A Tesla Cybertruck Driven Into Saltwater and Submerged Was Recovered By an Exceptional Team of Experts - The Biggest Surprise Was What DIDN’T Happen Next

“Who’s the U-Boat commander?” We all remember the famous scene in Risky Business when Joel drives his dad’s Porsche 928 off a rickety dock into the water. Well, one Tesla owner recreated the scene. The Tesla Cybertruck was completely submerged in Ventura, California, until a special recovery team extracted the battery-electric truck using specialized equipment and skills.

The Cybertruck went off the Ventura Launch Ramp and was submerged in salt water up to its roof. This, according to the recovery team from TowBoatUS Ventura & Channel Islands. They needed help from their expert diver to make the recovery. Here’s what they posted, along with a bunch of images:

After developing a plan with agencies, our diver went into the water to make an attachment with the truck. A towboat also made an attachment to the truck to pull the truck away from the dock as the front wheels were stuck in a right turn, and the truck had gone under the dock. Our friends at Redline Towing pulled the truck out of the water.

The Cybertruck has a massive traction battery capable of storing up to 123kWh. Any internal short can cause a battery fire that would be extremely hard to control. Salt water is a good conductor of electricity, and if any entered the battery compartment, the results could be disastrous. Water does not stop an EV fire. However, due to the Cybertruck’s robust construction, Tesla’s decades of design experience, and a bit of luck, the battery did not ignite. We would say this was our biggest surprise. 

“We established a secluded area with the fire department in case of any ignition,” a spokesperson from TowBoatUS Ventura & Channel Islands told Torque News this week. Incredibly, Tesla sent a team to the site very quickly. They also told us, “Engineers from Tesla responded to the scene. They were confident that they would even be able to drive it back to a service center.”  In the end, it was decided to tow the vehicle away to ensure it was fit for operation following its plunge into the Pacific waters.

Fire teams responded out of an abundance of caution, and a flatbed tow truck from Redline Towing, based in Oxnard, California, was helpful in the removal of the vehicle from the water. Torque News spoke to an employee from Redline, who confirmed their team assisted in the successful recovery. They even proudly post an image of the Cybertruck on the back of their rig on the company's Instagram page. A supervisor from Redline promised to give us an update on the fate of the truck, and we will update this story if we gain any additional information from Redline.

One commenter who saw images of the recovery posted by TowBoatUS made a comment we found hilarious. Tesla owner IA said, “Put it in a container of rice. It’ll be fine in about a week.”  

Surprisingly, even that may not have been necessary. One person familiar with the extraction from TowBoatUS told us, “There is no damage done to the vehicle.” Apparently, the Cybertruck fared better than the 928 in Risky Business did.

We find it hilarious that many Tesla Cybertruck owners are hesitant to even take their truck through a car wash. 

Our opinion of the Cybertruck’s ruggedness has changed after speaking to the people involved in this recovery. We feel it shows just how resistant the Cybertruck is to water intrusion. We have heard reports about the HVAC vent door not closing, but it didn’t seem to be an issue in this situation.

Trucks and SUVs underwater at boat ramps are a common scene. We don’t mean to imply that the owner did anything reckless or that the Cybrtruck is more likely than any other tow vehicle to end up in the water at a ramp. That said, does it surprise you that the vehicle did so well after its misadventure? Tell us in the comments below.

Our Top of Page Image was used with written permission from TowBoatUS Ventura & Channel Islands. Torque News would like to thank the team members and those from Redline for being helpful in sharing information. 
 

John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.