Anything to worry about here?

[launchd]

My Tesla Model 3 LR has 2,270 miles on it, bought it new in December. It has never been out of my possession except to go to a very reputable detailer (wrapped in PPF) and today, when it went to a local tire place to have a screw removed/patched. I asked them if they had jack pads/knew how to lift a Tesla and they said they do it all the time (I believed them, I've seen a few Teslas in their parking lot before). When I got home, I decided to inspect the underside of the car and noticed something hanging. This ended up being a black piece of tape that I pulled off. However, this piece of tape was hanging out of (what appears to be) a cracked section of the rear plastic shield/belly pan. The tire that needed to be removed/patched was the passenger rear and I know from watching the bay camera (only showed the front half of my car) that the front of my Tesla wasn't jacked up. Do you think the tire place tried to lift my car from this middle section? I'm assuming this shouldn't be cracked and a piece of tape shouldn't be hanging from inside this hole? Anything to worry about here? Including the black tape too... seems like nylon tape? Maybe it was wrapped around a hose? No idea.

 

[Tam]

My Tesla Model 3 LR has 2,270 miles on it, bought it new in December. It has never been out of my possession except to go to a very reputable detailer (wrapped in PPF) and today, when it went to a local tire place to have a screw removed/patched. I asked them if they had jack pads/knew how to lift a Tesla and they said they do it all the time (I believed them, I've seen a few Teslas in their parking lot before). When I got home, I decided to inspect the underside of the car and noticed something hanging. This ended up being a black piece of tape that I pulled off. However, this piece of tape was hanging out of (what appears to be) a cracked section of the rear plastic shield/belly pan. The tire that needed to be removed/patched was the passenger rear and I know from watching the bay camera (only showed the front half of my car) that the front of my Tesla wasn't jacked up. Do you think the tire place tried to lift my car from this middle section? I'm assuming this shouldn't be cracked and a piece of tape shouldn't be hanging from inside this hole? Anything to worry about here? Including the black tape too... seems like nylon tape? Maybe it was wrapped around a hose? No idea.

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I am not sure the tire shop broke the undercover. If they broke something, it should be the battery or near the side, not at the center.

Regardless, it should be examined to see anything damaged and a new cover needs to put on.

 

[launchd]

I am not sure the tire shop broke the undercover. If they broke something, it should be the battery or near the side, not at the center.

Regardless, it should be examined to see anything damaged and a new cover needs to put on.

Sorry, just to correct what I said (because I just took another look)... The section of plastic that is broken is actually toward the passenger side of the car (the side of the car with the tire that needed to be patched), it is not center/middle. This doesn't change what you said about getting it examined but this seems too coincidental. Couldn't find an OEM picture but here is a shot of an aftermarket rear belly pan with a red box over the section that is cracked/had tape hanging out of it on my car.

 

[Tam]

Sorry, just to correct what I said (because I just took another look)... The section of plastic that is broken is actually toward the passenger side of the car (the side of the car with the tire that needed to be patched), it is not center/middle.

The cause is the mystery.

The arms of an auto lift can extend quite long to reach the center of your car.

However, the damage is at the level between 2 tires. Slightly rearward. Usually, the arms are in front of your rear wheels and not at the axle of rear wheels.

In addition, you observe that it's not auto lift that suspends the whole car up in the air.

Thus, it could be a floor jack. Its reach is quite shorter than the auto lift. To get further to the center, it requires skilful sabotage techniques. It's also unlikely because the damage is rearward from the axle. That requires some acrobatics to reach that spot from the front of the rear tires.

The damage looks like a scraping/scratching. You can see the marks. The car could have passed over an obstacle and got a scrape as well as a big hole.

It could happen pre-delivery and post-delivery but unlikely at the tire shop.

 

[XPsionic]

Not much to worry about, either replace that plastic piece with another one (buy on ebay or new from Tesla) or just put some black duct tape over it.

I searched on google and found underbody damage that looks damn near identical to your picture, except their underbody tray was the older style fibreglass version. They even lost the same bolt as you did. Scroll down a little in that thread and you'll see it.

Underbody panels tearing off

[mod note: this post was originally a reply in Mike's rust-proofing thread] This past weekend I backed over a curb, and as the rear wheels dropped down, the rocker panel just in front of the rear wheels hit the curb. This caused the plastic trim to bend at a sharp angle, and also snapped off...

www.teslaownersonline.com

 

[Gauss Guzzler]

There's no chance the shop did that. No one puts jacks or lifts anywhere near that area on any type of car.

Those belly pans break all the time as @XPsionic noted. It's just a thin plastic aero shield and you likely hit something in the road, or perhaps a speedbump or parking divider. They're cheap and easy to replace direct from Tesla or you can buy "upgraded" aluminum versions.

Tesla uses lots of tape to hold their wiring harnesses together prior to assembly but the tape apparently isn't needed or expected to remain in place once the harnesses are installed on the chassis. If you remove your frunk liner to expose the working bits you'll see loose pieces of tape all over the place. I'd bet that a piece just happened to be migrating out thru that hole when you found it.

There's surely no other damage but if you expect to make a habit out of this, be warned that there is a very fragile plastic battery coolant hose right in that exact spot. It will break the instant something hits it and there is no official way to repair it - the whole battery has to be replaced. This issue is particularly troublesome on RWD models as there is no front motor to deflect things.

 

[Flybyglass]

Looking at the photo it appears the rear aero shield is cracked. It is a cover so it looks like nothing major. The aero shields used to be a fabric composite material and were prone to failure in heavy rain. The newer cars were a plastic. You can buy after market aluminum aero shields for front and rear as replacements and are reasonably priced. Check RPMTesla as one source there are others. If in the NE electrifiedgarage.com can replace both (and maybe order a set for you) in addition to inspecting. If it is a delivery issue it would still be a warranty item.

 

[launchd]

The cause is the mystery.

The arms of an auto lift can extend quite long to reach the center of your car.

However, the damage is at the level between 2 tires. Slightly rearward. Usually, the arms are in front of your rear wheels and not at the axle of rear wheels.

In addition, you observe that it's not auto lift that suspends the whole car up in the air.

Thus, it could be a floor jack. Its reach is quite shorter than the auto lift. To get further to the center, it requires skilful sabotage techniques. It's also unlikely because the damage is rearward from the axle. That requires some acrobatics to reach that spot from the front of the rear tires.

The damage looks like a scraping/scratching. You can see the marks. The car could have passed over an obstacle and got a scrape as well as a big hole.

It could happen pre-delivery and post-delivery but unlikely at the tire shop.

The tire shop did use a rolling floor jack to lift my car (watched the tech roll one over to my car before he went out of view of the bay camera), but I'm thinking this wouldn't be worth fighting with them over after reading the comments here/seeing another photo of a similarly damaged shield. I do think that if this happened while I was driving, I would've noticed because I'm VERY sensitive to NVH. In any case, $237 for Tesla to replace the cracked aero shield and inspect for any other damage - such is life.

Thanks for your comments all!