Musk set high expectations for the Cybertruck, telling investors it would be Tesla’s “best product ever.” The angular, stainless steel pickup was supposed to generate buzz for Tesla by showcasing new technology and unlocking the lucrative truck market.

Instead, it has become synonymous with Musk’s polarizing stint in politics, exposing some owners to graffiti or middle fingers from other drivers. And its reputation has been tarnished among Tesla fans because of a spate of recalls and manufacturing issues that have resulted in cycles of repairs.

In the U.S., the company sold fewer than 40,000 Cybertrucks in 2024—well below Musk’s ultimate goal of 250,000 a year. In the first quarter of 2025, Tesla sold around 7,100 Cybertrucks in the U.S., according to registration data from S&P Global Mobility. Ford’s F-150 Lightning pickup outsold it.

In an effort to boost sales, Tesla has rolled out lower-price versions of the truck and started offering buyers incentives such as 0% financing and free upgrades.

Almost as soon as the $100,000 Cybertruck hit the road, quality problems began to multiply. Reports on social media cited cracked windshields and spotting from so-called rail dust, orange discoloration similar to rust. In its first year, Tesla recalled the truck seven times to fix dangerous defects. In March, with large metal panels falling off the trucks, the tally rose to eight.

Some of the quality problems were known and documented internally before the truck went on sale, including issues with the accelerator pad and windshield wiper that later triggered recalls, said former employees who worked on the Cybertruck. But there was pressure inside Tesla to get the truck to market quickly, according to these employees.

Tesla didn’t respond to requests for comment.

“Elon Musk will tell you the biggest professional mistake was the falcon doors on the Model X,” said David Fick, a longtime Tesla owner who got his Cybertruck in March. He referred to the complex door design that opens upward and hinges at the roof. “I believe that the Cybertruck is going to go down as an even bigger corporate stumble.”

The retired banker in Boynton Beach, Fla., chose to wait more than a year to buy his Cybertruck, hopeful that many of the biggest issues would be identified before he drove his off the lot. “They do a lot of bleeding-edge stuff where they rush to the market and then you’re a beta tester as an owner,” Fick said.

He paid about $72,000 for the car, plus $7,300 for window tinting and a custom wrap for exterior trim panels known as cant rails, covering his new car in a metallic maroon color. Soon after, Tesla recalled cant rails because they could become unglued.

“I’ve had tons of recalls on my Teslas over the years,” said Fick, who added that the cars are worth the hassle. “Eighty percent were fixed by [software] updates, but these are physical things we are dealing with now.”

Musk unveiled the prototype for the Cybertruck in 2019. At the time, he said it would cost $39,900, with a battery range of up to 500 miles—an ambitious combination that would be a stretch for any EV maker.

Work on the vehicle was delayed a couple of years, leaving engineering and manufacturing teams with only a few months to do final testing before the trucks went to customers, former employees said.

Musk tried to temper expectations around how quickly Tesla could increase production, given its unique design. “There is always some chance that Cybertruck will flop, because it is so unlike anything else,” he wrote on social media in July 2021. Still, he promoted some of its most unusual features, including his dream of making the car amphibious

Former employees said they took Musk’s social posts as orders, but the engineering proved difficult. By 2022, it was clear internally that Cybertruck wouldn’t be able to meet all Musk’s criteria, so engineers scrapped an early design and started over—developing a smaller, landlocked version of the truck, the people said.

After about a year and a half of testing, Tesla delivered the first Cybertrucks to a dozen or so customers in late November 2023. An early version of the truck started at $100,000 and had an estimated range of 318 miles.

Two months later, Tesla issued its first recall on the vehicle: a software update that required the company to increase the size of the font on a warning system used across its fleet. It was the first of three recalls that Tesla addressed on the Cybertruck through over-the-air updates to its software.

Cybertruck’s problems couldn’t be fixed by software updates alone. In April 2024, Tesla issued a recall for the accelerator pedal.

A special-edition Cybertruck on display in December 2023 in Los Angeles. Photo: Roger Kisby for WSJ

The company had received a notice from a customer complaining that the accelerator had gotten stuck. Tesla found that the pad attached to the long pedal could dislodge and get stuck in the trim above the pedal, causing the car to accelerate.

An internal investigation found the issue was the result of an “unapproved change,” in which Tesla employees used soap as a lubricant to attach the pad, according to the recall notice. Inside Tesla, the accelerator pad had been a known issue starting with the prototype, according to an employee who worked on the part. The manufacturing team also identified the part as problematic, this person said.

Tesla also had problems with the Cybertruck’s expansive windshield, which measured nearly 6 square feet. Sometimes the heavy glass would break, two employees said. The glass either arrived cracked from the supplier in Mexico or from handling at the Austin, Texas, facility, they said.

Some owners took to social media to describe the glass cracking as soon as they drove off the lot, or while they wiped the inside of their windshield.

The windshield required a large windshield wiper measuring 50 inches long. In June 2024, Tesla issued a recall on the wipers, whose motors Tesla found had been overstressed by testing.

A Cybertruck’s windows sustained damage at a 2019 event where Elon Musk showed off the new vehicle. Photo: Frederic J. BROWN/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

The wiper had been flagged nearly a year before, two people who worked on the Cybertruck said. It was one of the first issues identified on the vehicles, at which point it was classified as a “gating issue,” which meant that it needed to be resolved before production could move forward.

Reid Tomasko, a 25-year-old YouTube creator, took his Cybertruck on a cross-country trip, during which it performed perfectly, he said. Then came winter in New Hampshire. He was driving near his home in Lebanon, N.H., in February when a metal panel flew off the side of his truck.

In March, Tesla issued a recall affecting most of the Cybertrucks it had produced—more than 46,000. The problem involved adhesive that could become brittle in extreme weather, causing exterior trim panels called cant rails to dislodge.

Inspecting his truck, Tomasko said he found loose connections on almost every panel that used the adhesive, including the large pieces of stainless steel over the rear wheels, the front fender and the front doors.

“I was wondering, why are they not recalling the other panels?” Tomasko said.

After replacing several panels, Tesla offered to buy back Tomasko’s truck for nearly all of the $102,000 that he paid, he said. He accepted.

“I am planning on getting a newer one for cheaper soon,” he said.

Write to Becky Peterson at becky.peterson@wsj.com