--- title: "Former Tesla Engineer Alarmed as Large Piece Falls Off Cybertruck" description: "A Cybetruck owner has reportedly had the entire assembly of his truck's gear shifter come crashing down, along with the Sun visors." date: "2024-04-25" modified: "2024-04-25" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/man-alarmed-large-piece-falls-off-cybertruck" categories: - "Advanced Transport" - "Tesla" tags: - "cybertruck" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Former Tesla Engineer Alarmed as Large Piece Falls Off Cybertruck ![]() *\Image: Cristina Balan via X\* ## Disastertruck Tesla's Cybertruck is really struggling to keep it together. The brutalist pickup, once CEO Elon Musk's [much-beloved pet project](), has been mired in problems since finally going on sale late last year, from a major recall caused by a disastrous [issue involving the accelerator pedal]() to being defeated by [small hills]() and even a [trip to the car wash](). Now, one owner has reportedly had the entire assembly of his truck's gear shifter come crashing down, causing the truck's visors, which are also attached to the assembly, to be ripped off as well. For reasons we can't explain, Tesla chose to mount the gear shifter to the vehicle's monstrous windshield, requiring drivers to switch drive modes via a touchscreen suspended above their heads. "THIS IS a clear design and engineering error!" former Tesla engineer Cristina Balan [tweeted](). "The issue with this design is the fact that the visors are one of the most used part in a car that takes the most amount of force!" "This will ALWAYS be a problem if they don’t change the design!" she added. "This is bad." https://twitter.com/CristinaIBalan/status/1782119433651048484 ## IncEl Camino According to Balan, the owner had to bring in his Cybertruck for a windshield replacement — and to have the cover of his accelerator pedal riveted down to make sure it wouldn't get stuck at full throttle (last week, the carmaker had to [recall every single Cybertruck]() over the issue). It's a glaring design flaw that's "unrelated with the engineering design issues I’m seeing here," Balan [argued](). "This whole center console need to be redesign completely and especially the attachment point," she wrote in a [followup tweet](). It's yet another sign that the Cybertruck was rushed to market and poorly put together — even by [Tesla's standards](). The company made some big bets when it comes to the [choice of materials](), overall design, and set of features — which are seemingly backfiring. **More on the Cybertruck:** *[Fired Tesla Workers Say Elon Musk Is in Big Trouble Without Them]()* ## 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]()