Cybertruck Driver Tried Using Wade Mode In A Lake, Ended Up In Jail

No matter how much you might hate it, the Tesla Cybertruck is a gift that keeps on giving. The sharp, shiny, ostentatious EVs and their owners constantly find ways to delight us, defying logic and making some seriously stupid automotive moves. Take the latest Cybertruck owner, for instance, a Texas man who decided to take his water-averse Cybertruck into a local lake. His day ended with a not-so-surprising bricked truck and his arrest.

KTVT in Texas reports that first responders and officers were called to Grapevine Lake late Tuesday evening to recover the Cybertruck disabled near the shoreline. According to officials, the driver, Jimmy Jack McDaniel (yes that's his real name) said he had intentionally driven his Cybertruck into the lake to test out the truck's "Wade Mode" feature. The Cybertruck, way over its wade depth in the videos, unsurprisingly took on a lot of water, bricked itself, and stranded McDaniel and his passenger, who eventually decided to abandon it.

If you haven't already indulged in the viral video, I highly recommend it. You can view the original series of video reels shared via zein.dtx on Instagram. In the first two installments, viewers can see the Cybertruck driving around in the water which is just above the Cybertrucks wheels. Disaster hit in the third reel when the truck is shown not moving. In the next reel, someone attempts to help stranded passengers in the Cybertruck exit the vehicle through the window. The sixth is the most beautiful one, where a large crane pulls the waterlogged truck out of the water.

Cybertrucks have a notorious history of not being water-friendly. We even wrote a guide on what to do if you brick the CT after a wash. But Cybertrucks are supposed to be able to handle some water — or at least that's the idea with "Wade Mode" anyway. As stated in Tesla's own Cybertruck Owner's Manual, "Wade Mode allows Cybertruck to enter and drive through bodies of water, such as rivers or creeks." When enabled, Wade Mode sets the ride height to "Very High" to keep delicate components out of the water — so long as the water you're driving through is under 32 inches high, just below the top of the tire as show in the manual's diagrams. In the videos, the tops of McDaniel's tires completely disappear under the water. Clearly, he didn't RTFM. 

The manual also included a few warnings to drivers about understanding the depth of the body of water they are entering. Had those warnings been heeded, McDaniel probably could have avoided this entire mess.

For his trouble, the Grapevine Police Department arrested McDaniel and charged him with operation of a vehicle in a closed section of the lake and "numerous water safety equipment violations," which KTVT said included "not having a valid boat registration."

Texas authorities have also issued statements asking people not to drive vehicles into the water, which should be common sense. There's a reason certain beaches allow vehicles on the beach, and others don't. It's dangerous for the drivers, a lot of work for officials to recover vehicles, and it's not healthy for the waterways, either.