--- title: "Three Recent High School Grads Dead in Grisly Cybertruck Crash" description: "In Northern California, a group of recent high school graduates died in a Cybertruck crash that burst into flames." date: "2024-11-27" modified: "2024-11-27" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/three-dead-cybertruck-crash" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "cybertruck" - "elon musk" - "tesla" - "the digest" --- # Three Recent High School Grads Dead in Grisly Cybertruck Crash ![In Northern California, a group of recent high school graduates died in a Cybertruck crash that burst into flames.]() *Tesla co-founder and CEO Elon Musk stands in front of the shattered windows of the newly unveiled all-electric battery-powered Tesla's Cybertruck at Tesla Design Center in Hawthorne, California on November 21, 2019. (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN / AFP) (Photo by FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images\* ## Up in Smoke In Northern California, a group of recent high school graduates have died in a Cybertruck inferno. As [San Francisco's *KTVU* reports](), four young people who graduated high school last year in the town of Piedmont had been inside the Tesla vehicle when it slammed into a barrier and caught fire in the middle of the night. Another driver reportedly pulled off the road to help after the Cybertruck crashed, and managed to pull one person out of the fiery wreckage. That lucky grad survived and was taken to a nearby hospital, while the other three — none of whom have been identified by name — died at the scene. According to local police, the Cybertruck fire was so hot and burned so fast that water wasn't able to douse it out. "The heat was just too intense," Piedmont police chief Jeremy Bowers told *KTVU*. ## Getting Warmer Though the report didn't speculate as to why the fire burned so hot, the lithium-ion batteries in electric vehicles like Cybertrucks caused consternation among firefighters. During another fire involving one of the vehicles [in Texas earlier this year]() — which ironically occurred after its driver crashed into a fire hydrant — the blaze took more than an hour to extinguish due to the high temperatures at which those mega-combustible batteries burn. Notably, that debacle was the second Texas Cybertruck to catch fire in less than a month — and in the first instance, [the driver lost their life](). While [Cybertrucks' crappy paint jobs]() and [clueless owners]() are easy to dunk on, we're increasingly seeing that these [low-poly]() vehicles can be [extremely hazardous](). In the case of the Piedmont Cybertruck fire, that danger cost three recent high school graduates their lives. **More on Cybertrucks:** [*Thousands of Cybertrucks Recalled for Bricking While Driving*]() ## 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]()