'Cybertruck ownership comes with ... interesting fan mail'
- Reference: 1741182424
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/03/05/cybertruck_hate/
- Source link:
And it's owners of the Cybertruck – Tesla's most conspicuous and dorky model – who are bearing the brunt.
At this point, we must doff our cap to the investigative technohipsters at [1]404 Media for not only braving Facebook, but apparently infiltrating a Facebook group called "Cybertruck Owners Only."
[2]
But far from being the circle jerk you'd expect from Cybertruck owners (OK, there is a lot of that, too), the page has recently morphed into a support group for anti-Tesla abuse.
[3]
[4]
Users "nearly daily" post images and videos capturing notes left saying things like "WHAT'S ELON'S §$% TASTE LIKE?" or "NAZI CAR," people kicking the vehicles or throwing slices of cheese at them, which is a novel form of peaceful protest we can get behind.
Musk appeared on [5]The Joe Rogan Experience podcast last week, where he defended his rally gesture as "meant in the most positive spirit possible." Rogan, who is rarely critical about anyone he interviews, conceded that "you did it with a little enthusiasm that probably wouldn't be recommended with hindsight." Here are some Cybertruck-themed excuses Musk could have used:
"I was demonstrating the aerodynamic styling of the Cybertruck."
"... the trajectory of dislike for Tesla."
"... the maximum incline possible in a Cybertruck."
"... the trajectory of the Tesla stock price on Planet Musk."
"I was offering a high-five to every Cybertruck purchaser to make up for the rest of the world thinking they're douches."
Other examples include messages written in the dust on the truck's windows offering such pleasantries as "KYS" (that's "kill yourself" by the way), "Cyber Chode," "CUCK," and "SELL THIS," along with crude depictions of male genitalia in various states of arousal.
If you're not going to keep your light-colored car in a constant state of spotlessness, you are kind of asking for it, judging by messages we've seen written on the backs of white Ford Transits. And it seems Ford Transits are now cooler than Cybertrucks.
One of the more amusing posts accompanied by a video reads: "Just had a guy driving a Ford Fiesta flip me off. A Fiesta.... Like bruh... stay mad. I just hopped on the highway, seconds before this clip."
[6]
"I am baffled at how any male can have that much audacity while driving a Ford Fiesta," responds one supportive commenter. "Dude probably sits when he needs to take a piss."
Wow, if we were playing toxic masculinity bingo, we'd have won! Firstly, normal people don't care what car they or anyone else is driving (I can't even remember what model of Ford we have). Anything else is fragile ego.
Secondly, has he never tried to use a toilet in the pitch black so as not to disturb a loved one? Or does this guy just let it rip and expect someone else to clean up?
[7]
Thirdly, what's wrong with a Fiesta? The Cybertruck has just had its [8]umpteenth recall , while the Fiesta is backed by nearly five decades of iterative engineering.
[9]Tesla sales crash in Europe, UK. We can only wonder why
[10]Tesla, Musk double down on $56B payday appeal
[11]Tesla Cybertruck, a paragon of reliability, recalled again
[12]Musk claims Cybertruck has become profitable at last
Most of the abuse seems harmless and reversible – unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck. Because it might be. As The Register [13]reported a year ago, the Muskmobiles appear to be susceptible to corrosion from driving in the rain – a fairly common weather phenomenon – going by owner reports.
However, some protests take on a darker side. Lest you're brushing up on your "swasticar" puns for a bout of petty vandalism, note that Cybertrucks are equipped with a "Sentry Mode," which records constantly through exterior cameras for security. This is how much of the abuse is reported to the group. "At the very least it should say 'You are being recorded' while describing the person. And on some Black Mirror level ish, at the most? Let it use facial recognition through the internet and call the offenders by their name while threatening legal actions," one user wrote.
Thankfully, we haven't quite gone all-in on that level of dystopia yet, but 404 writes: "In at least one case, a Cybertruck owner claims to have identified a man who flicked off his Cybertruck in a road rage incident. The Facebook post shows the man was identified using a shirt he was wearing that showed his place of employment. He was then identified in a company photo and the group found his LinkedIn profile. The [14]case was covered by the local news ."
Most group members seem to lean into their newfound reputation – as if it wasn't cringeworthy to begin with – "chalking it up to something only 'crazed' or 'brainwashed' 'libs' are doing, something only 'poor' people who are 'jealous' are doing, or various other forms of cope and seethe," as 404 so eloquently puts it.
"Driving a Tesla these days feels like being the villain in WWE – the guy the fans love to hate. And honestly, I enjoy it," one wrote. "The funniest part is that their outrage isn't even their own; it's programmed into them, spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology," said another.
"It is just a truck. It isn't a political statement, it isn't a statement of solidarity or a show of allegiance to anything or anyone other than renewable energy," wrote another, even though these days it seems Musk couldn't be further from Tesla's original mission.
Elsewhere, [15]Tesla sales are crashing , and more self-aware owners are trading in their models. "I didn't want to be saddled with a vehicle that was associated with something so awful," one told [16]The Guardian . "When you own a vehicle like that, you are advertising for that company."
Meanwhile, Musk's behavior is getting so erratic that we're pining for the days of " [17]let that sink in ." He's taken a metaphorical chainsaw to US government under the [18]the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), [19]wielded a literal chainsaw gifted to him by Argentine President Javier Milei at the Conservative Political Action Conference, and at the same event actually uttered: "I am become meme." What even is this timeline?
Gestures aside, if people don't want his cars anymore, who are we to argue? It's called "the consequences of your actions" – something, we admit, Musk is not at all acquainted with. ®
Get our [20]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.404media.co/facebook-cybertruck-owners-group-copes-with-relentless-mockery/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2Z8iDM3DoPoLikXTPFZJd8wAAAY4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z8iDM3DoPoLikXTPFZJd8wAAAY4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z8iDM3DoPoLikXTPFZJd8wAAAY4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSOxPJD-VNo
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44Z8iDM3DoPoLikXTPFZJd8wAAAY4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/front&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33Z8iDM3DoPoLikXTPFZJd8wAAAY4&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/14/tesla_cybertruck_recalled_mosfets/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/06/europe_uk_tesla_sales/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/09/musk_appeal_tesla_pay/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/14/tesla_cybertruck_recalled_mosfets/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2024/10/24/musk_claims_cybertruck_profitable/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2024/02/13/tesla_cybertruck_rust/
[14] https://www.fox26houston.com/news/sugar-land-road-rage-incident-leaves-couple-terrified?ref=404media.co
[15] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/06/europe_uk_tesla_sales/
[16] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/ng-interactive/2025/mar/02/tesla-owners-selling-musk
[17] https://www.theregister.com/2022/10/27/musk_sink_twitter/
[18] https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/03/musk_doge_treasury_usaid/
[19] https://apnews.com/article/musk-chainsaw-trump-doge-6568e9e0cfc42ad6cdcfd58a409eb312
[20] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
There is no spoon.
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
(There is) Only Zuul!
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
The spoon is a lie!
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
(Enter The Tick, stage left) "Spoooooooooooooon!"
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
Spoons are evil! Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham even tore someone's heart out with one. Truly spoons are dictator death implements.
That's why I always eat with my fingers.
They call me soup-hand Luke.
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
"evil! Alan Rickman's Sheriff of Nottingham even tore someone's heart out with one"
Well, he issued the order, but it didn't happen. History does not report whether Christmas was cancelled or not...
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
The irony is... that ole Muskrat and his Musketards made me hate them... simply by the words and actions that they themselves did.
If you're at a dinner table with 10 other people, and Musk is invited to sit at the table... and no one speaks out... You now have 11 nazi's eating dinner... Same goes for buying anything produced by a nazi.
Nazi's can fuck off
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
Nazi's can fuck off
How do you feel about grammar Nazis?
[Unable to decide between icons here. Troll, coat, smiley face? So many choices.]
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
Come on, you could at least have called them Grammar Nazi's - one extra character for hours of fun.
:)
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
Do you think the association with Musk is going to make Nazis look bad ?
Re: spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
What, even Wetherspoons?
Courts to the rescue
It's called "the consequences of your actions"
And His Muskness will promptly sue all you maggots because you are supposed to buy his bullshit , ahem, swasticars , damn, try again, monthly recall vehicles.
His Muskness has been letting some ranting slip through, saying:
You will be buying my cars, whether you like it or not. Boycotting me is not an option. I will have your money, one way or another.
No further comments could be extracted, but laughter and shaking heads were plenty.
Re: Courts to the rescue
But suppose somebody bought a cybertruck because they are automobile fans and just wanted the ultimate in vehicle style and engineering?
Unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck
Google was good enough to quote an excerpt or two from Facebook posts about this subject, and the answer appears to be - yes!?
"fling the cheese from his Big Mac onto my truck. Glad it landed on the glass because it was there almost an hour before I got out of my flick and found it. Could have done some greasy damage to the trim or the tonneau"
Tonneau? Isn't that just the fancy name for loading bed of the truck? Which can be damaged by greasy cheese? Yikes.
Although there is a strange specificity to the protest: "CT was parked outside my daughter's home during a party and when I left there was a slice of American cheese stuck to the side of the truck.". American cheese? Ok, so that - stuff - will act like one of those vinyl wraps and adhere to the smmoth surface, but wouldn't a decent blue cheese have a more appropriate aroma?
Re: Unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck
I once threw a slice of cheese to the dog. He failed to catch it, unusually, and it landed perfectly on the top of his snout folded over and stuck. Poor bugger was absolutely frantic. He could see it, he could smell it, but it wouldn't come off and his tongue wouldn't reach to devour it's yummy deliciousness!
Labradors being famed for their vast intelligence, he immediately ran straight at the kitchen table trying to knock the cheese off with the legs and then running under the chairs to scrape it off on the undersides. Took me a minute to calm him down and hand him the cheese - excitement over.
I can only assume that Labradors were off chasing tennis balls when God was handing out the brains.
Re: Unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck
You're brave. My experience of dogs+cheese is that it results in farts that need their own logarithmic scale of awfulness. But feeding cheese to a friend's dog, that's OK.
Re: Unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck
...For small values of "friend"
Re: Unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck
American cheese?? Ahhh you meant Freedom Cheese.
Re: Unless a finger smear or a slice of cheese is enough to damage the Cybertruck
> American cheese?? Ahhh you meant Freedom Cheese.
Correction needed: "Not-Cheese".
they're not like us
What kind of persons sees a Cybertruck and thinks "in no way at all would I look an utter twat driving one of those"?
-A.
Re: they're not like us
It's cool innit! It big and shiny! Shiny thing go fast! Shiny thing go whoosh! Shiny!
Re: they're not like us
It goes 88mph too!
Re: they're not like us
So does my '17 Corolla....
Re: they're not like us
If only they then disappeared - flames optional.
Re: they're not like us
Although, saying that - beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.
Some people bought these things [1]Link to an Autoexpress article
There's a bit of recency bias here. The Chrysler PT Cruiser and Fiat Multipla were here as I'd expected. No Allegro though. Or Montego. And I quite like the Pontiac Aztek - having never seen one before. Though it's in the realms of quirkily interesting, rather than actually good. Until you see one from another angle.
Some people love the angular look. Some people seem to genuinely like brutalist architecture. I guess there's no accounting for taste.
[1] https://www.autoexpress.co.uk/best-cars-vans/91885/top-10-ugliest-cars-ever-made
Re: they're not like us
The Fiat Multipla is gorgeous.
Re: they're not like us
Its crash rating was so bad, that it was the only car that looked better after the crashtest than defore
Re: they're not like us
The Fiat Multipla is gorgeous.
Perhaps sir has been drinking?
Possibly brake fluid...
Re: they're not like us
They probably bought the Cybertruck to be very visible and because the Pinto is no longer available.
OK, yes I am stretching the bursting into flames well beyond Young's Modulus
Don't forget your incel card
" Secondly, has he never tried to use a toilet in the pitch black so as not to disturb a loved one? Or does this guy just let it rip and expect someone else to clean up?"
Either he's never had sex (highly likely) and tried to pee afterwards or he's a typical Elmo fanboi and expects everyone else to clean up his mess (also highly likely)
Or both, the second explains the first.
Re: Don't forget your incel card
They have their mummy to clean up after them
I used to rave about Tesla, about how visionary Elon Musk was, how amazing SpaceX was. When the Thailand cave rescue incident occurred. Knowing nothing about cave diving I saw the early offers and prototype and was very impressed that this group of engineers would put time and effort into figuring out a solution to safely get those kids out. When he was told it wouldn't work (and also being told to stick it where the sun didn't shine), I initially defended his outburst, though as it carried on, I had a major loss in respect for him.
Since 2018 the guy has gone massively downhill, just one crazy thing after another, lies upon lies and more lies (standard Trump behaviour) and it feels like he now has gone full on evil mode.
It's sad really, as with that amount of money and influence, why care about screwing others over? He could have focused on making the best possible products and used it massive wealth to make the world a better place.
He fooled a lot of people, I did try telling everyone he was a piece of shit liar conman from the beginning of his journey to infamy.
glad people have finally caught up, pity it took so long to allow the musktwat get a grip on unearned finance
>, I initially defended his outburst, though as it carried on, I had a major loss in respect for him.
Yeah that's the problem. People didn't reckon with the fact that someone with that temperment isn't going to be benevolent and is only in it for PR. People who want to help don't fling murder or child molestation accusations at the drop of a hat, it's like answering "yellow" to "what's 1+1" to them. I'm not sure how to trick people into "trust but verify"ing the public figures they idealize.
El Reg...
...can we have a Norbot in Evil Mode icon please?
Since 2018?? He was *always* like this.
And it's not like he ever really hid what he was like. It just gradually became harder for people to ignore.
All that's left is for the rest of the tissue of lies to publicly collapse.
Visionary would be curing cancel. Solving 3rd world debt and hunger. Homing and educating America's growing homeless.
He is, always will be, and always has been, a ****
Engagement bait. Shame.
Found the Swasticar owner
Cybertruck shape
I have one consistent thought every time I see a Cybertruck:
You'd think that, in 2025, for that much money, they could afford more polygons.
(They always remind me of the tanks from Battlezone, a 1980 video game.)
Re: Cybertruck shape
WankPanzer perchance?
"Firstly, normal people don't care what car they or anyone else is driving"
I have to say, while like the writer I'm not a car guy, this statement is pretty inaccurate.
And I can't imagine many of us would laugh off harmless abuse like having our car cheesed, any more than we'd appreciate rubbish being thrown into our gardens by chavvy kids.
Re: "Firstly, normal people don't care what car they or anyone else is driving"
It doesn't form part of my identity, purely utility.
Upgrade
Sitting down and taking your time makes it a posh wizz. Enjoy a selection of reading material with your visit and relax mind and bladder simultaneously.
Re: Upgrade
If you're reading a certain comic during - that would make it a Viz Wizz...
That's a twist on a common sci-fi plot
The entities driving Teslas are becoming self-aware and turning on their master.
The domestic cyber truck is a diversion
The real aim of the Cybertruck is to extract some $400M from the US tax payer by selling these disasters to government. And with Trump cronies in place, nobody is going to stop yet another handout to Musk.
That's also what drove the whole bulletproof myth (just takes a bigger caliber)..
Re: The domestic cyber truck is a diversion
Well, Trump does need a bullet-proof car, and the old Government-issued one is probably a little long in the tooth now...
It's an acheivement
Nobody felt like this about Porsche, VW, Mitsubishi or Lada
It takes a special sort of CEO to make SS-Oberführer Porsche and Brezhnev look good
spoon-fed by media nonsense designed to make them hate Elon Musk and EVERY technology
It's true. I've been so brainwashed by the media I now hate EVERY technology, even spoons.