Tesla investigates why bumper broke off two Model 3 vehicles after ‘heavy rain’

A few owners have reported that the rear bumper of their Model 3 vehicle has fallen off after driving in some “heavy rain” or “deep water”.

Tesla said it is aware of the two instances and it is investigating the cause.

Rithesh Nair, a Tesla Model 3 owner from New Jersey, complained to Tesla CEO Elon Musk on Twitter that he was “devastated” about what happened to his new vehicle:

“Half an hour after bringing Model 3 home, run into heavy rain on the streets and bumper comes 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.

They both shared images of the vehicles on Twitter (@rithesh and @Benj1Franks):

Tesla commented on the situation – saying that they are investigating the issue:

“We’re setting an extremely high bar for Model 3, and what happened in this situation is not how we build our cars. We’re investigating the issue to understand what caused it, and we are contacting our customers to resolve this and ensure they are satisfied.”

Earlier this month, Tesla said that they are focusing on quality as part of the production ramp up.

They wrote in their shareholder letter:

“No production target is more important than sustained quality, which is why every vehicle we produce goes through a thorough set of measurements and tests before it reaches the customer. Model 3 quality continues to improve every month and is already on par with Model S and X.”

The automaker didn’t offer any data about the improved quality.

Update: Tesla contacted us to say that the improved quality is based on their internal data, which points to Model 3 quality has steadily improving since the beginning of the year, according to the automaker. That’s despite the important increase in production and deliveries.

Electrek’s Take

The Tesla shorts are already calling for a recall here, but I think we need more data.

There are only two examples and we don’t know for sure what happened with any of them – though I admit that the pictures of the aftermath do point to a similar problem.

At least in one example, it does sound like the Model 3 went through some relatively deep water and I have seen similar results with other vehicles driving after floods.

It doesn’t mean that it can’t be avoided either. That’s why I am curious to see what will come out of Tesla investigating this. Tesla has often been really proactive about fixing weaknesses in its vehicles in the past.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.