Case Study: Deer Strike in a MYP

[Freewheeler]

New here, so hello everyone. Sorry to open with this post, but I figure it might be useful for reference.

I hit a deer late last night, maybe a 200# deer at ~40mph. Totally unavoidable; just ran in from the side of the road directly in front of the car. It's hair is still plastered to the car. Didn't get a warning chime. It was like watching a silent movie, no real sound or feeling of impact which leads me to the sense that the front end really did absorb a lot of the energy, but in doing so the damage is pretty intense. If anyone dares proceed, I photographed the extent of the damage for future reference. Yes, there is a fluid leak, too, which is coolant. The airbags didn't deploy.

I am a bit surprised the entire fenders on both sides shifted back to the point that they chipped the door paint. I'm used to seeing fenders bulge out at the sides, not slide straight back. The fog lights and headlights dismounted. The structural bumper seems to have held up, but everything else caved into the frunk. I didn't pop the hood as I'm not sure it will close again for the tow. We'll see the true extent of the damage (and cost!) once the car gets to the body shop and torn down.

Bummed out beyond words! Love this car!

 

[KRG21]

Oh damn! I'm sorry. I had unavoidable wrecks in two cars soon after getting them so I know the pain. I'm not an engineer so can't comment on the structural integrity but looks like the damage is mostly cosmetic (hopefully).

 

[MrTuna]

He didn’t fly into your window is huge, both from a safety standpoint and from a repair standpoint.

 

[kryslaurelle]

That sucks, I’m so sorry. I hit a deer a few years ago, but fortunately it was a car that I didn’t much care for. It sounds like you’re okay though, and I hope you’re able to get it fixed quickly.

 

[empiredown]

Glad you’re ok and thanks for sharing. Good luck!

ß

 

[SoCalDude]

So sorry!! Definitely will be interesting to see the repair process and timeline. From the pictures, it looks like you may have solved the Tesla panel gap problem.

 

[firerock]

Sorry to hear about it and glad you are alright. Keep us posted on your repair process and how easy to get parts for your brand new MY.

 

[johnmodely]

Did you notice whether autopilot/crash avoidance senses the deer and started to brake at all? One of the reasons I bought this car is for the hope that the car is fast enough to see and react to stuff like this before we have time too.

We have a lot of deer where I live and have had accidents like this in previous cars. This is discouraging if the advanced driving systems in our cars still cant attempt to avoid these kind of collisions or at least brake to avoid some of the damage.

 

[yossi]

Did you notice whether autopilot/crash avoidance senses the deer and started to brake at all? One of the reasons I bought this car is for the hope that the car is fast enough to see and react to stuff like this before we have time too.

We have a lot of deer where I live and have had accidents like this in previous cars. This is discouraging if the advanced driving systems in our cars still cant attempt to avoid these kind of collisions or at least brake to avoid some of the damage.

did the alarm went off at least?

 

[yossi]

New here, so hello everyone. Sorry to open with this post, but I figure it might be useful for reference.

I hit a deer late last night, maybe a 200# deer at ~40mph. Totally unavoidable; just ran in from the side of the road directly in front of the car. It's hair is still plastered to the car. Didn't get a warning chime. It was like watching a silent movie, no real sound or feeling of impact which leads me to the sense that the front end really did absorb a lot of the energy, but in doing so the damage is pretty intense. If anyone dares proceed, I photographed the extent of the damage for future reference. Yes, there is a fluid leak, too, which is coolant. The airbags didn't deploy.

I am a bit surprised the entire fenders on both sides shifted back to the point that they chipped the door paint. I'm used to seeing fenders bulge out at the sides, not slide straight back. The fog lights and headlights dismounted. The structural bumper seems to have held up, but everything else caved into the frunk. I didn't pop the hood as I'm not sure it will close again for the tow. We'll see the true extent of the damage (and cost!) once the car gets to the body shop and torn down.

Bummed out beyond words! Love this car!

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Looks like $11k damage

 

[Matutino]

Airbags didn’t deploy?

 

[NY_Rob]

Looks like $11k damage

I'm guessing $15K+
All those front sensors, electronics, etc.. really add up, and leaking fluid.. not good.

Sorry to the OP, glad you're okay....

 

[same]

crap...glad no injuries. My dad hit a deer with his truck when I was little in Wyo. going to hunt turkey's. Blood everywhere, but not a scratch.

 

[MY-Y]

Sorry to hear that happened. Check your dash cam to see if it caught it.

 

[Freewheeler]

Thanks for the well-wishes. The only damage to me is psychological. Really bummed and there’s the fact that I’ll be living with a crash-repaired car I just got a week ago. The place the car is going to is highly regarded and Tesla certified, so I trust it will come back as good as new.

Regarding any warning: I think the car had a blind spot In these specific circumstances. This deer entered the road running a full clip from brush on the side of the road and entered just ahead of the bumper. Pitch black out. The radar is front facing so wouldn’t see anything. The side camera is visual and wouldn’t likely have seen the deer in the brush, then there’s the parking sensors which aren’t intended to serve that purpose.

The car didn’t alert me at all, even after impact when half the sensors flew out of the bumper and the deer was flying through the air. I thought it was odd not to be alerted of any issues.

No airbags as I think they’re associated with the bumper beam which looks fine and maybe some G-sensors / accelerometers which wouldn’t have noticed anything.

My takeaway is not without blind spots and that the body is very “soft” up front. You can dent the hood by not closing it correctly. Everything was affected but in my opinion not everything should have. The fenders in particular. The front edges are hardly damaged yet the entire fenders are tweaked to the doors. This will make these cars expensive to insure over time. I hope my accident forgiveness is intact on my policy!

 

[Freewheeler]

Sorry to hear that happened. Check your dash cam to see if it caught it.

Nope. I wish! I had a USB in but it only had Sentry images even after I downloaded whatever the cars dash had. Haven’t learned how to get all that set up, but oddly enough no videos.

 

[DDrawer]

I know the feeling, I got rear ended the month after I bought my current car. The hatch never again closed with that perfect thud like it did the day I got it .

 

[theganjaguru]

Glad you’re okay. I’ve heard that hitting a large 200# animal can be catastrophic for any car. I wonder what was leaking? Maybe something related to the octovaulve?

feature request? Deer sidecam?

 

[Freewheeler]

I’ll check with the body shop and see if they’ll photo-doc the resto. Might be interesting and might keep them on their a-game.

 

[tmwell12]

cars are designed to crumble on impact so the people in the car are unharmed. if youre in an accident and your car looks more messed up, the better!