60mph rear ending of my TESLA model 3

[pauwow]

hi friends,

yesterday i was just waiting (stopped) on the highway to exit onto a ramp, and this van hits me at i don't know... 40-60mph? you can see in the attached pic the damage the van suffered during the crash

my car suffered some damage, maybe 6inches of dent in the back? (pretty big area of abnormal curvature)
it doesn't look as bad from the back though..

car was totally non functional and i think the cooling unit around the batteries got damaged (bad smell in car)

i'm worried that when insurance comes back to me and wants to repair this car, i don't know how reliable the batteries are in such a high shock event. also all the sensor and cameras may have been tweaked so autopilot may not function as well? don't know..

has anyone experienced something similar that can help with this?

thx!
paul

 

[focher]

That smell is likely the pyro fuse. When it blows, the car ultimately shuts down. Only Tesla can replace it. The smell, to me, is similar to having airbags go off - something I happened to experience about 20 years ago.

I had a rear end incident that looked somewhat similar. It was repairable because there was no subframe intrusion, only the trunk and cross bar where the trunk latch sits. Only a more detailed inspection will tell you.

Do not forget to demand diminished value, which is the lesser value of the car after having an accident on its record.

Interesting is whether we had the incident at the same place. I was stopped waiting on the southbound I-680 to exit at Mission Blvd where it transitions to the I-880. Same place? That is a menace of a place on the freeway. I had a CHP officer stop, and he mentioned it's an extremely high place of incidents.

 

[MichaelP90DL]

Ugh. Sorry to see that, man.

 

[Wennfred]

I just read on here somewhere, If it is the Pyro fuse... you can get the Pyro fuse on eBay and replace it yourself. I think the ad I saw was 138.00 to 150.00 for the part. Will also need a 5 star special socket (E-10) which cost $30.00 on EBay

Play it safe, as this part is right under the Penthouse cover and around high voltage areas, let Tesla deal with it, their insurance should be paying for it.
A few good videos on how to replace the Pyro on YouTube.

Fred

 

[mazers]

I got hit in the left rear side while standing still on a highway near an exit ramp, similar to yours. A Toyota truck hit me in the rear, and then spun and hit the front. Car initially estimated at 15k to fix, but after tear down the estimate went to over 35k. Car was totaled, thankfully. Make sure you go to a Tesla certified collision center and have them do a tear down to see what could be damaged behind the bumper cover (frame extension, etc).

 

[mswlogo]

It might feel like 40-60 mph hit but that wasn’t close to it. Glad you’re ok and good luck with the whole ordeal.

 

[ry-ballz]

That's a 10-15mph impact

 

[focher]

Agree that was a very slow impact. The impact on mine was estimated at 10-15 MPH and the damage looks a little worse.

 

[texas_star_TM3]

60mph impact and you wouldn't be sitting at home...lol

 

[needp3d-]

60mph impact and you wouldn't be sitting at home...lol

LOL

 

[Tessaract]

hi friends,

yesterday i was just waiting (stopped) on the highway to exit onto a ramp, and this van hits me at i don't know... 40-60mph? you can see in the attached pic the damage the van suffered during the crash

my car suffered some damage, maybe 6inches of dent in the back? (pretty big area of abnormal curvature)
it doesn't look as bad from the back though..

car was totally non functional and i think the cooling unit around the batteries got damaged (bad smell in car)

i'm worried that when insurance comes back to me and wants to repair this car, i don't know how reliable the batteries are in such a high shock event. also all the sensor and cameras may have been tweaked so autopilot may not function as well? don't know..

has anyone experienced something similar that can help with this?

thx!
paul

Sorry to hear about your rear-ender. Had a similar thing happen to me. But I gotta say that judging from the amount of damage I see to your M3 rear, and the amount I had on mine, there is no way the van hit you at anything close to 40-60 mph. Probably closer to 30 at most.

 

[Daniel in SD]

This is closer to 60mph:

And this is an Odyssey at 35mph into a brick wall (which should be similar to 60mph collision into a stopped car)

 

[TLLMRRJ]

Sorry to hear about your rear-ender. Had a similar thing happen to me. But I gotta say that judging from the amount of damage I see to your M3 rear, and the amount I had on mine, there is no way the van hit you at anything close to 40-60 mph. Probably closer to 30 at most.

Looks more like 10mph to me.

 

[LowBattery]

I thought that was the normal amount of panel gap. /s

Sorry to hear about this accident and best of luck getting this resolved.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I got hit in the left rear side while standing still on a highway near an exit ramp, similar to yours. A Toyota truck hit me in the rear, and then spun and hit the front. Car initially estimated at 15k to fix, but after tear down the estimate went to over 35k. Car was totaled, thankfully. Make sure you go to a Tesla certified collision center and have them do a tear down to see what could be damaged behind the bumper cover (frame extension, etc).

From personal experience, do whatever you can to get a huge estimate on the repair so you can get it totalled. There's no winning when repairing a daily driver that can easily be replaced. There's only headache, wasted time, inconvenience, and reduced wealth waiting for you for a repaired car.

 

[silentsnow31802]

The smell is from the seat belt tensioners firing holding you in the seat upon impact.
The pyro fuse blew because of the seat tensioners. The fuse is set to pop when any safety device is activated, which your seat belt tensioners are.
The car would not move because of the pyro fuse blowing disconnecting all high voltage.
My car was in a very similar accident and was repaired. Also a diminished value claim should be made in your situation. That accident will go on its record and hurt the resale value of the car.

 

[TLLMRRJ]

I get the safety reason for doing it, but not sure I like how easily the Tesla is disabled and unable to move after a relatively minor accident.

Could find yourself in a bad spot to get out of the car to get away, and easy for your car to get hit by oncoming traffic. With an ICE car, you drive out of harm’s way with the same damage.

 

[Spenny818]

The smell is from the seat belt tensioners firing holding you in the seat upon impact.

Yup - Had the exact same thing happen when I was rear ended in December. For reference, I think this collision was between 40-50mph.. I was stopped and didn't see it coming. Seatbelt tensioner fired but no airbags went off. Estimate ended up being $41k CAD, and I still had to fight with insurance to write it off. Picking up the new car on Monday. I'm very fortunate these cars are so damn safe! No injuries on my end whatsoever.

 

[SMAlset]

Sorry about your accident. Glad you were okay. As far as the insurance goes, did you have your car wrapped or ceramic coated? If so, you'll want to make sure you are comensated for that as well.

 

[pauwow]

That smell is likely the pyro fuse. When it blows, the car ultimately shuts down. Only Tesla can replace it. The smell, to me, is similar to having airbags go off - something I happened to experience about 20 years ago.

I had a rear end incident that looked somewhat similar. It was repairable because there was no subframe intrusion, only the trunk and cross bar where the trunk latch sits. Only a more detailed inspection will tell you.

Do not forget to demand diminished value, which is the lesser value of the car after having an accident on its record.

Interesting is whether we had the incident at the same place. I was stopped waiting on the southbound I-680 to exit at Mission Blvd where it transitions to the I-880. Same place? That is a menace of a place on the freeway. I had a CHP officer stop, and he mentioned it's an extremely high place of incidents.

incident was going off 101N into willow road..

btw, i demanded diminshed value to be reimbursed, they asked that i need proof that the value truly went down due to the accident. how did you get yours?

thx
paul