Did anyone every have an issue with their rear bumper pulling off after exiting

[d2145chung]

Hi just checking to see if there were any other tesla owners who had their rear bumper pull off just by driving out of a driveway and the rear bumper getting caught on the sidewalk.

Apparently there is a chrome decorative piece at the bottom of the rear bumper and it has a sharp edge that can catch on almost anything. This is kind of ridiculous to
have such damage over such a menial thing. Insurance company says it is negligence, I say it is defective craftsmanship. This is a rather expensive fix for just doing
ordinary driving. would like to see if there were any others out there who experienced the same thing.

 

[CmdrThor]

You've posted in the Model X forum and there have only been a handful of Founder's edition Model X delivered. You might want to try the Model S forum (unless you are a Model X Founder owner in which case, tell us more please).

 

[AnOutsider]

Moved to Model S on the assumption this is more about the S than X

 

[Carlios]

never saw that happen. But it could indeed be a problem. I assume you need a whole new bumper. Do you know how much it costs?

 

[Super_Popular]

Seems weird, more like a driver error than a Tesla error.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

What is this, a Fiat? lol

 

[Khatsalano]

Yup, this has happened to me on a driveway curb cut at someone else's house. Yes, the driveway looked suspect, but I pulled into it and drove up to the house without issue. On the way back, it tore that chrome trim and part of the underbumper right off. This was one day after delivery so there was a lot of heartache. The screw-tabs snapped clean off. Luckily, the local service center put it back together for me for free. Yes, it's still missing the screws that hold it in, but the remaining tabs actually hold it in very well. Replacement would have been $500-600 labor inclusive.

The chrome piece's alignment is off, but only by maybe 1cm and it's hard to tell visually, so I've left it. Still, this is not good design. The edge of the rear diffuser should not have been a forward-angled sharp point that catches almost anything it touches. Then again, the edge just shouldn't touch with suspension on Very High. Now, I am super paranoid about curb cuts and unfavorable driveways. I embarrassingly just park far away and walk ... because I have a Tesla.

- K

 

[dsmith2189]

Hi just checking to see if there were any other tesla owners who had their rear bumper pull off just by driving out of a driveway and the rear bumper getting caught on the sidewalk.

Apparently there is a chrome decorative piece at the bottom of the rear bumper and it has a sharp edge that can catch on almost anything. This is kind of ridiculous to
have such damage over such a menial thing. Insurance company says it is negligence, I say it is defective craftsmanship. This is a rather expensive fix for just doing
ordinary driving. would like to see if there were any others out there who experienced the same thing.

I had this happen on my car. I backed into a spot with a concrete stop. the way these parking stops are held down is with rebar inserted in holes and hammered level with the parking stop.
the one I pulled into had the rebar sticking up above the top of the parking stop. I just happened that my "shrike" (that chrome piece under the bumper) caught the rebar and ripped it half off.(the shrike not the bumper)
since then I have set my suspension to raise to high near these parking spaces (I noticed several more like this.) to prevent this happening in the future.
Tesla fixed it but since it was "driver error" I had to pay. this was a few years ago so I don't remember exactly how much, but enough to make me cringe a second time (the first was the "incident")

 

[darrenf]

The chrome on the back of those strakes may be decorative but the strakes themselves are part of the diffuser design to straighten airflow exiting the underside of the car. I've read that it creates a not insubstantial downforce.

 

[electricjed]

Yes I had that exact thing happen to me. I was at the Needles, CA SC and the driveway entrance/exit it really rough and steep. I scraped the asphalt exiting by carelessly not raising the car. I was able to push it back in place but got it repaired immediately. The cost was
ASY TRIM APPLIQUE RR FASCIA CHROME 1 (6009004-00-C) = $250
LABOR = $330
TOTAL = $580

......The chrome piece is attached by clips to another black plastic piece. The area to clip to on the black piece was also damaged and we were unable to reuse due to the trauma suffered from the chrome assembly. Tesla said they did not charge for that black piece.

 

[GasKilla]

Yes I had that exact thing happen to me. I was at the Needles, CA SC and the driveway entrance/exit it really rough and steep. I scraped the asphalt exiting by carelessly not raising the car. I was able to push it back in place but got it repaired immediately. The cost was
ASY TRIM APPLIQUE RR FASCIA CHROME 1 (6009004-00-C) = $250
LABOR = $330
TOTAL = $580

......The chrome piece is attached by clips to another black plastic piece. The area to clip to on the black piece was also damaged and we were unable to reuse due to the trauma suffered from the chrome assembly. Tesla said they did not charge for that black piece.

Do you happen to have pictures of the part that got snagged? I have a steep driveway but test drove a MS up my driveway to make sure it was ok before I placed my order, I didn't try going up in reverse...

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

$330 labor?! 3 hours for what?!

 

[scottm]

$330 labor?! 3 hours for what?!

3 hours for $110 each, by the sounds of it.

 

[Dborn]

I think the point is 3 hours. To remove and replace the entire front bumper should not take more than an hour for an inexperienced person. I.e., myself. I have in fact done it. 1 hour tops is pushing it......

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Rear, but I agree. I'm hoping to be able to do this without removing the bumper at all. I'll take a video for anyone who wants to see how it's done.

 

[reynirb]

Has anyone replaced the Chrome piece themselves? I noticed a piece of mine got clipped somehow and is missing a portion of the right side. It's not really noticeable unless you bend down and look underneath the car, but since I noticed it, figured I would just pick it up at the service center and snap it on if it was relatively straight forward.

If it is a pain in the neck to do, I guess I'll just have to fork over the $330 to have them do it....

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

Holy common breakage batman. Maybe a large metal chrome thing that sits nuts low to the ground isn't a good idea...

 

[reynirb]

Holy common breakage batman. Maybe a large metal chrome thing that sits nuts low to the ground isn't a good idea...

Well, the sharp end on both sides faces forward, so anyone backing over parking barriers is asking for trouble. Will have to make sure I always put the suspension on High when Supercharging.

People without air suspension are however probably out of luck...