- A Tesla owner said he crashed his new Cybertruck after the brakes stopped working.
- Bruce Freshwater said now he can't drive the car and a repair could cost up to $30,000.
- He said Tesla was investigating, but hasn't gotten back to him. The company didn't respond to BI.
A Tesla owner said he crashed his new Cybertruck into a neighbor's yard within the first few hours of driving it — and he said it's because the vehicle's brakes didn't work.
The owner, Bruce Freshwater, told BI that the crash happened on April 27 after he picked up the Cybertruck. He said he pumped the accelerator when his daughter asked him to, but that nothing happened when he hit the brakes.
"I held the brakes down, and the vehicle really wasn't slowing down," Freshwater said.
Freshwater said he went to make a turn and "the back wheels locked up." According to a report from the North Fayette Township Police Department in Pennsylvania, Freshwater stated that his vehicle went forward 50 feet and crashed into his neighbor's yard. The Cybetruck then barreled into one of his neighbor's cars. That car then ran into a second vehicle, Freshwater told the police in the report, which BI has viewed.
Freshwater's Cybertruck, along with one of the neighbor's vehicles, sustained "disabling damage," according to the police report. The second vehicle had "moderate damage," the report said.
Freshwater said no one was hurt in the crash, but also said a fuse was blown when the airbags deployed, so the Cybertruck can't be driven.
Freshwater said a Tesla-recommended body shop gave him an estimate of between $16,000 and $30,000 to repair the vehicle. He paid around $109,000 after taxes for the Cybertruck, which he bought new from Tesla. He said he's now working with his insurance company to determine what happens next.
Meanwhile, Freshwater said he called Tesla's service line after the incident and heard back on April 29, two days after the crash, and again a week later.
He said a Tesla manager told him that due to the terrain, the accelerator may or may not disengage, and they're looking into the braking issue. He said that was the last he heard from Tesla.
Tesla didn't respond to BI's request to verify Freshwater's account or to comment on the situation.
The Tesla owner posted about the incident on X and said Tesla "needs to take some responsibility." Freshwater told BI that he still makes car payments every month on a vehicle he isn't using.
He said no other Tesla owners have contacted him regarding a similar experience, but the issue he experienced may not be an isolated case.
Tesla voluntarily recalled 2024 Cybertrucks in April for an "unintended acceleration from trapped pedal." The situation may occur when the accelerator pedal pad dislodges and causes the pedal to become trapped by the interior trim, increasing risk of crashing, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The report said the issue occurred because of an "unapproved change" during the vehicle's production in which soap had been added to the assembly. Residual soap "reduced the retention of the pad to the pedal," it said.
The recall covered 3,878 Cybertrucks, the NHTSA recall report said. As of April 15, there were no known related injuries, and by April 17, the vehicles in production were apparently equipped with a new accelerator pedal component, the report said.
Freshwater said he was initially a big fan of Cybertruck and ordered it the first day it became available. But while he initially wanted a Cybertruck replacement, he now isn't sure what he hopes will come out of the situation.
"With the wife and the kids, I'm not sure they would ever get in it with me," Freshwater said. "So it comes down to that, too."