Cybertruck owners are joining a Facebook support group—and want to be a protected class

[ResidentialBusiness]

Cybertruck owners are having a tough time of it, increasingly saying that their $80,000-plus vehicles are the victims of cheese-related attacks and “anti-nazi” harassment as a result of recent backlash against CEO Elon Musk. Now, one owner has taken matters into his own hands, calling on his congressman to demand it be made a hate crime to be mean to Tesla owners. 

“I find it deeply troubling that owning an American-made vehicle has made me—and many others—a target for unjustified hostility,” he wrote in a Facebook post last week. “I have personally experienced multiple alarming incidents. On one occasion, while driving on I-80, another driver deliberately attempted to run me off the road. In another unsettling encounter, while washing my car in my own driveway, a stranger drove up, hurled insults at me, and then left while running stops signs.” 

Rather than an issue of property damage, he believes these “crimes” call for harsher punishments. “I urge you to consider legislative action that would increase penalties for these acts, potentially classifying them as hate crimes or enhancing legal consequences for individuals who engage in such behavior,” he continued. “No one should be harassed, threatened, or harmed based on the car they drive.”

This concerned Facebook user has not been the only target. 404 Media recently reported on a Facebook group for Cybertruck owners full of videos and photos of passersby and other drivers flipping them off, as well as people kicking their cars. One video taken from inside a Cybertruck shows a man throwing American cheese slices at its windshield. The comments are full of fellow Cybertruck owners suggesting the victim files a police report against the cheese-attacker. Attempts have also been made to dox the person by posting a screengrab of his face to social media. 

Police appear to be taking these pleas from Cybertruck owners for protection seriously. One TikTok posted from a march organized to commemorate International Women’s Day in New York this weekend, shows no less than nine police officers guarding the perimeter of a single Cybertruck. “Thought the Cybertruck was tough with a steel body and unbreakable glass,” one user commented. “Why does it need protection?” 

Wider protests and backlash against Elon Musk at Tesla dealerships has turned driving a Cybertruck into an intended, or unintended, statement. On Saturday, over 350 protesters convened upon a Tesla showroom in Manhattan as part of the nationwide “Tesla Takedown” protests. Protesters are encouraging shareholders and vehicle owners to dump their stock and sell their cars in response to the political role Musk has played in the Trump administration as part of the cost-cutting task force Department of Government Efficiency (Doge). TSLA stock (Nasdaq: TSLA) has dropped about 40% since the beginning of the year, and was down 13% in midday trading Monday.  

For those who can’t afford to sell, they are coming up with other creative solutions. Anti-Musk bumper stickers have been popping up on Etsy and topping Amazon bestseller lists. Regretful Tesla owners are grabbing up stickers with the statements like, “I bought this before Elon was crazy,” “Anti Elon Tesla Club,” and “Elon ate my cat.” 

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