Mid aero undertray damage

[Pablosammy]

Hi all,

My 2020 Model 3 fabric undertray was damaged recently after driving through a puddle. A cursory Google search indicates that this has been a common problem with this car.

Tesla Dartford are trying to charge me a couple of hundred quid to replace it, despite me not really thinking it's my fault at all - surely a car should be able to drive through a puddle?

Has anyone had any luck having this repair done under warranty?

Cheers

 

[hcdavis3]

Hi all,

My 2020 Model 3 fabric undertray was damaged recently after driving through a puddle. A cursory Google search indicates that this has been a common problem with this car.

Tesla Dartford are trying to charge me a couple of hundred quid to replace it, despite me not really thinking it's my fault at all - surely a car should be able to drive through a puddle?

Has anyone had any luck having this repair done under warranty?

Cheers

Similar issue. SA initially said it may not be a warranty claim. They replaced it at no charge. As usual YMMV.

 

[Adopado]

Hi all,

My 2020 Model 3 fabric undertray was damaged recently after driving through a puddle. A cursory Google search indicates that this has been a common problem with this car.

Tesla Dartford are trying to charge me a couple of hundred quid to replace it, despite me not really thinking it's my fault at all - surely a car should be able to drive through a puddle?

Has anyone had any luck having this repair done under warranty?

Cheers

Ideally* you need to get a look underneath and find a retaining bolt missing. The composite covers are actually quite tough and only tend to get damaged with pretty severe trauma and definitely shouldn't with just "driving through a puddle" unless a fixing is loose or missing. There are thousands of Model 3s ploughing through puddles and though this comes up occasionally it is a bit of a stretch to describe it as "common". (Obviously any occurrence is one too many ...)

*If you can report a missing retaining bolt you increase the chance of a free repair 100%. It's quite easy to make sure that you have a missing bolt .

 

[Pablosammy]

They've now told me because they didn't quote me before the job, they're not charging me 'on this occasion as a gesture of goodwill'.

I hate that term, it's a convenient way of saying "We're still blaming you". However, the end goal is the same... faith restored!

 

[Adopado]

They've now told me because they didn't quote me before the job, they're not charging me 'on this occasion as a gesture of goodwill'.

I hate that term, it's a convenient way of saying "We're still blaming you". However, the end goal is the same... faith restored!

They'll be damned sure to put thread lock on those bolts!! (I believe the replacements come with pre-applied thread lock.)

 

[Adopado]

I've scraped the underside of the floor on farm tracks a couple of times and have also driven through deep snow that has been part melted and refrozen into blocks of semi-ice... got away with it so far ... obviously now I've mentioned it anything could happen!

 

[Durzel]

They've now told me because they didn't quote me before the job, they're not charging me 'on this occasion as a gesture of goodwill'.

I hate that term, it's a convenient way of saying "We're still blaming you". However, the end goal is the same... faith restored!

if you want some more bad news, from what I've been led to believe the replacement part isn't any better at withstanding water either.. it's still a fabric material, etc.

 

[Dangerous Fish]

if you want some more bad news, from what I've been led to believe the replacement part isn't any better at withstanding water either.. it's still a fabric material, etc.

As already explained above, it is not "a fabric material". It is glass reinforced polypropylene, a type of plastic. It withstands water as well as any plastic but it's not un-breakable. Many cars have undertrays made of exactly the same material, but this is just one more myth that seems to have grown into "only on a Tesla".

 

[Durzel]

As already explained above, it is not "a fabric material". It is glass reinforced polypropylene, a type of plastic. It withstands water as well as any plastic but it's not un-breakable. Many cars have undertrays made of exactly the same material, but this is just one more myth that seems to have grown into "only on a Tesla".

Fair enough, consider me educated

 

[Dangerous Fish]

It's all explained here:

 

[CaffeineBen]

Same thing just happened to me on a 2021 model 3. It was a puddle at 25mph. Did not hear or feel any impact. Just a splash and then the scraping sound of 1n 18" by 18" section dragging on the ground. Ripped from the front, back so guessing water got up there and cost it to rip. So if you think a puddle can't do the damage - incorrect.

 

[Jason71]

Same thing just happened to me on a 2021 model 3. It was a puddle at 25mph. Did not hear or feel any impact. Just a splash and then the scraping sound of 1n 18" by 18" section dragging on the ground. Ripped from the front, back so guessing water got up there and cost it to rip. So if you think a puddle can't do the damage - incorrect.

Known "feature". Been there. Got the tee-shirt

 

[Adopado]

Same thing just happened to me on a 2021 model 3. It was a puddle at 25mph. Did not hear or feel any impact. Just a splash and then the scraping sound of 1n 18" by 18" section dragging on the ground. Ripped from the front, back so guessing water got up there and cost it to rip. So if you think a puddle can't do the damage - incorrect.

It's usually caused by a loose (or lost) retaining bolt that allows the cover to drop slightly ... the force of water then gets the leverage needed to damage it. It's a good idea to check the cover bolts if the car is ever lifted for any reason (e.g. tyres). We can get quite a bit of standing water around here and though I do my best to avoid it I have ploughed through some pretty deep stuff that would definitely have ripped off a panel if there was any looseness. (I've now tempted fate of course ...)

 

[Jason71]

It's usually caused by a loose (or lost) retaining bolt that allows the cover to drop slightly ... the force of water then gets the leverage needed to damage it. It's a good idea to check the cover bolts if the car is ever lifted for any reason (e.g. tyres). We can get quite a bit of standing water around here and though I do my best to avoid it I have ploughed through some pretty deep stuff that would definitely have ripped off a panel if there was any looseness. (I've now tempted fate of course ...)

It is quite possible ( and I speak from experience) for this to happen without loose bolts if traveling fast enough...
BUT
I would not expect that to be the case though at 25mph so you may well be right in this case unless there was pre-existing damage.

Having done the damage it would probably be a good idea if there was a missing bolt or two upon arrival at the service centre such that one could argue that it was caused by a fault on the car and is therefore under warrantee


The part is not expensive though and is even possible to fit DIY if you have a suitable jacking method to hand

 

[init6]

Having done the damage it would probably be a good idea if there was a missing bolt or two upon arrival at the service centre such that one could argue that it was caused by a fault on the car and is therefore under warrantee

IIRC they started using thread lock on the bolts so might be more difficult to get away with that excuse.

 

[Tony Hoyle]

My 2019 had very little undertray left when I traded it in, due to being ripped apart by puddles.. the early ones were like tissue paper. I've heard conflicting reports how improved the new ones are.

 

[Jason71]

My 2019 had very little undertray left when I traded it in, due to being ripped apart by puddles.. the early ones were like tissue paper. I've heard conflicting reports how improved the new ones are.

I was led to believe the 2019 ones were already an upgrade over the first cars. If so they must have been terrible. I also heard a further upgrade was in the works and you don't hear about this so much these days so maybe it did happen? Or maybe the Chinese are just better at doing up the bolts!