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Battery Damaged After Hitting Tow Hitch

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Well unfortunately my model 3 is out of commission. Was on the highway when I encountered a lose tow hitch that I was unable to avoid. Ran over it and shortly thereafter had a low power warning. Pulled over and there was coolant leaking from the under carriage. Had it towed to Tesla and they said the battery was damaged and now needs to be replaced.

I'm just curious if anyone else has encountered this? We own a model 3 and model Y and at this point I really want to grab a skid plate to try and prevent this from happening again. It seems like there really is only one option available and that it comes from China and is relabeled and distributed. Are there any other options that people are aware of? Thanks in advance!
 
Not a recommendation as I haven’t tried it myself but MPP is a respected company.

This mounts in the front…is that where the damage happened? I could see needing one of these in the back too, especially if an object is kicked up by the front tires.
 
Not a recommendation as I haven’t tried it myself but MPP is a respected company.

This mounts in the front…is that where the damage happened? I could see needing one of these in the back too, especially if an object is kicked up by the front tires.
Appreciate that. Yeah I think the damage happened at the very front of the battery pack which is covered by the cardboard like skid protector. Rpm ended up having a sale and discount for combo front and back aluminum skid plates. Ended up buying them for both cars (I'll put it on the 3 whenever it gets back to me.)
 
Just keep full coverage insurance on it and go do more sweet jumps. Not sure I'd bother putting more weight on the car, unless you drive through minefields full of scrap metal all the time?
Some might call the highways of Houston just that. Looking into it I found out one of the three original model s fires was this exact situation with a loose tow hitch and after that they redisigned the under carriage for better protection on the s. Don't think the skid protectors should add much weight. Really want to avoid having something like this again
 
Well unfortunately my model 3 is out of commission. Was on the highway when I encountered a lose tow hitch that I was unable to avoid. Ran over it and shortly thereafter had a low power warning. Pulled over and there was coolant leaking from the under carriage. Had it towed to Tesla and they said the battery was damaged and now needs to be replaced.

I'm just curious if anyone else has encountered this? We own a model 3 and model Y and at this point I really want to grab a skid plate to try and prevent this from happening again. It seems like there really is only one option available and that it comes from China and is relabeled and distributed. Are there any other options that people are aware of? Thanks in advance!
This exact sort of accident resulted in one of the first heavily-publicized Model S battery module fires. After it happened, Tesla added titanium plate armor to the front underside of the original Model S pack to reduce the risk of penetration damage to the battery cells that caused thermal runaway in that incident.

Tesla, TSLA & the Investment World: the Perpetual Investors' Roundtable
 
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Well unfortunately my model 3 is out of commission. Was on the highway when I encountered a lose tow hitch that I was unable to avoid. Ran over it and shortly thereafter had a low power warning. Pulled over and there was coolant leaking from the under carriage. Had it towed to Tesla and they said the battery was damaged and now needs to be replaced.

I'm just curious if anyone else has encountered this? We own a model 3 and model Y and at this point I really want to grab a skid plate to try and prevent this from happening again. It seems like there really is only one option available and that it comes from China and is relabeled and distributed. Are there any other options that people are aware of? Thanks in advance!


You had 2 tons of car sitting on top of a tow hitch made of 1/4 to 1/2 inch steel at highway speed. It likely ancored itslelf and tore through the undercarriage. There isn't a skid plate around which would of held up to that. Don't waste your money trying to protect from these 1 in a million scenarios.
 
You had 2 tons of car sitting on top of a tow hitch made of 1/4 to 1/2 inch steel at highway speed. It likely ancored itslelf and tore through the undercarriage. There isn't a skid plate around which would of held up to that. Don't waste your money trying to protect from these 1 in a million scenarios.
Agreed it's a low rate of occurrence. This is what Elon posted after the changes though to the Model S undercarriage including testing with a tow hitch. If $500 gives me peace of mind so be it; if it prevents another episode like this even better.

underbody-shield-tow-hitch-01-lq.gif

 
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Agreed it's a low rate of occurrence. This is what Elon posted after the changes though to the Model S undercarriage including testing with a tow hitch. If $500 gives me peace of mind so be it; if it prevents another episode like this even better.

underbody-shield-tow-hitch-01-lq.gif


This was done with the intent to stop the car from burning. (it was bad PR) . There are alot more MY and M3's out there then MS .

But yea, its like PPF, if it give you piece of mind its worth it.
 
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Not trying to make light of a $12k accident, but it could have been much worse - several years ago, a friend of ours was in fairly heavy but still fast freeway traffic; the car that was two cars in front of of her lost its tow hitch, which proceeded to hit the road, bounce up…and go through the windshield of the car immediately in front of her, killing the driver instantly :oops:. Our friend was lucky to not get caught in the ensuing wreck, but she was really shaken up by such a horrible, random occurrence. I never heard what happened to the owner of the first car, who IMO could and should have been held responsible for maintaining the car in an unsafe condition.
 
Not trying to make light of a $12k accident, but it could have been much worse - several years ago, a friend of ours was in fairly heavy but still fast freeway traffic; the car that was two cars in front of of her lost its tow hitch, which proceeded to hit the road, bounce up…and go through the windshield of the car immediately in front of her, killing the driver instantly :oops:. Our friend was lucky to not get caught in the ensuing wreck, but she was really shaken up by such a horrible, random occurrence. I never heard what happened to the owner of the first car, who IMO could and should have been held responsible for maintaining the car in an unsafe condition.
Completely agree and consider myself incredibly lucky how things turned out
 
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Not a recommendation as I haven’t tried it myself but MPP is a respected company.

This mounts in the front…is that where the damage happened? I could see needing one of these in the back too, especially if an object is kicked up by the front tires.
I have this one installed (see here), and consider it fair peace of mind for the more common threats on (especially rural) roads.
 
I also have the MPP "Smash Me" plate on my Model 3 to help protect the coolant lines that run along the front of the battery pack. Those seem to be the most vulnerable part that can cause the whole pack to need replacement because they are plastic and stick out of the front of the pack. The fiber or plastic shield that Tesla uses in the front won't protect as much as a 1/8" aluminum plate. The MPP plate is made in Canada, but there's another similar product that's made in the USA (HPS Performance "Meet Me Outside" plate) HPS Black Aluminum Skid Plate Undertray Protection Shield Tesla Model 3