[Auto] Is the Tesla Cybertruck *Really* Bulletproof?

[Teacher™]

At the the Tesla Cybertruck's original 2019 launch, it was claimed that the skin would be made of the same stainless steel that is used by sister company SpaceX for its coming Starship spacecraft. That means 301 stainless steel and, in the Cybertruck, 3-mm thickness. Tesla at the time claimed this makes the truck bulletproof to 9 mm rounds but does not mention any armor rating certification, and a user on X (formerly Twitter) spotted a Cybertruck prototype on the highway with what appear to be bullet indentations all over it. Turns out, this was because Tesla shot at it, as CEO Elon Musk revealed during the Cybertruck's November 30, 2023 production reveal. So, is it even possible for the Tesla pickup to be bulletproof?"If fully hardened, 3mm of 301 stainless is more than adequate to stop any 9 mm Luger round I can think of, apart from exotic stuff like dedicated armor piercing bullets, which you're not going to find on gun store shelves," said Iain Harrison, editor-in-chief of Recoil as well as a competitive shooter and former British Army captain.Tesla said back in 2019 that each door panel will weigh about 60 pounds as a result of the thick stainless steel skin. The carmaker had thought about increasing the thickness to 4 mm for even more bullet resistance, but that would have made each door 80 pounds. We're still not sure, and Tesla's not saying yet, but Elon Musk says the Cybertruck will be resistant to .45 and 9 mm ammo, even showing a video of what likely is the same truck that X user above spotted in the wild being hit by a submachine gun and a handgun. Of course, it doesn't show the obvious: That you could likely shoot through the Tesla's glass at whomever's inside. Even the truck's so-called Armor Glass wouldn't hold up, though at the end of the clip below, Tesla shows the window rolling up from the bullet-dented door intact.Apparently, the Cybertruck may also have a bulletproof windshield. Tesla chief Elon Musk once said the laminated windshield, which appears to be completely flat, will stop a 9 mm round, as well. Back in 2019, we tested its strength by dropping weighed metal spheres from various heights. It didn't break. "Conventional auto glass is one of the hardest media to consistently defeat with handgun projectiles," Harrison added. "I've shot windshields with 9 mm hollow points, which barely made it through to the other side, so simply adding another layer to the sandwich would probably stop them. It's the same approach taken to make bullet-resistant screens in banks—just keep adding thickness until you reach the level of protection needed." A quick reference to the various civilian and military armor rating references shows it's at least plausible that a 3-mm-thick sheet of 301 stainless steel could successfully deflect a 9 mm Luger round—but it's not at all clear the same material could meet the full requirements for certification, which includes multiple impacts from a specific range, at a designated impact angle, among other requirements.

To find out just how plausible a 3 mm stainless steel sheet is as ballistic armor, we spoke with Mark Burton, founder and CEO of Armormax, which has built armored vehicles for nearly every application imaginable for the past quarter century. "Stainless steel is generally not used for ballistic purposes," Burton said. "It's usually an air-hardened heat-treated steel. I'm not aware of any certification for stainless steel. To the best of my knowledge, it takes 1/8 of an inch of air-hardened steel to meet certification." When asked if Armormax had tested stainless steel for use as armor plating, Burton said, "We test all materials. It's not the most effective, so we don't pursue that." What does Armormax use instead? When it's not using air-hardened steel, it's using its own Armormax synthetic fiber laminate, which can be five to seven times lighter than steel (air-hardened or stainless) at the same level of ballistic protection. Although stainless steel may not be the most effective material for ballistic armor, it doesn't mean it's ineffective, and the thick stainless steel bodywork may present other advantages to the Cybertruck. However, barring a certification, the ballistic resistance of the Cybertruck's body panels and/or windshield is a nice bonus but not one that should be relied upon in situations that merit an actual armored vehicle. This story was originally published following Tesla's 2019 launch of the Cybertruck concept, and has since been updated as the truck's long-awaited production debut brought forth new information and possibilities for its bullet resistance.

https://www.motortrend.com/news/tesla-cybertruck-electric-pickup-bulletproof-stainless-steel-body/