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Ugh. Minor Accident.

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Although, in this car, is any accident minor?

Sitting at a red light, right lane. Car coming from road on the right waiting to turn right in front of me. She comes to a stop. I get the green light and accelerate rapidly as I like to do. Just as I start going, she pulls in front of me. It was only 2 seconds after I started, but by then I'm already going about 30 mph. I swerve into the left lane to go around, but rear end starts sliding. I can't save it. I do a 180, end up going backwards in front of the lady heading for the right curb, still spinning. I jump the curb heading backwards and come to a stop up on the grass. Rear left quarter panel scrapes on something (a pile of ice? The small sapling tree that was there?).

Lady in car that pulled in front of me stops during this. Then after I come to a stop, she continues on her way, along with the rest of the traffic. I get out, survey the damage...

1) Rear right carbon fiber quarter panel scraped.
2) Bottom of front bumper and air dam badly scraped.
3) Aluminum panel underneath front of the car scraped.
4) Driver rear wheel rim bent.

Suspension and all the car systems are fine. Car drives away off curb and back home just fine. Alignment may even still be fine, but will certainly need to be checked.

Wonder what this is going to cost.

Isn't the lady at fault here? She just left the scene. Of course so did I after I gathered myself and gave the car a once over. No police involvement. Wonder if that was a mistake.
 
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After re-reading your account it sounds to me like she's definitely at fault.

If I'm reading your account correctly she was stopped at a red light waiting to turn right. Your light was green so you started moving; after you started moving she decided to turn in front of you anyway. You tried to go around her and your car spun. This caused you to end up backwards on a curb and resulted in damage to your Roadster.

If all of that is correct then I'd say she is definitely at fault. Her failing to yield to on coming traffic, which was you in this case, caused the accident.

Hopefully your Roadster can be quickly repaired without much hassle. At least you were able to avoid her instead hitting the back of her car.
 
Here's something I just thought of that may have been a factor...

Just this morning I replaced the original rear tires with new ones (different brand, slightly different size: 235 instead of 225). Accident happened after only 10-15 miles on the new tires.

Doesn't Tesla say the computer has to "learn" a new set of tires and adjust some control parameters? How long is that supposed to take? I did notice flashes of the T/C and Regen lights during the first few miles on the new tires, even when I wasn't pushing it.
 
She thought you were just starting off so she'd have enough time to pull in front of you. In most cases this wouldn't have been a problem, but she didn't know she was pulling in front of a rocket ship:biggrin: From your description, it looks like you're lucky to have been able to drive away from it with only minor damage .:eek:
 
Here's something I just thought of that may have been a factor...

Just this morning I replaced the original rear tires with new ones (different brand, slightly different size: 235 instead of 225). Accident happened after only 10-15 miles on the new tires.

Doesn't Tesla say the computer has to "learn" a new set of tires and adjust some control parameters? How long is that supposed to take? I did notice flashes of the T/C and Regen lights during the first few miles on the new tires, even when I wasn't pushing it.

I think brand new tires may also have some sort of compound on them from the mold that they came out of. It may take a bit of driving before the tread is ready for full traction.

Tire Tech Information - Breaking In Your Tires

Tires: break in period, mold release, color appearance

500 Miles of Breaking In Your Tires? [Archive] - NASIOC

(Sorry to hear about your incident.)
 
Photos...

side-left.jpg


front.jpg


wheel-rearleft.jpg
 
Just a ball park, but if you have everything fixed back to new... my guess is about $7K of damage. Anyone else with guesses?
I think you'll be low. But what do I know?

It might be hard to see with the photos, but the body panel damage has a deep gouge as part of it, and the carbon fiber laminate is separating in multiple places, at the 90 degree lip on the side, and also down below. I was told by the body shop that when the laminate is separated, it makes repair difficult, to the point where replacement of the part is recommended.
 
As an insurance guy and fellow roadster-owner, from your story she is at fault.

However, you did not collide and cannot identify her. Thus its your story vs. nobody. Your insurance will cover the loss as a collision loss less deductible.

If you had a witness to prove it was her fault then you might have a chance of getting the insurance company to cover loss and not charge as an at fault accident. To do so, you would file a police report with the witness statement.

No way of estimating damages untill Tesla gives you one. The problem here is replacement parts.

I have seen this description in my own eyes. It makes me cringe to think of your outcome. These tires are slick and the car is so fast.

!!!It hurts to see your pictures!!!
 
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Tear apart is done, damage surveyed, and repair work itemized:

Left carbon fiber body panel will indeed need to be replaced, not repaired. It's epoxied to the car and can't be simply unbolted to be repaired (in order to get to the back side), and would be destroyed when trying to be removed. Replacement is the only option. So much for designing the car for easy body panel removal.

There's a dent in the center underbody panel which is attached to the frame and also doesn't simply unscrew or unbolt. To repair they'll need to remove most of the interior to get access to both sides to do the repair. The other under body panels can just be replaced -- simple aluminum sheets, pretty easy as they remove those to do any normal maintenance.

Front bumper needs replacing, as expected. Rear bumper does not need replacing, just needs new fiberglass brackets to reattach it securely.

Full cost estimate not yet completed. Hope to get that today or tomorrow. And hope to get the car back in two weeks, assuming Tesla can ship out all the parts in the next day or two.

And amazingly, the alignment was still spot on and to spec when checked. No suspension or mechanical damage of any kind anywhere.
 
Full cost estimate not yet completed. Hope to get that today or tomorrow. And hope to get the car back in two weeks, assuming Tesla can ship out all the parts in the next day or two.

Good luck getting your parts! My car was involved in a crash back in mid-December 2009 and it is still not repaired due to delays in getting parts... It has taken longer to repair than it took to build!

Greetings,
David