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When you sign the dotted line for a brand-new vehicle, especially one costing north of $80,000, you’re buying peace of mind. Confidence. The assurance that the product engineered in a state-of-the-art facility and hyped as the future of transportation won’t spontaneously self-destruct in your driveway.
But that’s exactly what Reddit user NewBTCuser says happened to his 2025 Tesla Cybertruck when the air suspension let go with a “shotgun-like bang” and left his truck sagging and wounded, without ever leaving park.
“On Saturday at ~3 PM, I was at home when a shotgun-like bang startled me. From my kitchen window, I saw what looked like “smoke” or dust rising from my Cybertruck’s bed in the driveway. The right side was sagging severely, tires nearly touching the wheel wells. The “smoke” cleared quickly, and diagnostics showed an error code for the right-side air suspension.
I arranged a tow via the Tesla app to the Houston service center (2.5 hours away). Since it was Saturday, I waited until Monday, 7/21, for an update. The service center claimed the damage was due to an “outside influence” and not covered by warranty.
They want me to pay $250 to release the vehicle, as-is.
24,500 miles
EDIT: What I believe happened: Extreme heat caused the air to expand, blowing the air suspension. The vehicle was literally sitting in my driveway.”
On r/TeslaSupport, the thread quickly became a magnet for advice, skepticism, and technical speculation. “They can look at the log remotely,” said user alty-Barnacle-.
“The error code will have a timestamp, and they can also look at the last time the car was put in park. This would be pretty easy to prove if it happened when parked or if you’re lying.”
In other words, if Tesla wants the truth, it’s already sitting on the hard drive of the truck itself.
Tesla Cybertruck Air Suspension: Key Features, Failure Causes & Maintenance
- The adaptive air suspension automatically adjusts ride height and firmness to suit driving conditions, raising the truck for off-road use or lowering it for highway cruising.
- In “Extract Mode,” the system provides up to roughly 17.4 inches of ground clearance, boosting off-road capability.
- A built-in self‑leveling feature keeps the Cybertruck even under heavy payloads, as verified when a loaded owner praised the truck’s ability to stay level even with over 3,000 lb aboard.
- However, the bed’s underside can trap debris (e.g., hay), which may clog the air compressor intake and cause suspension failure if not regularly cleaned.
Theories flew. Heat-related expansion? External impact? Air suspension systems are notoriously complex, combining electronic sensors, compressors, and flexible rubber bellows to provide the cushy ride of a Rolls and the stance of a Baja truck.
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They’re engineered with fail-safes like pressure relief valves, as user NefariousnessFair362 pointed out, making spontaneous rupture a rare (and serious) anomaly. “The photos show damage patterns… that are more consistent with external impact than internal pressure buildup,” he wrote. Tesla, for its part, chalked it up to just that, an “outside influence”, and left the owner holding the bag.
Tesla Owner Disputes ‘Outside Influence’ Claim After Cybertruck Breaks Down
But NewBTCuser isn’t buying it. “I’ve been a Tesla investor since 2019. I wouldn’t lie to the company,” he wrote.
“If this damage was a result of something I did, I would simply file it on my insurance.”
He emphasized the truck hadn’t been driven in over 12 hours when the suspension blew. It wasn’t off-roading. It wasn’t hauling a load. It was parked, silently baking in Texas heat, and then it let go.
He’s not alone in his frustration. According to CybertruckOwnersClub.com, some owners have reported air suspension quirks within just days of ownership, ranging from compressor bracket failures to leveling system malfunctions.
One member even documented five separate service visits in under three months. Even Facebook groups have threads full of owners detailing unsettling noises, rapid deflation, and system warnings.
Add to that Tesla’s app-based service structure, which, while futuristic, often leads to long delays and poor communication, and it’s no wonder early adopters feel like beta testers rather than proud owners.
Auto Summon on the Cybertruck: How It Works, Limits & Safety Tips
- The Auto Summon feature lets the Cybertruck drive itself over short distances (e.g., from driveway to sidewalk), operating autonomously under driver direction via smartphone or key fob control.
- It requires the driver to stay within approximately 200 ft, with line-of-sight oversight and hands‑off intervention ability at any moment.
- Summon can steer around simple obstacles, accelerating cautiously and braking automatically if it detects a hazard.
- For legal and safety reasons, use is restricted to private property only, not public streets or parking lots.
And here’s the kicker: getting the truck back now costs $250. That’s the fee to simply reclaim the vehicle, unrepaired, after Tesla ruled the damage wasn’t their problem.
Every new vehicle has growing pains. You don’t expect a parked truck, marketed for Mars missions and bullet resistance, to suffer catastrophic suspension failure while idle. And when it does, you sure don’t expect to pay to have it returned in pieces.
Tesla, for all its brilliance, needs to recognize that reliability, transparency, and service matter just as much as 0–60 times and minimalist dashboards.
Image Sources: Tesla Media Center
Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.
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Source: torquenews.com
