A Tesla Cybertruck Owner Says She Got a Boulder Stuck Under Her Truck and Even Extract Mode Wasn’t High Enough To Clear It – She Adds, “I Had To Call a Tow Truck To Protect the Battery”

There is a moment in every driver’s life when the world reminds you that machinery may obey your inputs, but the environment does not always return the favor. Parking lots, trails, and unassuming curbs have a way of teaching humility, sometimes gently and sometimes with a jolt that sends you reaching for your insurance card. 

It is part of being a car owner. Even the most seasoned driver eventually misjudges an angle or underestimates an obstacle. The important part is how one responds, something that a recent Cybertruck incident highlights with surprising clarity.

“I’ll spare you the details of how it happened, but we had a boulder stuck under the truck, a fluke accident!  The tow truck driver lifted the truck and removed said boulder. OMG. Pretty funny story! (Extract mode wasn’t high enough, and I did not want to risk damage to the battery. The tow truck was there in 5 minutes, and the boulder was removed quickly.”

Anyone who has ever parked in a sunbaked lot with decorative landscaping islands knows how deceptively placed rocks can be. The images show the Cybertruck perched over a pale, rounded parking lot boulder while a tow operator assesses the situation. It is a scene that feels almost theatrical. A futuristic stainless steel truck, all sharp geometry and presence, quietly balanced upon a rock that looks like it should be sitting in a Zen garden. 

Yet the owner, Janice Parks, took to the Cybertruck Owners Only Facebook group not with frustration, but with calm transparency, and that set the tone for what followed.

The comment section responded with a mix of humor, practical advice, and a touch of alarm. PositivePear3753 dropped the lighthearted classic, one-owner, lady-driven. It was the sort of line shared not with malice but with the camaraderie that thrives in online car communities. 

Anonymous participant 780 jumped in with a reminder about the adjustable height settings, which prompted Janice to explain that she had already tried that and still chose not to risk battery contact. In the photos, the boulder sits alarmingly close to the centerline of the truck. Her caution seems entirely reasonable when considering what lies beneath the floor of a modern EV.

Tesla Cybertruck: What Makes It Unique

• The rigid exoskeleton construction influences cabin acoustics by reducing exterior resonance, which gives the interior an unusually quiet character during steady cruising.
• Its lighting signature, with a full-width front bar, increases visibility in low-light environments and gives the truck a distinctive appearance at night.
• The steer-by-wire system provides a variable steering ratio that adjusts to speed, creating slow, deliberate control at higher speeds and quick responses during parking maneuvers.
• The absence of traditional door handles simplifies the exterior and uses proximity sensing to allow automatic entry, giving daily use a streamlined, tech-focused feel.

Comments then shifted toward financial reality. Christopher John pointed out that even a Model 3 Performance battery can cost well over ten thousand dollars to replace. A Cybertruck pack, with its larger structure, could likely exceed that. His point was not to criticize but to underscore why Janice’s decision to call for professional assistance was the correct one. The tow operator shown in the photos slips a jack under the rear of the vehicle with the calm precision of someone who has seen plenty of unusual roadside situations. A few inches of lift, and the rogue boulder becomes just another story in a long career.

Some questioned how the incident happened. George Philips wondered why the rock was driven over and whether the battery structure might be compromised. It is a fair question, although anyone who has navigated a crowded lot with low sightlines has likely encountered a landscaping stone that was not where it first appeared to be. Another commenter, Saeed Ghods, reminded everyone that there is a large air gap beneath the Cybertruck’s battery. That engineering detail matters because it illustrates that while EVs require careful consideration of ground clearance, they are not frail machines. They are built with protective layers and clearances designed to handle the unpredictability of real-world terrain.

The images themselves reinforce that. The truck sits level and composed, even while temporarily perched. There is no sign of sagging, damage, or leaking coolant. The underbody remains intact. This is exactly the type of real scenario designers account for when creating skid plates, battery shields, and reinforced housings. The goal is to keep a momentary miscalculation from turning into a catastrophic failure, and in this case, the engineering appears to have done its job.

What resonates most from this incident is how relatable it is. Drivers of every background and vehicle type have their version of this story. Maybe it was a curb that was taller than expected or a rock that blended too well with the asphalt. Janice handled the situation with a level head, sought help instead of compounding the problem, and shared the experience with good humor. Her fellow owners responded with a blend of jokes, advice, and concern. That is how a community functions. It turns small mishaps into shared knowledge and sometimes into entertainment.

After the boulder was removed, nothing was damaged, and the truck continued on its way. The experience cost Janice a phone call and likely a tow fee, but spared her the expense of a damaged battery pack. More importantly, it became a story that reinforces the idea that mistakes are not failures. They are part of the ongoing relationship between drivers and the machines they trust. Now and then, a rock ends up in the wrong place at the wrong time. What matters is knowing when to hit extract mode on the Tesla and when to call someone who can lift you clear of the obstacle, both literally and figuratively

Image Sources: Tesla Media Center

Noah Washington is an automotive journalist based in Atlanta, Georgia. He enjoys covering the latest news in the automotive industry and conducting reviews on the latest cars. He has been in the automotive industry since 15 years old and has been featured in prominent automotive news sites. You can reach him on X and LinkedIn for tips and to follow his automotive coverage.