet

Tesla faced an avalanche of online mockery after a video was posted to Reddit on December 12 showing a prototype Cybertruck that had to be towed out of a snowy hillside. By a Ford, no less. The vehicle, carrying a solitary Christmas tree in its bed, lacked the traction to free itself from the slippery terrain in the Stanislaus national forest, despite running all-terrain tires that, per Tesla’s marketing, “have you covered in any environment.”

The Forest Service capitalized on the viral blunder by issuing a pithy public statement that proposed a partnership with Tesla to promote awareness and education of their motor vehicle use maps. “We feel confident that had the driver of the Cybertruck had a better understanding of the topographical feature indicated on our maps, practiced Leave No Trace principles, and generally been more prepared, this whole incident could have been not only avoided, but also provided much-needed education to many new off-road users,” said Stanislaus National Forest Supervisor Jason Kuiken in a press release.

The maps, which the forest publishes online, illustrate which roads and trails motorized vehicles are allowed to use. If the road is out of bounds, it’s for good reason: the unsuspecting off-roader will likely get stuck.

The video, which was shared widely on Reddit and Instagram, prompted vitriol about Tesla, its founder Elon Musk, and San Francisco drivers infamous for misbehaving on snow. Each year, the hordes of fintech and coding bros descend upon the Sierra Nevada and wreak havoc upon small mountain towns, these commenters say.

It seems they don’t teach comp-sci students in systems architecture classes that 80 percent of any vehicle’s traction capability comes from its tires. But maybe the driver’s 18.5-inch TV in the middle of the dashboard became a distraction, and led them to drive off off the road and into a ravine.

The vehicle was a prototype, so it may not have been equipped with the Cybertruck’s production tires, but taking it off-road in the snow was a particularly boneheaded move if the product tester knew the truck was under-equipped. Tesla, who blew up its PR department back in 2020, has not commented on the incident. For their part, the National Forest spokespeople told SFGate they were dead serious.

A better driver would have aired down the tires, which would lengthen the contact point and make the tires more flexible, or brought a traction device like Maxtrax. This driver was probably more focused on adding meme coins to his crypto portfolio than planning ahead and preparing for an excursion into the forest.

It’s heartening to see someone make use of the Stanislaus National Forest’s free Christmas tree permit system, even if the tree itself will probably be decorated with benign ornaments that won’t offend whoever AirBnBs their Tahoe cabin that they visit once a year.

We hope the embattled tech company takes the national forest up on its offer. It could use the PR, and perhaps engineers will add grippier tires to the next fleet of Cybertrucks. For an upcharge.

Tesla’s marketing materials say the truck was built to perform on “any planet.” Maybe it would’ve gotten better traction under Jupiter’s gravity.