Rear bumper applique? broken by tire stopper

hiroshiy · May 2, 2015

So this may not be found in the States but here in Japan we have these at almost all parkings as a tire stopper.
tire stopper - Google ŒŸõ

A few days ago I back into a parking space in an underground garage, and was stopped by this tire stopper. No weird sound or vibration. After one hour, I put the shift into D, and drive off - some noise and vibration, but I didn't look back and later found this.
Imgur

A small part was dropped and some scratches! Luckily no visible-from-outside damage. Per Tesla the part is called as rear bumper applique, and fixing these would cost over $600.

Has anybody done this before? Why does this happen? With air suspension, it takes a long time to adjust the height after shifting into D? Usually with coil suspension the height slightly drops while parking, but not like this... If this is normal I have to raise it every time I go out of any parkings.

jerry33 · May 2, 2015

This has happened in North America too. The good news is that you only have to raise the suspension the first time, it will remember the location and raise it automatically after it.

This probably isn't possible in Japan due to space restrictions, but I just back up until the tire stopper, curb, or paint stripe is at the bottom of the screen. Then there is no possibility of damage. The number of times I've pulled in can be counted on one hand--even if there were a few fingers missing.

hiroshiy · May 3, 2015

Hi, Jerry, thanks for your post. Actually, it is our etiquette to touch the tire stopper with tire(s) so everybody parks like that. Also like 80-90% of the parkings in Tokyo are with tire stoppers so I can't make them all remember, or I'll rider "very high" in the city all the time

I asked Tesla to investigate the logs.
The problem was that when I parked, the bumber applique (!?) was NOT touching the stopper. However, when I leave after one hour, the suspension did seem to lower a little bit (maybe close to 1 inch?) so the applique sat on the concrete stopper.

electricBear · May 3, 2015

Hiroshiy, I can't say for the S but I have had a similar problem with the front air-dam on a Mercedes with an air suspension. It clears when I park, come out an hour later and the suspension has lowered a few cm and scrapes. I had to get into the habit of raising the suspension in such situations.

jerry33 · May 3, 2015

hiroshiy said:
Hi, Jerry, thanks for your post. Actually, it is our etiquette to touch the tire stopper with tire(s) so everybody parks like that. Also like 80-90% of the parkings in Tokyo are with tire stoppers so I can't make them all remember, or I'll rider "very high" in the city all the time I asked Tesla to investigate the logs.
The problem was that when I parked, the bumber applique (!?) was NOT touching the stopper. However, when I leave after one hour, the suspension did seem to lower a little bit (maybe close to 1 inch?) so the applique sat on the concrete stopper.

If you are going faster than the high setting allows, it won't raise up (there will be a beep and a message though). And the suspension lowering a bit has been reported once or twice. I don't know if that is a fault or just the way it works.

Alysashley79 · May 4, 2015

hiroshiy said:
Hi, Jerry, thanks for your post. Actually, it is our etiquette to touch the tire stopper with tire(s) so everybody parks like that. Also like 80-90% of the parkings in Tokyo are with tire stoppers so I can't make them all remember, or I'll rider "very high" in the city all the time I asked Tesla to investigate the logs.
The problem was that when I parked, the bumber applique (!?) was NOT touching the stopper. However, when I leave after one hour, the suspension did seem to lower a little bit (maybe close to 1 inch?) so the applique sat on the concrete stopper.

so sorry this happens to you. We have the exact same problem here in the states. I've had my S for 18 months have just gotten in the habit of always setting it to high or very high before I walk away that way I know as the car settled it won't settle on the stopper (or curb as we call them in the states) I actually did this to my front but thankfully it wasn't notice or unless you stand directly under the car.

As jerry said if you set it to very high and then are driving through town and hover over the 15mph it'll beep at you and alert you that the setting isn't available but won't do anything.

llavalle · May 4, 2015

I probably lowered after you got out.

When I get out of the car with a passenger, the car wants to lower itself because without the added weight, it sits higher than usual. I've noticed that the car won't change it's riding height if one of the door is open...

So we get out, we close the doors. I hit the lock button and immediately hear the suspension lowering the car... and since the height is a bit variable, it sometimes sits lower or higher, depending on the day.

hiroshiy · May 4, 2015

@electricBear, thanks for the info. This is my first car with air suspension... Auto-lowering during parking is definitely not acceptable in Tokyo

Jerry, yes every night when I go home from my office (auto raise location, as the parking is underground with car elevator), I start driving with "Very High". It automatically lowers to High at a certain speed, and at another higher speed goes back to Standard.

@Alysashley79, thanks for the info. We also have curbs, but since we need to almost 100% park back-in due to tight spaces, in most cases we have tire stoppers in addition to curb. Usually, tire stoppers are lower than curb.

@ llavalle, will see when I manually lock the car. I'm lasy so I always let the car auto lock so I didn't have seen the suspension auto-lowering after parking...

hiroshiy · Jul 13, 2015

Just to follow up, Tesla fixed it free of charge. They also said the car should not lower after putting into park, and I agree. It is too dangerous!

llavalle · Jul 13, 2015

hiroshiy said:
Just to follow up, Tesla fixed it free of charge. They also said the car should not lower after putting into park, and I agree. It is too dangerous!

That's weird. I see mine doing this all the time. Most of the time, in the front after I get out.

Last weekend, I went to my cottage house with LOTS of stuff in the back of the car. While loading the car with the rear hatch open, the suspension got lower and lower (with the added weight). When I closed the hatch, it took 30sec and then I heard the compressor and the car leveled itself. Same thing when I unloaded everything at my destination but obviously, the other way around.

yobigd20 · Jul 13, 2015

hiroshiy said:
Just to follow up, Tesla fixed it free of charge. They also said the car should not lower after putting into park, and I agree. It is too dangerous!

llavalle said:
That's weird. I see mine doing this all the time. Most of the time, in the front after I get out.

Last weekend, I went to my cottage house with LOTS of stuff in the back of the car. While loading the car with the rear hatch open, the suspension got lower and lower (with the added weight). When I closed the hatch, it took 30sec and then I heard the compressor and the car leveled itself. Same thing when I unloaded everything at my destination but obviously, the other way around.

the car doesn't "lower suspension" after parking. It never has. It does *LEVEL* which results in it lowering slightly. The manual even states that it auto-levels after parking. You can hear it when it levels too and even see it happen visually.

hiroshiy · Jul 13, 2015

llavalle said:
That's weird. I see mine doing this all the time. Most of the time, in the front after I get out.

Last weekend, I went to my cottage house with LOTS of stuff in the back of the car. While loading the car with the rear hatch open, the suspension got lower and lower (with the added weight). When I closed the hatch, it took 30sec and then I heard the compressor and the car leveled itself. Same thing when I unloaded everything at my destination but obviously, the other way around.

Hi, llavalle, I think your case and my case are a bit different. In your case, you put luggage so the suspension lowered. In my case, I did nothing but after I came back to the car, the suspension lowered and the car literally sat deep on the concrete tire stopper. As everybody here park the car with the rear tires touching on the stoppers, the car shouldn't lower at all, or it will scrape the underside like mine did. In my case it seemed to lower a lot, causing the parts to break off...

mknox · Jul 13, 2015

yobigd20 said:
the car doesn't "lower suspension" after parking. It never has. It does *LEVEL* which results in it lowering slightly. The manual even states that it auto-levels after parking. You can hear it when it levels too and even see it happen visually.

Some folks have reported that the car will "settle" a bit when parked. It's not actively lowering itself... just a bit of air leaking out (I assume) when parked and off. Mine used to do this a bit, but lately I've noticed the compressor coming on when it's just sitting there having been parked hours ago. My assumption is that some firmware update added this ability for the car to check its height periodically when parked, because it never did this when new. Doesn't really explain the OP's dilemma, however.

muleferg · Jul 13, 2015

Sumimasen.

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Rear bumper applique? broken by tire stopper

hiroshiy

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jerry33

(S85-3/2/13 traded in) X LR: F2611##-3/27/20

hiroshiy

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electricBear

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jerry33

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llavalle

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hiroshiy

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