On August 21, 2019 after owning my Model 3 for only 2 months, a huge rainstorm flooded the roof parking garage of where my job is located. This flood produced water that was up about 2 feet and in an urgent state, I quick went to go move my car. The front window would not defog and I went to park in a higher elevation parking spot until the flooding was gone. As I was parking, with limited visibility, I ran into a concrete block about 3 feet by 4 feet.
All the airbags went off (besides the passengers) including all side curtain and driver airbags - at 3 mph.
The damage is minimal, front bumper, frunk cover and hood and a slightly bent front crash bar. No damage to fog lights, headlights, or undercarriage.
Called my insurance company, hoping I could get it towed with the remaining amount of 12v left in the battery - unfortunately, the tow companies could not make it out due to the floods and abundance of other accidents. So I had to wait until the next day.
Called my insurance again to get it towed the next day, and they were unable to find a flatbed tow or any tow in general that accepted payment from them and could clear a 6'9" parking garage clearance (remember I'm at the roof). The only viable solution to a tow at this point was to safely get the car to roll down the parking garage and out to the street.
I called Tesla, and they assisted with getting the 12v charged back up in order to put the car in Tow Mode so that we could roll it. This is where things began to go even more downhill - no pun intended. Once we got enough juice to get the car in tow mode and roll it, it kept beeping every 10-15ft and honking followed by an abrupt parking brake engagement and hard stop. The battery died again... so we recharged it and it kept dying over and over again but after a couple hours we managed to get it on the street.
Yes, I did use an external/portable jumper - however a fully charged jumper would only last a minute or so, strange.
Finally, we manage to get it out of the garage and a flat bed truck arrived to pick up the car. Once the truck arrives, the car is again dead at this point and the tow truck driver plugs in his external jump pack. No luck there, only turned the car on for a minute and shut it off again. It drained the whole jump pack. The only way we were able to load the car was to jump it with another car and leave it charging for 15-20 minutes.
We load the car on the flat bed and head to my house to drop it off so that it can be inspected. Once we get to my house, the car of course is dead again... this time we try to jump it with the external pack, no luck. We then try to jump it with another car to get just enough charge in order to roll it off the flat bed. Still, no luck. The 12v battery is completely dead and nothing we did could get it to boot back up. At this point, after 4 or 5 hours, we decided that the only way to get the car off the flat bed is with skids. A painful process but it worked except the car is sitting halfway on my driveway and halfway on my garage until the inspector comes.
So, this leads me to a few questions:
1) Is my 12v battery completely done for? And there is no way I can get the car on anymore unless I replace it?
2) Why does the 12v die when the car is completely off?
3) Why doesn't Tesla include a manual parking brake release? This is painful having to charge the 12v to even get in the car, let alone turn on the stupid tow mode that barely even works.
4) Do you think that the insurance company will total the vehicle, even with the minimal damage?
Thanks!
All the airbags went off (besides the passengers) including all side curtain and driver airbags - at 3 mph.
The damage is minimal, front bumper, frunk cover and hood and a slightly bent front crash bar. No damage to fog lights, headlights, or undercarriage.
Called my insurance company, hoping I could get it towed with the remaining amount of 12v left in the battery - unfortunately, the tow companies could not make it out due to the floods and abundance of other accidents. So I had to wait until the next day.
Called my insurance again to get it towed the next day, and they were unable to find a flatbed tow or any tow in general that accepted payment from them and could clear a 6'9" parking garage clearance (remember I'm at the roof). The only viable solution to a tow at this point was to safely get the car to roll down the parking garage and out to the street.
I called Tesla, and they assisted with getting the 12v charged back up in order to put the car in Tow Mode so that we could roll it. This is where things began to go even more downhill - no pun intended. Once we got enough juice to get the car in tow mode and roll it, it kept beeping every 10-15ft and honking followed by an abrupt parking brake engagement and hard stop. The battery died again... so we recharged it and it kept dying over and over again but after a couple hours we managed to get it on the street.
Yes, I did use an external/portable jumper - however a fully charged jumper would only last a minute or so, strange.
Finally, we manage to get it out of the garage and a flat bed truck arrived to pick up the car. Once the truck arrives, the car is again dead at this point and the tow truck driver plugs in his external jump pack. No luck there, only turned the car on for a minute and shut it off again. It drained the whole jump pack. The only way we were able to load the car was to jump it with another car and leave it charging for 15-20 minutes.
We load the car on the flat bed and head to my house to drop it off so that it can be inspected. Once we get to my house, the car of course is dead again... this time we try to jump it with the external pack, no luck. We then try to jump it with another car to get just enough charge in order to roll it off the flat bed. Still, no luck. The 12v battery is completely dead and nothing we did could get it to boot back up. At this point, after 4 or 5 hours, we decided that the only way to get the car off the flat bed is with skids. A painful process but it worked except the car is sitting halfway on my driveway and halfway on my garage until the inspector comes.
So, this leads me to a few questions:
1) Is my 12v battery completely done for? And there is no way I can get the car on anymore unless I replace it?
2) Why does the 12v die when the car is completely off?
3) Why doesn't Tesla include a manual parking brake release? This is painful having to charge the 12v to even get in the car, let alone turn on the stupid tow mode that barely even works.
4) Do you think that the insurance company will total the vehicle, even with the minimal damage?
Thanks!
