‘Panic Mode’: Basketball star recounts Tesla Cybertruck crash

Chatsworth High School basketball player Alijah Arenas prepares to shoot a free throw in the second half of a boys CIF State Division II championship basketball game in Sacramento, March 15, 2025. Photo by Keith Birmingham/The Orange County Register via AP

Article content

Star college basketball recruit Alijah Arenas spoke publicly for the first time about the Tesla Cybertruck crash that left him in an induced coma, casting fresh attention on safety issues with the EV maker’s newest model.

Article content

The University of Southern California freshman and son of former all-star player Gilbert Arenas told reporters during a press conference Wednesday that the steering wheel of his electric pickup lost responsiveness before he drove into a fire hydrant in Los Angeles in April.

Article content

Article content

Article content

He awoke to the Cybertruck engulfed in flames and struggled to breathe as the cabin filled with smoke.

Article content

Article content

“I try to open the door, and the door’s not opening,” Arenas said. “I didn’t think I had enough time.”

Article content

Arenas said he jumped into the back seat of the car to “check for any cracks, anything, anything I could use to get out. I start panicking, just rushing to get out.”

Article content

Eventually, Arenas managed to kick through one of the Cybertruck’s windows and was pulled out by bystanders. He was put into a medically induced coma due to extreme smoke inhalation and was released from the hospital less than a week after the crash.

Article content

Tesla Inc. advises customers in the Cybertruck owner’s manual that, in the event the vehicle has no low-voltage power, occupants are unable to use the buttons that open doors from the inside. Exiting the vehicle instead requires using manual door releases designed to be used only in situations when the truck has no power.

Article content

The Cybertruck was one of the most anticipated new vehicles of the last few years in the U.S. auto market. Within 15 months of sales, however, Tesla recalled the model eight times. In its latest safety campaign initiated in March, the company called back all the Cybertrucks it had produced and sold to replace pieces of steel trim that risked coming loose and creating a hazard for other motorists.

Article content

Tesla has touted the Cybertruck’s five-star crash safety rating from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and featured a crash-testing image in its latest earnings report.

Article content

“Our vehicles consistently achieve top safety ratings from independent agencies around the world. Cybertruck received a 5-star rating from NHTSA as well,” Tesla said in a March post on X.

Article content

Article content

Article content

The company didn’t respond to a request for comment on Arena’s remarks.

Article content

Article content

Door precedent

Article content

The Cybertruck door issue has come up before. The family of one of three college students who died in a Cybertruck that crashed near Oakland, Calif., in November filed a wrongful death lawsuit earlier this year in a bid to gain access to the pickup and better understand how their daughter died.

Article content

An autopsy showed Krysta Tsukahara, 19, wasn’t physically injured by the crash itself. Instead, she died of asphyxiation when she couldn’t open the doors.

Article content

Tsukahara’s father, Carl, told Bloomberg News in April that one of the questions he hoped the suit would answer was: “Why couldn’t Krysta get out?”

Article content

Arenas said he didn’t want to place blame on anybody else for the single-vehicle crash he was involved in.

Article content

“I want to take full responsibility on everything I do,” he said. “If I would have hurt somebody, that would have really took a toll on me.”

Article content

Tesla shares traded up 0.2 per cent as of 7 a.m. Thursday in New York. The stock has fallen 19 per cent this year.

Article content

Article content