The very first Cybertruck crash to occur on public roads happened Thursday in Redwood City, California, and it seems all the people involved made it out OK. The Toyota and the Cybertruck involved in the collision, however, didn’t fare as well.
Images of the crash involving a 2009 Toyota Corolla on Skyline Boulevard originally first appeared on Reddit thanks to u/boddhya. Both vehicles don’t look like they’ll be returning to the road any time soon. The Autopian got ahold of California Highway Patrol and ironed out a few more details about the event:
In an initial call with CHP, The Autopian was told that only one person suffered minor injuries in the collision. The Cybertruck was reportedly registered with Texas plates to a Palo Alto address, while the 2009 Toyota four-door was registered locally.
Subsequently, a report from CHP has become available to The Autopian highlighting more details of the incident. Notably, it states the driver of the Cybertruck shares the name of a Tesla engineer based in San Francisco, and was the injured party in the matter. Along with the Texas plates and Palo Alto registration of the Cybertruck, it suggests, but does not confirm, that it may have been a Tesla company vehicle. The two passengers of the Cybertruck were unharmed, as was the driver of the 2009 Toyota Corolla involved in the crash.
CHP says the Corolla was traveling southbound down the beautiful Skyline Boulevard in Redwood City, California, when the driver seemingly lost control of the vehicle. It was a particularly rainy day in California, which usually means chaos on the normally dry, sunny streets. Thankfully, only minor injuries were reported, with the driver of the Cybertruck reporting some pain, but not so bad that they needed transportation to a hospital.
Still, this was no minor crash, as the damage to the Toyota and the deployed airbags in the Cybertruck indicate:
Oof. That’s not gonna buff out. The Cybertruck has yet to receive a crash test rating from either the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration or the Institute for Highway Safety, but at least in this crash, everyone made it out OK. As for saving this particular truck, repair costs and insurance rates are still big questions, though I’m sure engineers will do all they can to rescue this one.
Folks have been waiting for four years to take delivery of the Cybertruck, which Musk unveiled in 2019. Currently, delivery of more trucks is being hampered by problems of expanding battery production to scale. Folks who ordered more basic models of the Cybertruck might not see a vehicle until 2025.
This is a developing story, and we will updated as we know more.