First reported Tesla Cybertruck accident results in only ‘minor’ injury
Composite image of a Toyota Corolla and Tesla Cybertruck after the accident. | Image: u/boddhya (Reddit)After Reddit user boddhya posted two pictures of a Cybertruck accident, the California Highway Patrol confirmed to The Verge that units responded to a...
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After Reddit user boddhya posted two pictures of a Cybertruck accident, the California Highway Patrol confirmed to The Verge that units responded to a two-vehicle accident on SR 35 (Skyline Boulevard). It occurred in this area south of Page Mill Road, which Google Maps lists as Palo Alto, around 2:05PM local time and involved a 2023 Tesla Cybertruck carrying three people that appears to have been hit by a 2009 Toyota Corolla driven by a 17-year-old.
Tesla’s Cybertruck delivery event raised questions about the design and what would occur in an impact with other cars or pedestrians. Fortunately, it doesn’t appear that anyone involved in this incident suffered major injury as a result.
CHP:
Our preliminary investigation indicates a Toyota Corolla was traveling south on SR-35 southbound, south of Page Mill Road, at an unknown speed, when the driver, for unknown reasons, turned to the right and subsequently struck a dirt embankment on the right shoulder. The Toyota then re-entered the roadway, crossed over the double yellow lines into the northbound lane, and crashed into a Tesla Cybertruck traveling north on SR-35 northbound.
The only injury noted in the release provided by CHP mentions a suspected minor injury to the Cybertruck driver, who declined medical transportation, and it mentions that it does not appear the Tesla was operating in autonomous mode. The weather is described as cloudy and wet.
The pictures posted on Reddit show significant damage to the Corolla’s front end. You can also get a look at the driver’s side and front of the Corolla as a driver approaches the accident in dashcam footage posted to YouTube. Although we still can’t see the front of the Cybertruck, both sides of the vehicle and the rear don’t show the same amount of damage despite the side-curtain airbags deployed.
While the truck doesn’t show markings of a “release candidate,” we didn’t spot any of the “Foundation Series” etching, so it’s unclear if this is a customer-delivered model or something else.
We’ll update this article with more details as they become available.
Update December 29th, 9:34AM ET: Added dashcam footage posted on YouTube.
