[Mister Dave]

UPDATE: Are Tesla Model 3 Rear Bumpers Falling Off In The Rain?

Over the weekend, brand new Tesla Model 3 owner Rithesh Nair tweeted a picture of his new car with the rear bumper completely missing. His caption read: “1/2 hr, bringing Model 3 home, run in to heavy rain on the streets & bumper comes off #devastated @Tesla #help @elonmusk.” Another Model 3 owner on Twitter who goes by the handle @Benj1franks replied to Nair’s tweet with a similar picture of his own car sans rear bumper and the comment, “Hey that looks like mine!” @Benj1Franks goes on to offer his explanation of what’s occurred to both their cars.

Read the rest at Inside EVs.

 

[jcanoe]

In both of these cases the owners of the Tesla vehicles drove their Model 3 through flooded sections of roadway. Not over the hood deep but probably up to the hub caps deep. This should not cause the bumper cover to come off, Tesla is investigating.

 

[Raymondjram]

I see the physical bumper still on the car. What fell off was the bumper cover which is painted in the body color. My present Chevy Equinox and all my past GM cars have been driven in flooded streets and roads. Nothing has even fallen off.

 

[Mister Dave]

In both of these cases the owners of the Tesla vehicles drove their Model 3 through flooded sections of roadway. Not over the hood deep but probably up to the hub caps deep.

How do you know?

This should not cause the bumper cover to come off, Tesla is investigating.

No issues here. My Volt rear bumper fascia makes a great water scoop. There's some diverter coverage under there but plenty of opportunity around the muffler. I think there's a little more to the story than just deep puddle jumping.

 

[jcanoe]

Because I can read.

 

[Mister Dave]

Must've been reading a different article. This article has no conclusive evidence and the author refuses to draw any conclusion.

 

[JRRF]

I can imagine that Tesla doesn't even have the facility to do this type of testing, much less the time. These are the kinds of things that make us think GM is so slow to roll out new models. I'm happy with slow.

 

[srmarti]

I wonder what the reaction would be if it the was a GM product. I think they're being a bit easy on Tesla by comparison. Yea, it's reasonable sounding, but I don't think they'd be as reasonable if it wasn't Tesla.

 

[Mister Dave]

I can imagine that Tesla doesn't even have the facility to do this type of testing, much less the time. These are the kinds of things that make us think GM is so slow to roll out new models. I'm happy with slow.

I really think this is a missing fasteners issue. That's my opinion.

The trough test wasn't to prove the Volt bumper fascia wouldn't tear off (but it didn't anyway). Watch any flash flood video and you'll see lots of cars going through up to the axles and none of them leave bumper fascias behind.

 

[jcanoe]

I read this one https://electrek.co/2018/08/13/tesla-investigates-model-3-bumper-broke-off/

"It’s unclear what he means by “run into heavy rain”, but another Model 3 owner reported a similar incident and admitted to driving into relatively deep water."

 

[Mister Dave]

Well that's a little better than a snarky remark. Curious how Fred Lambert knows what John Neff doesn't. Wish he would've cited that admission. I trust Electrek fact checking..... not so much. No matter, it's here:

https://twitter.com/rithesh/status/1028437449318576128/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1028437449318576128&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fjalopnik.com%2Fajax%2Finset%2Fiframe%3Fid%3Dtwitter-1028437449318576128%26autosize%3D1

Drove through a large amount of standing water in heavy rain.

P.S., the Electrek article only claims one. You claimed two.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I wonder what the reaction would be if the was a GM product. I think they're being a bit easy on Tesla by comparision.

What was the reaction to the loss of propulsion problem on the Gen 2 Volt, or the shutdown without warning on the Bolt?
Not exactly Headline! News!
I think this would be similar: it needs to be fixed, and it's nothing that'll need some fundamental, expensive restructuring.

 

[jcanoe]

i had a coupon for a snarky remark, had to use it before it expired.

 

[Mister Dave]

Ripped that electrical connector right out too.

I wonder what the reaction would be if it the was a GM product. I think they're being a bit easy on Tesla by comparison. Yea, it's reasonable sounding, but I don't think they'd be as reasonable if it wasn't Tesla.

When every other article on every EV site is about Tesla, you might expect that. There's a lot of gushy love going on lately.

 

[FI Spyder]

Not to worry. Tesla will soon be switching to waterproof glue.

 

[JRRF]

I think this would be similar: it needs to be fixed, and it's nothing that'll need some fundamental, expensive restructuring.

Anything can be fixed, and this will as well. The point is that something this simple may be an indication of a lack of quality controls in place.

 

[sosmerc]

I think this was part of a secret "flood mode" that prematurely deployed because not all of the hardware has been released yet. (jet propulsion nozzles are exposed as soon as the rear facia "is ejected" as soon as "really deep water" is detected. This is a "one time" use feature for emergencies only. But, no doubt these small rocket engines will be "re-usable" after a quick visit from a Ranger.

 

[somms]

I think this was part of a secret "flood mode" that prematurely deployed because not all of the hardware has been released yet. (jet propulsion nozzles are exposed as soon as the rear facia "is ejected" as soon as "really deep water" is detected. This is a "one time" use feature for emergencies only. But, no doubt these small rocket engines will be "re-usable" after a quick visit from a Ranger.

I hope GM decides to make great BEV's

Maybe this 'feature' found on the model3 but lacking on the Bolt is what OP was referring to above!?

 

[Steverino]

I expect to soon see a Musk tweet, "New OTA update to address the missing Model 3 bumpers".

 

[Mister Dave]

We’re setting an extremely high bar for Model 3, and what happened in this situation is not how we build our cars.

Apparently it is how you built these, anonymous spokesperson. I'd believe you if you said ".....what happened in this situation is not how we want to build our cars.".

I expect to soon see a Musk tweet, "New OTA update to address the missing Model 3 bumpers".

I expect to soon see an article on how splendid the cup holders are. The EV sites are running out of things to talk about.