There’s a particular kind of confidence that comes with owning a Tesla Cybertruck. It’s angular, it’s massive, it looks like a prop from a dystopian blockbuster, and it arrives with a spec sheet that reads like science fiction. Up to 406 millimeters of ground clearance in Extract Mode, a 35-degree approach angle, a 28-degree departure angle, and a wade depth of around 815 millimeters when the air suspension is maxed out and the battery pack is pressurized. On paper, this thing could probably storm a beach on D-Day. Reality, however, didn’t get the memo.
Near Sand Hollow State Park in southern Utah, deep in the kind of red-sand country, a Cybertruck owner spotted a side-by-side SUV stuck in the sand, a family trapped inside. The man did what any self-respecting owner of a futuristic $100K pickup would do. He hooked up a tow strap and prepared to play hero.
What happened next was the kind of scene that writes itself. The Cybertruck, rather than pulling the side-by-side free, dug itself steadily into the same sand trap, wheels spinning, pride evaporating, until the whole operation ground to a halt. The rescuer needed rescuing.
Enter the team from Matt’s Off Road Recovery, the southern Utah crew that spends its days extracting adventure enthusiasts from exactly this kind of mess. They found the yellow Cybertruck buried up to its axles, hooked it up, and had it back on solid ground in seconds. The truck’s off-road modes weren’t enough to compensate for what was missing: experience.
The moment that said everything came from the passenger seat. The driver’s son, watching the tow truck do in seconds what his father’s Cybertruck couldn’t, delivered a verdict as dry as the Utah desert: “Dad, you should learn from this”.
He wasn’t wrong. Off-road specialists have questioned whether the Cybertruck truly belongs in the same conversation as purpose-built 4x4s, but the honest answer is more nuanced. The truck’s hardware isn’t the problem. The problem is that no amount of software modes, air suspension travel, or stainless steel bravado replaces the one thing you can’t order as an add-on: knowing what you’re doing.
