Here's What It Costs To Replace The Tesla Cybertruck's Stainless Steel Body Panels

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Since Elon Musk first announced the Tesla Cybertruck with a smashed window several years ago, the stainless steel pickup truck has divided opinions from Tesla fans and haters alike. The fuss hasn't died down in light of the production-spec being revealed and deliveries to customers getting underway, and one of the biggest focuses has always been on the truck's stainless steel bodywork.

The Tesla Cybertruck, an electric pickup truck, is renowned for its unconventional angular design and boasts impressive performance specifications. Its stainless-steel body is claimed to be bulletproof, and it offers two all-wheel-drive configurations with varying horsepower outputs. The Cybertruck has a towing capacity of up to 11,000 pounds and an estimated driving range of up to 340 miles. Its rapid charging capabilities allow for significant range additions in a short amount of time.Beyond its performance metrics, the Cybertruck has garnered significant attention due to its unique aesthetic. Its angular design stands out from the traditional rounded contours of most vehicles, giving it a futuristic and somewhat intimidating appearance. This departure from conventional design has sparked both admiration and criticism, making the Cybertruck a polarizing figure in the automotive landscape.

Sure, it's robust, but it's also prone to rust-like corrosion, is hard to manufacture, and there have been several reports of the edges of these panels wounding new owners. But what happens when you're involved in an incident where the impact forces finally overwhelm the stainless steel, and you need to replace a body panel? Does the troublesome manufacturing process and unusual material choice mean it's going to be more expensive or less expensive to replace?

The fact of the matter is that the Cybertruck is uncharted territory when it comes to repairs. We haven't seen a lot of civilian vehicles constructed from big chunks of stainless steel, so early estimates of actual repair costs contained a lot of guesswork. But in December 2023, the Cybertruck parts catalog went live, and with it, we were given a glimpse of pricing. The prices have subsequently been removed, but the parts catalog is still visible, giving you a breakdown of all the available parts you can order. The prices may have been removed due to changing costs - we know Tesla loves changing prices on the fly - or perhaps it was never meant for the public eye. Either way, we now have a good idea of what various body panels cost to replace:

Panel

Cost

Front Trunk Fascia

$935

Powered Front Trunk Lid

$1,910

Left/Right Fender Panel

$550

We'd have loved to see the pricing on the doors and rear fenders, but Tesla scrubbed pricing from the parts catalog and no amount of cyber-sleuthing has enabled us to find out these additional figures. It's also worth noting that these prices are purely for the panels themselves and do not include tax or installation fees. These costs are not the most outrageous number we've ever heard for body panels. BMW panels can cost anywhere from $500 to $2,000 for most models.

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The issue with the Cybertruck is that stainless steel is very difficult to repair in the way that you might fix an aluminum or standard steel body panel by banging the dents out with a mallet. Scrapes and scratches in stainless steel can be managed easily enough, but dents, tweaks, and bends leave you with little option but to replace the entire panel. In other words, there's a very good reason why you don't see a lot of stainless steel vehicles on the road.

Tesla's Wes Morrill says it isn't stainless steel corrosion that some customers are seeing.

Instances that might require replacement of the parts rather than repair include:

Minor dings won't really need a panel replacement, as scuffs can be repaired. Tesla even details the tools required and the method to remove both light and heavy scratches in the Cybertruck's repair manual.

The Cybertruck doesn't just have unique stainless steel components, though - there are other oddities like the huge single wiper blade and the massive glass windshield - the largest piece of automotive glass on the market, according to Tesla. It's no surprise that this is a costly item to replace, with Tesla's price pegged at $1,900. Other pieces of glass are much cheaper, though:

Part

Price

Windshield Glass

$1,900

Shatterproof Front-Door Window Glass

$260

Shatterproof Rear-Door Window Glass

$225

Front Quarter Glass

$200

Windshield Wiper Blade

$75

Windshield Wiper Arm & Blade Assembly

$165

Impressively, these figures are not exorbitant for the industry, and while they don't include tax and labor, we've seen windshield replacements for other brands exceed these figures by some margin.

The Cybertruck just doesn't have the moves where it counts, no matter which way the test is conducted.

The Tesla Cybertruck hasn't been out for a full year just yet, so there aren't any hard numbers for what a typical maintenance bill for one of these things looks like after twelve months. RepairPal estimates an annual maintenance cost of $832 for the brand overall, while CarEdge estimates a 10-year cost of $5,867, which is a bit lower than the average for a typical luxury car.

The official service schedule for the Cybertruck suggests checking the brake fluid every four years, replacing the A/C desiccant bags every eight years, swapping the HEPA filter every two years, cleaning and lubricating the brake calipers every 12,500 miles, and rotating the tires every 6,250 miles. Beyond that, they recommend running basic checks.

The automaker said coolant repairs aren't covered under warranty but quickly backtracked when the owner took to social media.

You may have read of the owner whose Cybertruck broke down just 35 miles from delivery, only to be told by Tesla that the warranty doesn't cover coolant leaks. As soon as he took to social media to make a public complaint, the automaker was singing a different tune and had the truck patched up in a jiffy, even detailing the vehicle before returning it.

The truck has already seen a major recall because of stuck accelerator pedals and is currently subject to an ongoing investigation by the NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI). The ODI is looking into Tesla's Autopilot software and trying to determine whether a recent update was inadequate in addressing major safety concerns. And on top of all that, the Cybertruck can't seem to handle a car wash.

The Cybertruck hasn't had the easiest start to life, and while it's an oddity that will always be remembered, we're not sure it's likely to be repeated. But at least replacing a body panel isn't as expensive as we thought.

Sources:Tesla, RepairPal, CarEdge

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