Many thought that the windows cracking on the stage on the night of the official unveiling of the Cybertruck was just a publicity stunt to get more attention to an already hyped-up model. The people at Tesla knew right from the start that when Chief Designer Franz von Holzhausen would slam that metal ball into the windows, they would shatter into pieces and get everyone talking about the electric truck with a futuristic design and stainless steel body.
The Tesla team seemed surprised, as if what happened on stage that night simply did not go according to plan. If they faked it or not, we will probably never know. But the thing worked, and reservations for the model poured in. For a $100 deposit, people could reserve a Cybertruck that was supposed to enter production in 2020. But you know Tesla when it comes to deadlines. Low-volume production eventually started in July 2023, with plans to ramp it up in 2024.
Three years later, following extensive and unconventional testing, when the Cybertruck entered production, Tesla announced that the issue was fixed. Furthermore, Elon Musk says that the Cybertruck had bulletproof windows and doors, and several tests have proven it over the past few months. You can kick the stainless steel Cybertruck, and not a single dent shows up.
You can shoot bullets and arrows at it, and still, the stainless steel won’t give in. The Tesla team even fired at it with a Tommy gun before it kicked off deliveries, just to make sure they weren’t wrong. The truck looked every inch indestructible. But is it really?
Fast forward four years, and someone runs the 2019 metal ball test again. Will the glass hold up this time? The metal ball used in 2024 is almost identical to the one from 2019. Someone throws the ball straight into the front window on the passenger’s side but does it without putting any force into it the first time. So, nothing happens.
On a second attempt, there is a bit more power in the throw, and the third time, a charm. However, the 2024 thrower didn’t seem to put half the power that the Chief Designer used back in 2019 to smash those windows.
You could tell the two of them setting up this test were afraid not to actually break the window. And that is totally understandable. How do you tell your insurance agent that you cracked the windows on your car, throwing metal balls at it? So, the window was intact, but a small scratch showed up on the ball.
