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Comment by sjsdaiuasgdia | Hacker News Reader

Later than it was supposed to be. More expensive than it was supposed to be. Not as much range as it was supposed to have. Not the exoskeleton design it was said to be. Not bulletproof like it was claimed to be.

The whole thing is a pile of engineering WTF. The enormous wiper that leaves a huge amount of the windshield untouched, when it manages to work at all. The wheel support structures from other Tesla models being reused in a much heavier vehicle, leading to all those photos we've seen of Cybertrucks with snapped off wheels. The headlight "shelf" that collects snow and blocks the headlights. The air suspension system that takes forever to adjust when it's not failing altogether. The glue, oh the glue, so much glue.

It's just so uniquely bad!

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It's a novelty car for rich people. Now the question is how big is that market.

Shrinking by the minute

The number of spoiled rich people?

The "headlights shelf" is because the protruding bumper is designed to be lower, to make the vehicle compatible with other cars during a crash, in order to protect the safety of other cars.

Anyway, the Cybertruck is a uniquely fun to drive and nimble truck thanks to its four wheel steering and steer by wire. The F-150 Lightning feels like a clumsy relic in comparison. It's just an innovative vehicle with a bunch of early teething problems. The amount of hate it's getting is way overblown.

It's an antisocial car. It basically screams FU.

>>The "headlights shelf" is because the protruding bumper is designed to be lower, to make the vehicle compatible with other cars during a crash, in order to protect the safety of other cars.

Okay but this is still a poorly considered design element, especially when a company is willing to sacrifice so much else to its peculiar aesthetics. I had no idea what the headlights looked like before this comment, but now I can't unsee them and I'm thankful my truck doesn't share those design "features".

I think it's probably more appropriate to look at it this way:

The "headlights shelf" is the result of realizing that putting the headlights where the light bar happens to be would be ridiculously high and absolutely terrible for everyone else on the road. But the light bar couldn't move, there were too many concept drawings and renders that showcased the light bar. There was just too much "it has to look this way" pressure. So the headlights were crammed in a narrow space just above the bumper, meaning even a little snow buildup is enough to start blocking the headlights.

It's not enough to simply say "well the headlights are where they are and the bumper is where it is, so yeah there's a shelf but so what?" You should ask why these things are arranged as they are.

Look at the concept drawings and renders. The headlights are not there. The light bar was supposed to be the headlights. The location of the headlights is an "oh shit, what can we do about it?" reaction to a design that was fundamentally bad.

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