It might be one of the nation’s most popular four-wheeling trails, but the Rubicon in California ain’t easy. The 22-mile route that snakes through the Sierra Nevada is the de facto proving grounds for any manufacturer who wants people to know their rig is tough enough. As far as I know, Tesla never tried it with the Cybertruck, but one owner did last week with arguably predictable results. It’s been stuck, broken down on Cadillac Hill, since Friday—and a tipster I spoke with said it’s still there today.
This particular Tesla pickup is kitted out by Cybertruck Co., and in all fairness, it’s one of the more dedicated off-road Cybertrucks I’ve seen. You can tell by the photos that it wears upgraded bumpers front and rear, a 12,000-pound winch, rock sliders, and all the overland camping equipment you’d expect. It’s still far from a rock-crawling buggy, of course, and we’ve seen how much trouble stock Cybertrucks have on even modest obstacles.
Pictures of the wounded Cybertruck quickly gained traction in local Facebook groups. Several drivers who saw it firsthand commented on various posts, so I reached out to a few of them for more info. “It was at the staging area when our group was starting the trail,” one person told me. That was at Loon Lake on Monday, August 4, around 9 or 10 a.m. local time. “We had a well-seasoned group with a very diverse group of rigs—including an all-electric buggy that a friend built.”
“When one of the Samurais in our group decided to call it a day around Arnold’s Rock on day one, the Cybertruck crew—complete with a Jeep JL Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon as a chase/recovery/generator carrier vehicle—was struggling on mild obstacles, blocking the trail,” they continued. “Thank goodness it wasn’t a busier weekend. The Cybertruck crew said they brought six tie rods and only had two left by the time they reached us at Arnold’s Rock. Apparently, they’d already replaced at least one steering rack as well.”
Some pics from the trail, @Tesla @cybertruck is an animal on the Rubicon! @elonmusk are you looking to trade for a museum piece? pic.twitter.com/oz41F2tCgq
— CYBERTRUCKco (@CYBERTRUCKco) August 5, 2025
Lunch done back on trail. If anybody has any friends that wanna ride out to Rubicon Springs and bring us some more inner tie rods. Please reach out!
— CYBERTRUCKco (@CYBERTRUCKco) August 5, 2025
By Wednesday, it was parked at Rubicon Springs with critically low charge on the battery. I’m told they used two generators at the nearby campground, but could only reach 7% that way. Somehow, they were able to charge it enough to hit the trail again.
Jason Maloney, a SoCal off-roader who was trekking the Rubicon for the first time, told me he encountered the Cybertruck in a state of disrepair on Friday around 3 p.m. “We got out and took a look at the bumper and underside,” he explained. “It was winched off the trail at a spot to allow others to pass at the top of Cadillac Hill.”
Maloney said it “took significant front-end damage to the bumper,” and added that it “looked like the supporting structure was torn off on the driver side.”
Every photo I’ve seen of the Tesla on the trail shows it in this spot. Thankfully, it’s not in a super inconvenient location—at least, for other drivers. I can only imagine the people working to get it back on the trail feel differently, as it’s far from an air-conditioned shop or even a Pep Boys parking lot.
Finally, I spoke with one more person who passed the Cybertruck around 2 p.m. on Saturday. They were in contact with another group that was a day behind them on the Rubicon, and when they finished the trail Monday morning around 11 a.m., the Tesla was still there. A crew was supposedly swapping out the steering rack.
It’s important to note that the Tesla Cybertruck uses a steer-by-wire system. Because of that, typical trail repairs aren’t enough to get it going again. I’m not sure how they’ll fix it in that setting, and that’s a common complaint amongst folks who take issue with the attempt in the first place.
“It took so much gasoline between the Jeep pulling him and the generators he borrowed from the [Rubicon Springs campground] caretakers,” wrote @the_unsinkable_craigory, who claims to have witnessed the Tesla’s turmoil, on Instagram. “It was a wildly irresponsible trail run. That crap does not belong out there.”
Maloney told me that he’s actually wheeled alongside this Cybertruck before on a Smuggler’s Run. He claims the Tesla did great on that trip, while also noting that the owner got it stuck on San Diego’s Sidewinder trail. There’s a YouTube video of it here:
I’ve reached out to Cybertruck Co. through various channels but have yet to hear back at the time of publication. I’ll keep an eye on this situation and update my story here with any noteworthy developments. Surely they’ll get it out soon.
Got a tip or question for the author? Contact them directly: [email protected]
Comments