Speed Bump Hit

[catman44]

Today I drove my M3LR over a speed bump (under 10 MPH, possibly 5)) and heard a bang, I think I hit something underneath the car. Should I be worried? Should I investigate?

 

[MikeyC]

Wouldn't hurt to look underneath and see if there is any denting of the battery pan, coolant leak, etc.

Mike

 

[davewill]

I'd be tempted to have a professional take a quick peek. It may be nothing, but why take the chance?

 

[catman44]

I'd be tempted to have a professional take a quick peek. It may be nothing, but why take the chance?

should I go to Tesla or a local auto shop would suffice?

 

[advocate8]

should I go to Tesla or a local auto shop would suffice?

def worth having a look under, especially if can park on both sides of a dip. But if you cant see anything troubling and car is driving fine, any problems seem unlikely....

 

[catman44]

def worth having a look under, especially if can park on both sides of a dip. But if you cant see anything troubling and car is driving fine, any problems seem unlikely....

yes, it drives fine, no noises, charges okay. I gotta find a way to look underneath myself...

 

[MikeyC]

Most local shops won't know what they are looking at. In an ideal world, I'd have Tesla look at it but for me, I'd probably roll it up on ramps first and check it for dings and check for coolant dripping, particularly near the leading edge of the battery pack. And then if I see the battery pan is dented, I'd probably take it to Tesla to have them run diagnostics and check out the physical damage. I suspect chances are you're fine. Small (but somewhat heavy) objects piercing the skid plate in front of the battery and clipping a coolant line is probably more dangerous than bottoming out (slowly) on a speed bump. I bottomed out my Bolt in the same situation and it didn't even have a dent. It often feels much worse than it is.

Mike

 

[Big Earl]

I’ve had this happen a few times on speed bumps. No real damage so far.

 

[nsyr]

I had this happen once. The plastic on the sides took the impact. No scratching of the pack.

 

[MikeyMikeD]

Keep an eye on your garage floor. If you see engine oil leaking, you're in BIG TROUBLE...

In all seriousness, likely just the plastic side protectors, but if it would help you sleep at night, you could have someone familiar with Tesla's take a look.

 

[Kvitravn]

This happens occasionally on mine. It's fairly low on KW3s and the splash guards behind the front wheels sometimes hit the tops of parking garage bumps.

I bet you're good. If you look under the car on a lift, it seems to me like you'd need to crease the canals on both sides quite a bit to manage to scrape the battery case on a transverse speed bump.

 

[KenC]

At that slowish speed, must have been a tall speed bump.

 

[catman44]

At that slowish speed, must have been a tall speed bump.

Indeed, a badly designed one! I will approach it under un angle (45 ?) from now on.

 

[m a x i m u s]

At that slowish speed, must have been a tall speed bump.

Off topic yet slightly related: there's a huge ass speed bump in the parking lot of one of my favorite restaurants. I bottomed really badly once, now I drive all the way around the lot the long way to avoid it.

 

[MikeyC]

Speed bumps are fickle things. Depending on width/height of the speed bump, sometimes you are better popping over them at 15 MPH than 5 MPH because at slower speeds, the suspension can compress just in the wrong spot. On others, you'd better take them at 1 MPH. Wish there was some (legal) standard. I've gotten pretty good at judging them but when in question, I just crawl over them like a turtle.

Mike

 

[SlimJim]

slowly drive over your phone with video turned on with flash.
see if you can see any dents.

 

[oreobbq]

slowly drive over your phone with video turned on with flash.
see if you can see any dents.

Instructions unclear, phone is destroyed now. Lol this is great idea if you can't easily jack it up.