How to trick frunk sensor?

[nicolynne]

Hi all, I was in a minor fender bender and rear ended someone so my front end is damaged on my Model Y. Getting into a tesla certified repair center is turning into a nightmare and everyone is booked several months out (my local shop is booked until February and so I am looking at places 120 miles away at this point). The car is drivable, except for the fact that the insurance appraiser opened the frunk and now it won’t latch again. Currently held down via bailing wire and duct tape since the front end needs to be replaced anyway. The car will drive with no mechanical issues, but since the sensor thinks the frunk is open, it limits my speed to 15 MPH. Anyone know of any work arounds for this temporarily until I can get it fixed? Thanks!

 

[TomB985]

I don't have a solution, but I'd be extremely cautious about driving it like that. It's not uncommon for the secondary latch to fail on regular ICE cars when the primary latch isn't locked, which causes the hood to fly up and smash into the windshield. This happens in less than a second, and you instantly have zero forward visibility when going down the road.

I'm far from the most cautious guy here, but I wouldn't drive it like that. To me, a failed hood latch makes the car undriveable, so I'd get a rental car. Hopefully your policy covers one.

 

[zoomer0056]

Off topic, but how did this accident happen? Sorry, I don't have an answer to your question.

 

[Tha_Ape]

You can probably short the sensor to make it think it's connected.

That said, duct tape doesn't sit well with me. The wire is a good start, but I'd probably wrap it 3xs more than you think you need then maybe again after that.

The hood has a lot of surface area and the negative pressure on it increases with speed squared... 30mph is way more than double the amount of force trying to pull the hood up than at 15mph. I would be highly reluctant to drive it anywhere at highway speeds.

You probably want something more permanent is they're going to replace it anyway... like bolting it down somehow or getting hood pins installed. Doesn't have to look good, but you really don't want that flying up.

I had safelite mess up my hood on a car and I tied the hood down to the tow hook. It was nice that the tow hook was in the middle of the car, but I'd do that as a backup as well.
I also only drove it straight home, then straight to get repaired under 30mph with hazards on. I wouldn't drive yours far until you have a more "permanent" temporary solution like hood pins properly installed

 

[Iron]

You should ask your insurance to provide a rental, since the car is not drivable and the appraiser can attest to the hood not latching anymore. I assume you had emergency braking turned off?

 

[Crayonz]

Hi all, I was in a minor fender bender and rear ended someone so my front end is damaged on my Model Y. Getting into a tesla certified repair center is turning into a nightmare and everyone is booked several months out (my local shop is booked until February and so I am looking at places 120 miles away at this point). The car is drivable, except for the fact that the insurance appraiser opened the frunk and now it won’t latch again. Currently held down via bailing wire and duct tape since the front end needs to be replaced anyway. The car will drive with no mechanical issues, but since the sensor thinks the frunk is open, it limits my speed to 15 MPH. Anyone know of any work arounds for this temporarily until I can get it fixed? Thanks!

Schedule service, had this happen to me and unfortunately that was only way to fix it. Could still drive the car but no autopilot until fixed.