---
title: "Piece Comes Flying Off Cybertruck While Driving"
description: "Flying hubcaps are not part of the Cybertruck's tech specs, but that seems to be what happened to one beta driver in California."
date: "2023-09-15"
modified: "2023-09-15"
authors:
  - name: "Noor Al-Sibai"
    job_title: "Senior Staff Writer"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-piece-flies-off"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "cybertruck"
  - "dashcam"
  - "tesla"
  - "the digest"
---

# Piece Comes Flying Off Cybertruck While Driving

![Flying hubcaps are not part of the Cybertruck's tech specs, but that seems to be what happened to one beta driver in California.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/cybertruck-piece-flies-off.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: leletyM3 via YouTube\</em\>*

## Assembly Required

As far as we're aware, a hubcap flying off while driving is not part of the Cybertruck's tech specs — and yet, as new video shows, that seems to be what happened to one not-so-lucky beta driver in California.

The [video in question](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQ5A4mFtFJQ>) shows a Tesla Cybertruck prototype moseying down what appears to be a San Francisco-area freeway when out of nowhere, the electric pickup's wheel cover shoots almost vertically into the air.

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The, er, interestingly designed hubcap, which *The Verge* referred to as looking like a "[ninja death star](<https://www.theverge.com/2023/9/12/23869636/cybertruck-wheel-covers-double-as-ninja-death-stars>)," then shoots back down to the ground directly in front of another car ahead of the dashcam. The first car seems to be able to get out of its path, but the second one isn't so lucky, and the wheel cover ends up underneath its undercarriage, popping out on the other side in front of the viewer's vantage point as the driver swerves out of the way.

At this point, it's unclear whether the hubcap ends up underneath the car with the dashcam, but it continues driving along the freeway for the rest of the 52-second clip all the same.

## Issues Past

This is, of course, not the first time we've heard or seen [Cybertruck jankiness](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-prototype-mocked-for-looking-extremely-janky>).

Just this summer, we've not only seen what's supposed to be an impressive action shot of the Cybertruck's single giant [windshield wiper](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-mocked-enormous-windshield-wiper>) being [overwhelmed with mud while offroading](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/cybertruck-windshield-wiper-mud>), but we've also seen footage of what appears to be another of the Tesla truck's prototypes [broken down on the side of the road](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-cybertruck-abandoned>) in the San Francisco Bay Area. Whether it's the same Bay Area Cybertruck as the one seen in the above video is anyone's guess because, of course, we have no idea who owns these prototypes or how they got them.

What we do know, however, is that [Cybertrucks are allegedly supposed to begin shipping out](<https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/19/23690346/elon-musk-tesla-cybertruck-delivery-event-q3-2023>) to the millions of customers on its waitlist in the third quarter of this year — and hopefully, whatever is going on with this hubcap will be fixed by then.

**More on Cybertruck:** [*Tesla Engineers Hated the Cybertruck So Much They Started Secretly Designing an Alternative*](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-engineers-cybertruck-secret-design>)

## Author
At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/noorfromfuturism.bsky.social>)