Hit a dead deer last night and car is out coolant :(

[rshields89]

I have NEVER seen anyone post anything about coming or going from Starkville MS in my life - not in any social media at all. My In-Laws live in Starkville and we drove there 2 years ago in my model 3. Fortunately we didn't hit anything.

I hope all is well with your car.

We actually drove back from West Point, Mississippi so even further! We had to charge in Pearl, Monroe, Shreveport, Lindale, and Waco so for sure was a long haul in 1 day! For our first ever long trip in the new Tesla (2014 P85D so new for us), we absolutely loved it! A few of the SC places (Collin Street Bakery) gave you a free coffee drink when you show them your Tesla key. I love the supercharging experience where you can walk around random malls or shops and stretch your legs.

 

[narenravi88]

After about 43 days, I got my car back. Everything seems to be working great. Me and the wife drove the car to Quebec city and back (from the Boston area - about 700 miles or so. ). I must say, I really missed driving my car...

 

[Daniel in SD]

Electrified Garage has a very clever fix for this issue. They tap the broken plastic pieces and use an NPT nipple to join them. $5 fix vs. $16k!

 

[man007b]

Last night while driving home I hit part of a dead deer on the highway. I swerved as much as I could to avoid it but I still managed to hit some part of the deer. I checked under the car and I see some flesh and blood of the deer in the between the front wheels (right in the center between them). There is also blood from the passenger side door to rear wheel. I think I swerved enough so that only the passenger front wheel went over it... I am not a 100% sure now.

I pulled over and noticed a bunch of liquid leaking . I am afraid It was going to be battery coolant or something. Within a few minutes I got the same error about power reduced - OK to drive but schedule a service appointment when convenient. Another warning about my speed will be limited. Shortly after my GPS was stuck + rear back up camera became completely dark. I called Tesla road side assistance and told that the car is showing alarms of coolant being low and GPS sending unknown error messages.

The car is now sitting in my driveway (GPS says it is parked on the highway). I've contacted my insurance company and informed them about the damage. I hope my insurance covers all of this because my car is less than a month old

Bummed I’m in similar situation. Hit a tire on the freeway this morning and got out of the car to see the leak on the passenger side… how much did this situation cost in repairs?

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Bummed I’m in similar situation. Hit a tire on the freeway this morning and got out of the car to see the leak on the passenger side… how much did this situation cost in repairs?

Depending on what is broken it will be ~$1k to $15k. Battery replacement is definitely a possibility. But hopefully you get lucky.

 

[Shelburne]

Thanks. I hope this doesn't increase my insurance like crazy!

My insurance agent says that if the repair estimate is less than $5000, you’ll save money in the long run by paying out of your own pocket. First there’s your deductible, then there are the years of increased premiums because of the accident. It might be different where you live and depending on your policy but see what your agent says

 

[ODWms]

I’ve had an insurance company try that foolishness on me. Once you make a claim, start shopping around right away for better rates. When they start with trying to raise your premium, you‘ll already be prepared to jump ship.

 

[jkeyser14]

It's true that hitting objects on the road at speed can never be expected to end well. But high vulnerability high cost areas could be armored, for quite a low cost. It doesn't make a lot of sense to replace an entire battery back because a plastic fitting got cracked - but it may well be required due to a combination of the construction of the pack and the lack of armor. The fitting is also plastic and has a huge lever arm on it, which are also negative factors.

Hopefully it is just a hose in this case. If the damage is more in the center of the vehicle it's more likely the hose or the drive unit (not sure if it is an AWD or not in this case) fitting or other cooling system fittings in that area (which are much cheaper items of course).

Relevant to some people might be an autocross course. It's not unusual at autocross for a big cone to rip out or deform a wheel liner - it happens. I could see hitting a cone, getting unlucky and needing a battery replacement. I guess you could argue that when you mess with a bull sometimes you get the horns but there may also be a better solution.

The coolant nipples totaling a Tesla or doing $20k+ in damage has become quite common. Tesla really should spend the extra $5 per vehicle to make this a metal bulkhead with a plastic thread in nipple that can be replaced after a collision. Not doing so is a disservice to their customers.