---
title: "Here’s Elon Musk’s Excuse For Smashing Cybertruck Window"
description: "Tesla CEO Elon Musk explained that the \"sledgehammer impact on door\" of the Cybertruck \"cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off.\""
date: "2019-11-25"
modified: "2019-11-25"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/elon-musk-excuse-smashing-cybertruck-window"
categories:
  - "Elon Musk"
  - "Future Society"
  - "The Industrialists"
tags:
  - "cybertruck"
  - "elon musk"
  - "tesla"
  - "the digest"
---

# Here’s Elon Musk’s Excuse For Smashing Cybertruck Window

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/why-tesla-cybertruck-window-smashed.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Tesla/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Smashed

It was an embarrassing moment.

At Tesla's reveal event for its [newly-announced](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-elon-musk-unveils-blade-runner-cybertruck>) Cybertruck, chief designer Franz von Holzhausen tried to show off what the [company calls](<https://www.tesla.com/cybertruck>) "Tesla armor glass" — but the hefty metal ball he threw at the window [smashed it in front of a live audience](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-shows-off-bulletproof-cybertruck-breaks-window>), prompting ridicule across the web.

## 20/20 Hindsight

In a Sunday afternoon tweetstorm, Tesla CEO Elon Musk [explained](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1198772995021406209>) that the "sledgehammer impact on door" from a preceding stunt "cracked base of glass, which is why steel ball didn’t bounce off."

"Should have done steel ball on window, \*then\* sledgehammer the door," he [added](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1198772995021406209>). "Next time..."

## Part Count

We already knew that the glass was made to be pretty tough. Minutes before the accident, a group of leather overcoat-clad stage assistants demonstrated that Tesla's glass could withstand the same metal ball dropping onto its surface from a height of roughly 15 feet.

Musk also revealed on Twitter that his company received more than [200,000 pre-orders](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1198788116372344832>) for the unusual truck.

"New manufacturing methods are certainly needed, but then I’m confident it will actually cost less, because of its simplicity & lower part count," [Musk tweeted](<https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1198708228474884096>).

**READ MORE:** [Elon Musk explains why Tesla Cybertruck's glass was shattered by steel ball](<https://www.cnet.com/roadshow/news/elon-musk-hints-that-tesla-has-200000-cybertruck-orders/>) \[*CNET*\]

**More on the incident:** *[Watch Tesla Accidentally Smash Cybertruck’s “Bulletproof” Window](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/tesla-shows-off-bulletproof-cybertruck-breaks-window>)*

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

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