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The dream comes crashing down

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Driving 40 on the freeway the car in front of me suddenly stopped and I couldn't get out of the way in time and hit the left bumper with my right, car instantly became undrivable, power remained working until the 12v died. I'm hoping the car wouldn't let me drive for my safety and not because the battery was damaged.
 

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Thanks everyone for the support I deff need it, just looking at it from the outside the damage didn't even reach the front right wheel so I'm hoping it should be ok. Looking underneath he car I see 0 damage. My insurance said they should contact me in 1-3 business days and from there I have to tow it 170 miles to the nearest certified collision center. From what he said he has had 0 tesl as that were claimed to be s total loss and he had one that he just quoted for 40k in damage and labor. I hope that makes it easier for me.
 
From that picture, I'll be shocked if the main battery pack is damaged. However, the right hand condenser core is almost certainly leaking, so the car has lost the ability to cool the batery below ambient and may have limited ability to cool in general.

As long as the frame isn't bent, it should be repairable with minimal effort (though not necessarily cheaply or quickly from what I've read about parts cost and availability.)

Just like gas cars lock out the fuel pump on collision, the Model S has a safety system that opens the main pack contactors on impact and won't close them again without directions from a tech specialist if the impact is big enough. That is most likely why it wouldn't let you drive.
Walter
 
thanks for the input im leaning towards your train of thought hopefully, i will say im very impressed with the actual safety of the car. i was wearing my seat belt had the steering airbag go off and leg air bags go off. the airbags stopped right before my chest and i fell into them so little injury could of been caused by the air bags.
 
Glad you are OK. Cars can be fixed or replaced, people much less so.

I'm not surprised it's un-driveable if the air bags deployed. You must have hit fairly hard for that to happen, and I wouldn't be at all surprised if the shock sensor that triggers the airbag doesn't also kill the solenoids in the pack too. It's exactly what you'd want to happen.

Knowing the airbags have triggered would suggest to me it is going to be very expensive. In itself this doesn't cause it to be a write off, but it's an indicator on regular cars, they are pretty destructive to the interior of the car. It sounds like the "smart" airbags did their job and only the required ones fired, so that's good.

I'd also expect bent suspension components even though the wheel looks undamaged. There's not much clearance in front of the wheel in a Model S.

Did the driver's side fender escape damage? What about the passenger door and roof pillars?

Personally I'd half hope it was a total loss, in my mind the airbags do it for me. I think of airbags as the last chance saloon, and I'm sure technically they and the surrounding interior bits can be replaced, psychologically I'd feel slightly nervous driving a car when they had gone off due to impact. Would you buy a used car knowing the airbags had been triggered at some point due to an accident?

On the plus side if you do get a replacement, the front collision avoidance the new autopilot cars have may prove useful :tongue: (sorry I couldn't resist :redface:)

One way or the other I'm sure you get it all sorted, at the end of the day its only some metal plastic and glass.

Simon
 
Thx everyone - 1 guy lol, I was maybe 1 car length going about 40. The inside of the car aside from airbags looks untouched, the doors function and look completely normal, the driver side fender looks almost untouched, if you look under the trunk it looks as if nothing happened. I spoke to suburban collision shop in Cleveland and he stated he has had 25 teslas which 0 have been a total loss and one of them he just quoted for 40k and is repairing as well, if the car does for any reason become a total loss. I don't know if I can justify another down payment of 15k