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Tesla Owned Collision Centers - Only 4 Mth - 1500 Miles - Possibly Totaled
- Thread starter jeremymc7
- Start date
Amazing that these air bags are considered safety items, when they can still do a lot of damage.
Hands at 10 & 2 when driving air bag equipped vehicles.
Looks like you took a hard hit
I recall (admittedly long ago), that statistically speaking, when a driver is belted in properly, front airbags did more harm than good to a person. (nevermind the additional cost when they go off).
Appears to an extent, that is still true...
IIHS Says Knee Airbags May Do More Harm Than Good
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Last year when my first Model S was totaled in an accident (no airbag deployment but substantial front end damage), the car was still alive and I was able to connect to it and receive updates from the point it was towed after the accident until it was sold at auction a few months later. I only stopped receiving updates when the main battery pack died (5 months after the accident) from sitting. The car sent me a distress alert to plug in and charge and that was the last I heard of it.
It's still registered to my account so I wouldn't be shocked to see it come back to life at some point assuming it wasn't turned into a parts car.
I'm assuming in your case either Tesla disabled the car (I think a standard practice when airbags are deployed) or the fireman disconnect was pulled.
I'm not sure how the Model S works, but the OP mentioned he was cross-posting from the Model 3 section. I'm pretty sure the 3 blows its pyro fuse when airbags deploy so once the 12v battery dies that's it as far as connectivity.
Glad to hear you are (mostly) OK. When a car is totalled, the insurance company adds the local sales tax rate on top of the value of the car, so that will be on the insurance company, not you...
Still developing.
Small update.
Property agent stated that even though they haven’t inspected the car or even seen photos they are quite confident it will be total, but is still to be determined. According to them, airbag deployment is “amost” an instant total. Cost of replacement airbags, related parts, and labor can run into many thousands and that’s before they even get to body panels, paint, let alone frame work which is complicated due to various parts and mix of aluminum and steel. And that all before having to recalibrate the cameras and sensors for AP again.
Valuing the car is going to be hard as they don’t have it in their system yet, too new, nor do they have comparable due to how new and how few miles. They haven’t done anything this new in nearly half a year. KBB wholesale low for a 2019 is close to what I paid though.
Small update.
Property agent stated that even though they haven’t inspected the car or even seen photos they are quite confident it will be total, but is still to be determined. According to them, airbag deployment is “amost” an instant total. Cost of replacement airbags, related parts, and labor can run into many thousands and that’s before they even get to body panels, paint, let alone frame work which is complicated due to various parts and mix of aluminum and steel. And that all before having to recalibrate the cameras and sensors for AP again.
Valuing the car is going to be hard as they don’t have it in their system yet, too new, nor do they have comparable due to how new and how few miles. They haven’t done anything this new in nearly half a year. KBB wholesale low for a 2019 is close to what I paid though.
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Hopefully that’s the case for my company in Calif. I brought that concern up to them but they didn’t confirm or deny.
Tried to get access to the car today. It’s a closed lot and they won’t walk you back and they won’t bring the car out. Tried to get the company to remove possessions out of car. They didn’t know how to access. I walked them through it. Appears the 12V Fuse was blown and drained in last 36 hours. I walked them through accessing the a battery to get into the car but they wanted no part of it. It will be moved to a second lot later this week who is familiar with getting into Tesla’s with no active power. I prob won’t have any updates for a few days until after I can get access to the car and get photos.
I kept my car registered to my account after it was totaled. 13 months later I got a charging started notification.
I looked at the location and it was in the Ukraine!
If they let you in your car, do a reset to wipe your addresses and history from the car.
Also, remember to take your charging cable and adapters. Keep them as a spare for your next Tesla.
So that raises an
They’re moving to CO PART tomorrow in a very sketchy part of town. Sounds like they’re already decided to scrap (even though they haven’t said that) and not even try and repair since they’re moving to co part instead of repair shop or otherwise.
I’ve heard horrible things about personal property being stolen before you get access to the car at co part so we’ll see how well this turns out.
I just wish my local and very reputable tow yard could have figured out how to get into the car or would have bothered to try following my 12V walk through.
They’re moving to CO PART tomorrow in a very sketchy part of town. Sounds like they’re already decided to scrap (even though they haven’t said that) and not even try and repair since they’re moving to co part instead of repair shop or otherwise.
I’ve heard horrible things about personal property being stolen before you get access to the car at co part so we’ll see how well this turns out.
I just wish my local and very reputable tow yard could have figured out how to get into the car or would have bothered to try following my 12V walk through.
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This begs another question. I was thinking of doing the same. But there is prob several niggles in doing this. For one thing if you have free supercharger miles on the account that salvage owner might have access. Or perhaps even be able to bill charging to your on file account. Assuming the car is rebuilt in the US.
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My car had free unlimited supercharging so the only thing I could be on the hook for was idle fees. I was willing to risk it.
Do you have loaner car coverage? That can tip the scales from repair to total all by itself since Tesla takes their time and rental cars aren't free. If you do, start emailing your insurance rep average Tesla repair times and have them calculate your expected loaner expenses into their actuarial tables.
I was in an accident in 1996 in a rental Dodge stratus. air bag Fumes we so bad I had breathing issue for 2 days. A broken hand and a piece of the airbag housing was imbedded in my leg. sodium azide is NASTY SH-t
The deadly dangers of air bags
Needsdecaf
Active Member
I just crashed and had my LRAWD Model 3 totaled out. It was not nearly as extensive as yours sounds (no airbags, no major body panel damage) but it, according to Tesla, required a battery pack replacement. So after that, it was easy to total.
My insurance company took good care of me. I was very happy with the value the offered given the year and mileage. It had no relation to KBB, etc. Those services are junk and are not used by any industry professionals. They use auction values or actual sale prices to determine value. Bottom line, you'll need to wait to see what your insurance company thinks it's worth. That may be hard with such a new car and such low miles as there's no data to go by.
It also helps that I am familiar with body shop estimates. So when looking at the initial estimate, I could see the pieces that were missing that would need to be added in to totally repair the car.
My insurance company took good care of me. I was very happy with the value the offered given the year and mileage. It had no relation to KBB, etc. Those services are junk and are not used by any industry professionals. They use auction values or actual sale prices to determine value. Bottom line, you'll need to wait to see what your insurance company thinks it's worth. That may be hard with such a new car and such low miles as there's no data to go by.
It also helps that I am familiar with body shop estimates. So when looking at the initial estimate, I could see the pieces that were missing that would need to be added in to totally repair the car.
OrbiterTI4
Member
At what stage of the process did Tesla say the HV battery had to be replaced? Were you already at the repair shop or was this from OTA diagnostics?
Since it was positive, can you share the insurance company you used?