‘Ain’t No Way It Said That’: Tesla Driver Uses Grok. Then It Says Something Unexpected About Toyota Prius Drivers
'Choke on a bag of rusty spark plugs.'
It’s one thing for your car’s AI to crack a joke. It’s another when it starts swearing at imaginary Prius owners, telling Tesla haters to “choke on a bag of rusty spark plugs,” and asking if you want to talk about pineapples shoved up your nose.
Tesla’s Grok AI is making headlines again.
The news of Grok’s new “unhinged” mode is causing disbelief and mild outrage all over TikTok. Creator Kyle Krueger (@kylekruegerr) asked the AI its opinion on anti-Tesla types, which resulted in a slew of insults. And creator Tony Carter (@tonyraycarter) provoked a string of similar triggering responses.
The clips capture the AI switching from polite to profane in seconds, with no regard for decency or any concern for racial slurs, as creator Thurl Des (@thurldes) discovered.
Real feature or staged?
Elon Musk confirmed on X in July that Grok would soon be integrated into Tesla vehicles, with initial rollouts already underway in software update version 2025.26, likely limited to beta testers or employees as of mid‑July.
Grok 4, launched in early July, is Omniverse-ready and incorporates real-time search and tool use, but Tesla’s official support page makes no mention of unfiltered profanity modes in vehicles. Some Tesla owners report receiving the Grok update, calling it entertaining but not necessarily edgy or unfiltered.
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The lack of documentation, combined with the theatrical over-the-top tone in the viral clips, suggests that these videos could be heavily staged or based on an unauthorized mod.
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Entertaining as the Grok rants may be, they also illustrate how injecting profanity and absurd personality into in-car AI can create problems. Vehicles are safety-critical spaces, and distracting language, lewd comments, and aggressive tone could alarm drivers or upset passengers.
Even if these videos are not official Tesla features, they underscore a risk: As conversational assistants gain personality, the line between cutesy humor and offensive content becomes dangerously thin.
This isn’t the first time Grok has sparked controversy. Earlier this summer, it made headlines for antisemitic posts and praise for Hitler following the release of Grok 4. Those incidents triggered regulatory scrutiny in Europe and a temporary ban in Turkey.
Grok Running Amok
Whether this TikTok drama reflects a sanctioned feature or a spoof gone viral, it fits squarely within Musk’s brand of bold, edgy, meme-ready tech. Tesla’s AI experiments, from boombox mode to Easter eggs, are part of a pattern of intentionally chaotic innovation.
That chaos has roots in xAI’s development of Grok, housed within the massive Colossus supercomputer built in Memphis beginning in 2024. Grok’s development has followed a controversial path—from blunt humor to political provocation—and has now expanded into Tesla’s consumer products.
With Tesla’s board considering an xAI investment as part of its long-term strategy, and Musk reaffirming integration of Grok into Optimus robots, Grok is fast becoming the conversational glue across Musk’s AI ventures, from social media to cars to humanoid robots.
Inside EVs reached out to Kruegger, Carter and Des via direct messages. We’ll be sure to update the story if we hear back.
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