Loud explosion sound and damage from underneath the car, what is it?

[sorinmtl]

Last night I was driving back home, cruising on a main highway at about 65mph. All of a sudden I hear this loud pop/explosion kind of sound from under the car, passanger side. I thought I've hit something that was on the highway, and my first instinct was to look behind me to see what it was. All I could see was a bit of dust, but I was on a slight curve, so I've lost sight withing 3 seconds. Then for about 5-10 second I smelled something like smoke, burn, but now really. Hard to describe. 

 

About 1 min later the yellow airbag light was lit on the dash, and then about 5 mins later the check engine. The direction was fine, car wasn't shaking or going sideways, everything seemed normal.

 

I take the first exit, pull into a gas station where there was some light, and I checked the bumbers, tires, fenders, whatever I could check and everything seemed normal. So I head home thinking I must've hit something, there was a shock, which triggered the airbag light (some kind of sensor, right?), which then triggered the check engine light. 

 

This morning I talk to my wife about it, she thinks it was an animal of some sort. So ok, so let's look under the car for any signs of collision. 

 

Low and behold, on the passanger side, just about at the middle of the car, towards the outside, a portion of the material that protects underneath the car was torn. And then another piece of solid metal underneath is also torn and I could see a few wires.

 

So what the heck happened???

 

I’m pretty sure I didn’t hit anything on the highway (other then maybe an animal that I couldn’t see moving), but that wouldn’t do that kind of damage??

 

What’s even more puzzling is that there’s nothing on the front bumper, or anywhere else. When you hit sometheing it can’t just pop out under the middle of the car.

 

I’m pretty sure it’s due to some sort of mechanical problem. But then what’s under the car near there that can suddenly just kinda explode?

 

There was also a small tiny cable with a connector at the end that was ripped out right in that hole underneath the car. So I’m thinking it must be some trigger for the airbag thus the airbag light in the car.

 

Needless to say none of the airbags deployed or anything like that.

 

I’ve attached some pictures that I just took.

 

So what the heck happened???

 

 

 

[Russael]

Looks almost in line with your tires.

 

You most likely ran over something.  Your front tire caused the object to rise up (or areodynamics can cause objects to levitate in a way), and then it caught the underside of your car.  It could've been a flat piece of metal or possibly wood.  An animal would not likely cause that kind of damage.  There's nothing there that could've exploded, and if it did, I don't believe it would tear in that way.  Plus there's no burn marks.

 

Yay for insurance. :)

Edited May 15, 2015 at 03:45 PM by Russael

[sorinmtl]

Looks almost in line with your tires.

 

You most likely ran over something.  Your front tire caused the object to rise up (or areodynamics can cause objects to levitate in a way), and then it caught the underside of your car.  It could've been a flat piece of metal or possibly wood.  An animal would not likely cause that kind of damage.  There's nothing there that could've exploded, and if it did, I don't believe it would tear in that way.  Plus there's no burn marks.

 

Yay for insurance. :)

 

Can the frame of the car get damaged by something like this? The metal is pretty bent and ripped. It's not that big in diameter, but still.

Edited May 15, 2015 at 05:05 PM by jeff_h

[Russael]

Absolutely it can - if it's big and heavy enough, it can go right through the floorpan.

 

There's 2 samples out there of Tesla Model S's getting the battery pack punctured by road debris (one I believe was a trailer hitch).  Both of them had caught fire because of it.

 

Tesla, as a result, increased the ride height of their cars to try to reduce those types of damages.

[Rexracer]

My guess would be a flat piece of metal, when the tire ran over it it caused it to kick up. It then scrapping the under body until it basically wedged in straight, puncturing the sheet metal and ripping out the back as it flopped over. Being flat, you would have had a really hard time seeing it. The rub marks right before the puncher make this make sense.

[Rhynri]

Absolutely it can - if it's big and heavy enough, it can go right through the floorpan.

 

There's 2 samples out there of Tesla Model S's getting the battery pack punctured by road debris (one I believe was a trailer hitch).  Both of them had caught fire because of it.

 

Tesla, as a result, increased the ride height of their cars to try to reduce those types of damages.

They also introduced extra armor to the bottom of the car (titanium and aluminum plates) that they then retrofitted on all Model S vehicles free of cost.  After that was done, they patched the ride height back to normal.  The new armor can crush an alternator, a cinder-block and will eject a trailer hitch harmlessly. 

 

Lots of fun to watch: http://www.teslamotors.com/blog/tesla-adds-titanium-underbody-shield-and-aluminum-deflector-plates-model-s

 

And you can see the changes they made here: http://www.teslarati.com/reviewing-tesla-model-s-titanium-battery-shield/

Edited July 5, 2015 at 03:13 PM by Rhynri

[storksb]

very impressive. Tesla being a small agile company is able to adapt and make these type of changes a lot quicker than the likes of Ford or GM.

[Russael]

That's the kind of obsession that every manufacturer should have.  Tesla has said that they've not built an electric car, but built the BEST car they could.  And their current track record reflects that.

 

I want a Tesla.  I just wish the model I wanted wasn't 120k.  :)

 

I read another article that Tesla has the absolute highest level of customer satisfaction too.  Can't find the dang article now to provide a link, but apparently 98% of customers have said that they'd buy a Tesla again, where the industry average is 70%.