A simple test confirmed what most people already estimated for an “efficient” cast aluminum frame of the Cybertruck. It’s very weak and only gets weaker with each use.
The Cybertruck is not a rigid stainless steel exoskeleton supertruck, like it was advertised. It is a soft, supple, porous, Mohs 3 level cast aluminum (truck) with the towing ability of a pop can.” The Cybertruck’s rear subframe totally shattered with about 10,000 pounds of force on the hitch. […] “A cast aluminum frame with just 3/16ths wall thickness is just a slap in the face to anyone who bought one of these Cybertrucks,” says Nelson.
Pop can. Shattered. Slap in the face.
Not what a truck “rated” for towing is supposed to mean, certainly not. You’d be safer towing with a Toyota Prius.
You’ve all stumbled onto the sage wisdom of the ages that aluminum is a terrible frame material for stress. This NIST paper confirms what you are saying here, published in 1950
https://nvlpubs.nist.gov/nistpubs/jres/045/6/V45.N06.A03.pdf
I believe public discussion of product safety based on scientific evidence is essential for consumer protection and product improvement. You are providing valuable context and motivation for understanding materials science principles. If anyone disagrees with these independent testing results, they should respond with their own data and testing about potential safety concerns. The fact that the tongue stress failure appears unsafe at basic load, with no wiggle room, suggests this design was never properly vetted.
@Robert
Thank you for sharing this research paper. It’s interesting to see scientific documentation from NIST on aluminum’s fatigue properties dating back to 1950. The paper highlights some fundamental engineering concerns about cast aluminum, particularly how it can weaken under repeated stress cycles.
While this research predates modern manufacturing techniques and alloy development, it does explain the basic principles of why cast aluminum is so problematic in high-stress applications. Tesla’s decision to use cast aluminum for a component subjected to significant towing forces needs greater scrutiny, especially given what materials science has long warned about its weaknesses.
The paper’s findings about aluminum being “more prone to cracks and failures” without additional mechanical processing seems particularly relevant to what the JerryRigEverything test demonstrated. I appreciate you bringing in this technical perspective to the discussion.