Battery dent tolerance?

[FumelessCamper]

Is there a tolerance for how deep a dent has to be in the battery before one needs to worry about it?
Encountered some road debris at relatively slow speed ~10-15MPH. RPMtesla aluminum skid plate took up some of the damage, but looks like it bounced and hit the battery, making a 1/2" dent. My inclination is to merely replace the skid plate. Should I have this inspected by a Tesla service tech? Unfortunately far from service center. Any other advice?

 

[qdeathstar]

I think if there isn’t any coolant leaking you are probably OK

 

[untilcomplete]

I’d have tesla take a look at that..

 

[zoomer0056]

Year of car?

 

[nate704]

I really hope you already contacted Tesla service for this issue. Asking the internet for this kind of issue can be very dangerous.

 

[RoBoRaT]

Is there a tolerance for how deep a dent has to be in the battery before one needs to worry about it?
Encountered some road debris at relatively slow speed ~10-15MPH. RPMtesla aluminum skid plate took up some of the damage, but looks like it bounced and hit the battery, making a 1/2" dent. My inclination is to merely replace the skid plate. Should I have this inspected by a Tesla service tech? Unfortunately far from service center. Any other advice?View attachment 929051View attachment 929052View attachment 929054View attachment 929055

Definitely have Tesla Service check it out.
Meanwhile, you can reference this Tech Note for what's to be checked when with underside damage.

 

[jsmay311]

Definitely have Tesla Service check it out.
Meanwhile, you can reference this Tech Note for what's to be checked when with underside damage.

That document is a very informative read.

Looks to me like the damage to the OP’s battery is to the battery’s “baseplate”. If that’s correct, that document says that any dent greater than 8mm in depth should result in a battery replacement. (On page 12.)

Definitely have Tesla Service assess it.

 

[nate704]

You might need to go through the insurance and they "might" total your car.

 

[whisperingshad]

You might need to go through the insurance and they "might" total your car.

Doubt it, 25k or so for batteries and the car worth more than that...

 

[Jim R]

Send them your pictures. They'll say one of two things - It fine, or bring it in.

 

[cmaster]

If car hasn't thrown any errors indicating issue with battery or coolant, you are fine. I think some garage can upgrade your under carriage to have better protection. I think Electrified Garage does it.

To check if you have codes:

 

[FumelessCamper]

Thank you all. Following up on this.
There were no error codes, no leaking fluid. I made a service appointment, first available was today, 5 days after the incident. Drove the 2.5hrs to the service center and they futzed with it for 3 hrs. They say the battery is ok, the dent in the bottom they measure at just 3mm, which I cannot believe given the picture attached in original post. Though they cannot replace the battery, the mechanic said to expect some minor range degradation in the next few months, since the cooling around some cells may be damaged and the system will just work around them, isolating the cells that no longer function properly. They recommend replacing the aerosheild mounting bracket, a part they do not have on hand and it expected to arrive in a week or so. So I drove a loaner M3 (old beater) home. They cannot put back my aluminum plate from RPM since it is not OEM equipment, so will charge me ~$200 for a new plastic Tesla front aerosheild. After fees for diagnostics, battery leak test and mounting bracket I will be out just over $1k, plus two days driving back and forth to the service center. Idiot tax for driving over road debris.
On the good side, the drive there and back is through the California superbloom, so parts of the drive are quite pretty.
On the drive to the service center, an SUV lane changed right into me. Aggressive maneuvers on my part averted a collision by a hairs breath. After I kept thinking I would be better off right now if I had just reacted a little slower and the vehicle could be declared a total loss with some extensive body damage.

 

[jsmay311]

the mechanic said to expect some minor range degradation in the next few months, since the cooling around some cells may be damaged and the system will just work around them, isolating the cells that no longer function properly.

Really???

Anybody in-the-know about how Tesla’s battery packs work think any part of this sounds believable?

 

[qdeathstar]

A range loss without concerning battery damage seems unlikely and Working around individual cells seems especially unlikely since the cells are grouped in series to get -400v… maybe the entire string in that series can be worked around, but not individual cells I don’t think.

 

[woolymammoth17]

Is there a tolerance for how deep a dent has to be in the battery before one needs to worry about it?
Encountered some road debris at relatively slow speed ~10-15MPH. RPMtesla aluminum skid plate took up some of the damage, but looks like it bounced and hit the battery, making a 1/2" dent. My inclination is to merely replace the skid plate. Should I have this inspected by a Tesla service tech? Unfortunately far from service center. Any other advice?View attachment 929051View attachment 929052View attachment 929054View attachment 929055

I am curious. What exactly was the road debris?

Sorry you're dealing with this.