practical Cybertruck questions

My Twitter feed has been full of Cybertruck for the past couple days for some reason. First off, I'm not a buyer - in fact I have no interest in buying any brand or model of pickups (though the Rivian does look cool AF), a pickup simply isn't something I need at all. I do plan to buy an EV at some point, but not a pickup. So this is more of a thought exercise than anything else, regarding design, since I honestly have not paid much attention to its development or specs over the years. So a few things that come to mind when I see the Cybertruck:

1. Have they done crash testing with it? I'm interested to see how the very short hood and very long windshield do. Obviously the glass is just cosmetic (like that old Pontiac minivan), and the dash looks to be about 3 feet long, so I assume that's all part of the crumple zone. But curious as to how it will do. 

2. Do you think they'll round off the sharp edges? Maybe it's not a requirement, but with all the pedestrian standards (both here and in Europe), seems like that might be an issue (or not?)

3. I don't see it in the promos, but does it have the stuff like Rivian where it can crab sideways ? The few vids I've seen seem to show it with a very poor turning radius, even for something as big as it is. But maybe just on the prototype?

4. Promos show it with a huge LED headlight bar running all the way across the front, plus another one at the top of the windshield. I can't possibly see how either of those things can pass DOT certification for headlights. Aftermarket lightbars on basically anything is an immediate ticketable offense around here, and I can't think offhand of any current vehicles that have them (though plenty new trucks have excessive headlights, it seems) Will we see the final product having changes here? Or does DOT just not even care any more (though I'm betting Europe does). Or are these LED bars just a cosmetic low-output thing and cybertruck will have actual headlights in the fascia (I can see where they would go)?

EDIT: seems there may be some smaller "Headlights" down below the front lip so the big bar may just be low-output. TBD. 

5. Is the body/skin stainless (a la DeLorean) or is it just painted that color? Or is it composite?

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

1) 11Ga stainless means there is no crumple zone.
2) They'll have to.  No way in hell that thing comes out for sale to the public looking like it does.
3) It has anything and everything that any other vehicle does.  That's what happens with vaporware.  
4) Again, no way in hell it comes out looking like it does now.
5) Skin is stated to be 11Ga stainless.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

My Twitter feed has been full of Cybertruck for the past couple days for some reason.

Weird.

It's almost certainly going to be heavy enough that it will be classified like a 3500 truck. So no crash testing/pedestrian impact stuff applies.

Practical and Cybertruck in the same title? 

Isn't that like dividing by zero? 

STM317 said:

It's almost certainly going to be heavy enough that it will be classified like a 3500 truck. So no crash testing/pedestrian impact stuff applies.

I did not know that. I suppose that must have been the plan all along, then - to bypass all the regulation by simply making it bigger/heavier than the regs cover. 

CrustyRedXpress said:

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

My Twitter feed has been full of Cybertruck for the past couple days for some reason.

Weird.

I don't follow any vehicle-related stuff on Twitter myself, I generally use it for work-related foreign affairs stuff, so all the cybertruck stuff is pretty noticeable in my feed.  I don't suppose it could have anything to do with a certain Twitter owner being related to a certain Tesla owner lol. 

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I suspect there's only one person at Tesla who thinks the Cybertruck is a good idea, too.

I can't imagine the sudden surge of Cybertruck related media has anything to do with the recent change in Tesla stock price.

irish44j (Forum Supporter) said:

I don't follow any vehicle-related stuff on Twitter myself, I generally use it for work-related foreign affairs stuff, so all the cybertruck stuff is pretty noticeable in my feed.  I don't suppose it could have anything to do with a certain Twitter owner being related to a certain Tesla owner lol. 

red_stapler said:

I can't imagine the sudden surge of Cybertruck related media has anything to do with the recent change in Tesla stock price.

One day he'll get investigated for stock manipulation.

One day.

Keith Tanner said:

In reply to irish44j (Forum Supporter) :

I suspect there's only one person at Tesla who thinks the Cybertruck is a good idea, too.

Probably lol. But then again, most of what he's pushed has turned to Gold until the last 6 months or so, so I guess he *could* be right, theoretically.

On a related note, I was just talking to my dad, who put a Cybertruck deposit down a couple years back (in spite of his dislike of Musk, he really wants an EV truck because he's all about EVs). I told him about the twitter feed thing and he offhandedly said he had just priced out a Rivian today, so I think he's off the cybertruck bandwagon at this point.

I told him to stop wasting my inheritance and just buy a Maverick to haul crap to the dump and stuff from home depot, which is all he uses his truck for anyhow :)

Somehow I saw a vid (or was it an article?) recently addressing a couple of these things.  I'm reasonably certain I didn't come up with these random answers out of thin air.

#2 - sharp edges - mostly gone off production truck due to pedestrian safety.  

#5 - stainless skin - out due to production issues.  

I look at that thing and wonder if it represents the third billion out the poop shute.

STM317 said:

It's almost certainly going to be heavy enough that it will be classified like a 3500 truck. So no crash testing/pedestrian impact stuff applies.

Got to see it at the Peterson when they had it on display. Its F350 big already, look pretty good all around but I have no idea how they would be able to make the big body panels at scale without charging a fortune. Pedestrian impact is just not a consideration in the design. 

In reply to wearymicrobe :

Tesla does have some massive presses even by the standards of automotive manufacturers, so forming the panels may not be an issue.

wearymicrobe said:

Pedestrian impact is just not a consideration in the design. 

Of course it is! But instead of minimizing damage, Tesla's trying to make the final blow as painless as possible