Does your Model S scrape on speed bumps?

[DonPedro]

Question to guys already driving your Model S for a while: Does the car scrape when you pass speed bumps?

 

[tdiggity]

No.

I've had it scrape on some dips though.

 

[DonPedro]

No.

I've had it scrape on some dips though.

As in holes in the road?

 

[tdiggity]

As in holes in the road?

Oh sorry. No, not in pot holes or anything like that. Sometimes there are dips before going into a driveway/parking lot. If you take those at normal speed you may scrape. But, most cars do too so I just take it slow. I find that the S is not more or less prone to scraping than my previous car (335i).

What kind of speed bumps do you have around you? I usually take all bumps slow. Short tall ones or long flat ones. It's a learned habit from my fast and the furious days.

 

[NigelM]

Which speed bump height? There doesn't seem to be a standard height around here. It also depends on the speed your going.

 

[William13]

I scraped one time on a speed bump. I now go over a different area of the speed bump and a little slower. No further scrapes. I raise up for my brother's and parents driveway humps though an angled entrance would likely suffice.

 

[MikeK]

I scrape in two places. The dip at the foot of my driveway (grrr), and if I'm moving faster than a crawl, the too-sharp bend at the top of the ramp into my friends' underground parking garage.

I set the car to "Very High" at both of those locations, and would *REALLY* appreciate an automatic setting for that, similar to the automatic HomeLink that's tied to GPS position, but one that didn't require any interaction on my part. Just raise the car when I'm within the geofence and driving under, say, 20mph, then lower it again once I leave.

 

[stacyh3]

+1 for automatic setting for the level based on geo. I have a steep ramp at work that I'm worried about. I'll have my car in another month or so. That means plenty of time to implement this feature

 

[jerry33]

I was surprised that mine didn't scrape on my rather steep driveway. It also doesn't scrape on the high speed pads.

 

[Lloyd]

It scrapes not at all for me. There are some driveways that my M6 BMW scrapes, not in the S!

 

[Todd Burch]

I haven't scraped on anything yet. 4,800 miles.

 

[dflye]

There are several troublesome speed bumps in areas I frequent (parking lot at son's school and roundabout at nearest shopping center.)

For the former, luckily it is just one bump on the route out of the parking lot, so I just set the suspension to High when I get back in the car after walking son to school's entrance.

For the latter, I avoid the roundabout on entry (as it is a huge pain to attempt to jack up the suspension in time on entry without driving below 10 mph way too far in advance of the bump); if I need to exit via the roundabout, raising the suspension when returning to the car mostly seems to work as I stay at low speed heading towards the main exit road from the parking lot.

Two features that would be greatly appreciated (TM, I'm sure you are listening!):

1. Ability to ignore the speed related automatic lowering of the suspension
3. Ability to define geo regions where the suspension should automatically raise as the vehicle enters the region (requiring that the zone be defined large enough that the suspension is actually high enough when the car gets to the offending bump)

 

[aaronw]

I have never scraped though I also raise up my car if there's any question. My father's Fisker Karma, on the other hand scrapes just pulling into the driveway. I find myself raising my car up less often now.

 

[Cool-Model S]

Never scrapped any speed bumps and have not worried about it. At some streets on my way home, there are speed bumps with gaps in between (NW Cornell - Portlander's know it). I drive with my wheels going through the gaps and still no scraping.

 

[Iz]

At the bottom of driveway. Have to go very slow and stay to left because driveway dips on the right side. Will try the air suspension to see if raising the vehicle helps.

 

[ElSupreme]

Never scraped and regularly hit speed humps at 25, and speed bumps at all speeds.

 

[EarlyAdopter]

Speed bumps? Never.

Steep driveways and parking garage ramps? Occasionally.

I've learned to raise the air suspension when entering underground garages. Not sure what you'd do with the standard suspension.

 

[teslasguy]

I don't scrape on speed bumps but I do coming and going from our driveway if I don't enter/exit slowly and at an angle. Same at my in-laws driveway. I installed a curb sensor under the front and ripped it off the first day entering our drive. Had to move it to the grill area.

 

[RNG]

Since I have been driving Austin Healey's with a ground clearance of a cigarette pack for years I always take it easy with curbs, speed bumps, dips, etc. In the Healey one must approach such hazards at an extreme angle to avoid scraping the muffler. With the S I have automatically been raising the car at these kinds of hazards plus when ever parking the car to avoid hitting the sidewalks and parking stops with the front edge of the car. It is also easier to back into those spaces using the rear view camera. Might be nice to have a hazard warning sensor up front, but that would also be an added expense. Cheers, RNG

 

[Saxena]

Scraped going into a parking lot. Would like to be able to set a shortcut for the suspension so it is always quickly available.