Automotive site FuelArc compiled the report after gathering "a full year of data for the Cybertruck" and pitting it against a decade worth of statistics for the Pinto, which was produced from 1970-1980.
FuelArc found that the fatality rate per 100,000 units was 14.52 for the Cybertruck and 0.85 for the Pinto, concluding that the Tesla model was "17 times more likely to have a fire fatality than a Ford Pinto".
For those who can’t remember back that far, the Ford Pinto had a troubled safety record. Its rear-mounted fuel tank design made it prone to fires in collisions, resulting in numerous fatalities. Ford was accused of prioritizing cost-cutting over safety and faced billions in lawsuits. The Pinto recall and its impact on automotive safety regulations became a landmark case in consumer protection.
The site considered two Cybertruck crashes and one "incident" that happened "in their first full year on American roads." A crash in Piedmont, CA killed three people, while a crash in Baytown, TX killed one person.
According to Mother Jones the authors of the Cybertruck analysis openly acknowledge caveats in their methodology.
"First off, Tesla— the car’s manufacturer and one of Musk’s companies — has not confirmed how many Cybertrucks it has sold. FuelArc puts its best guess at 34,438, based on 'a variety of means, including piecing together public reporting.'
"Secondly, the five Cybertruck fatalities include the one that occurred in Las Vegas ... outside Trump International Hotel, when an Army soldier fatally shot himself before the car, packed with fireworks, exploded.
Musk claimed in a post on X that the explosion was “unrelated to the vehicle itself.” Thus, the FuelArc analysis acknowledges that this fatality is 'controversial' since the driver’s cause of death was reportedly a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and the burns occurred after his death".
Despite the "caveats," Mother Jones reported that "There are other reasons, beyond the latest analysis, to be skeptical" of the Cybertruck's safety.
"It has reportedly not been crash-tested by the NHTSA or the nonprofit Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, nor has Tesla released its own safety data on the Cybertruck".
Mother Jones said: "Musk bragged around the time of its release that it would “be much safer per mile than other trucks.” But his claims of superiority were quickly disproven, given that Tesla recalled the truck seven times last year alone — an astonishingly high amount — including once over a trapped accelerator pedal that could increase the risk of a crash, estimated to affect more than 3,800 units, according to the NHTSA".
