It is hard to believe that someone would rent out their brand-new Tesla Cybertruck, but it appears that an early production unit of the electric truck was offered on Turo earlier this week. Unfortunately for renters, they couldn’t fully enjoy the Cybertruck as its touchscreen was non-responsive, rendering it unusable until a trip to the Tesla Service Center could address the issue.
The story was shared on social media by the individuals who had rented the electric truck on Turo. Coleton Guerin from the YouTube channel “Out of Spec Motoring” and Brandon “teslaflexx” are both very active in sharing Tesla-related content. It appears they rented the Cybertruck with the intention of creating a video.
Regrettably, from the moment they picked it up, the central touchscreen remained pitch black with no signs of recovery. Nothing appeared to function except for the smaller screen for the rear passengers, and the only way to get the truck moving was by utilizing the remote start feature through the Tesla app.
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Our Cybertruck is is BROKEN! pic.twitter.com/WJggwbiLhp
— Coleton Guerin (@OutofSpecDetail) January 3, 2024
In a brief video on Nitter, we can observe Brandon attempting to access the back-end of the touchscreen after removing a plastic panel located behind the screen. The same clip was shared on Reddit , where some commenters criticized the renters for tampering with the truck. However, it’s evident from the description that the owner of the Cybertruck was fully aware of the situation, and the removal of the plastic panel was a straightforward solution that didn’t affect the vehicle’s warranty.
Unable to revive the touchscreen, both the owner and the renters decided to take the Cybertruck to a Tesla Service Center, where the problem was ultimately resolved. Teslaflexx provided additional context in a post on his Nitter profile: “The 48V system is new and has bugs being sorted out. The owner was aware of the situation and came to help. We got it to the service center and the issue has been resolved. Like any new car, there will be issues. That’s why employees are getting them first. And no, we did not intentionally do anything to make the Cybertruck look bad!”
One day later, Out of Spec Monitoring streamed a live video on YouTube, performing a highway range test on the Cybertruck. However, it is not clear if this is the same vehicle as the one with the touchscreen issue, as the team had access to multiple examples throughout the week. Whether the Tesla owner decides to put the faulty Cybertruck back on Turo or keep it for private use remains to be seen. In any case, it appears that no one was to blame for the dead screen as it seems to have been caused by a software bug.