A video of a Tesla Model 3 losing its rear bumper in a small puddle of water and heavy rain, which has been a known issue, went viral this week.
In 2018, when Tesla was still ramping up production of the Model 3, we reported on several owners who had issues with their rear bumpers falling off after driving through rain or water puddles.
At the time, Tesla said that it was investigating the situation, but we never heard back from the automaker about the issue.
Now, about two years later, another Tesla Model 3 owner, Logan Jamal, had the same issue, and it was filmed live by TeslaCam.
He posted the video on YouTube and Twitter, and within a few days, the video gathered almost 1 million hits:
https://youtu.be/0GRO-sNuquM
Jamal described what happened in the video description:
I was driving my Tesla Model 3 in the rain with 2 other people in the car when all of a sudden we heard a big BOOM! I pulled into the nearest parking lot, went out of my car to check what happened and I was in total shock.
He shared some images of the aftermath on social media:
Last year, Electrek reported on a Tesla Model 3 design flaw that results in sand and water getting stuck in the underbody.
Eric Bolduc, an anti-rust body shop owner in Quebec who specializes in Tesla vehicles, documented the issue in detail and believes that it puts pressure on the rear bumper.
He believes it could be linked to the issue with the rear bumper and he has witnessed the issue on many Tesla Model 3 vehicles.
At the time, we reached out to Tesla who said they were looking into it.
Electrek’s Take
This is obviously bad. There’s no way around it.
It was a known issue that Tesla was reportedly investigating, but we never heard back from Tesla.
Some people could always question the prior incidents that weren’t filmed since there were questions about what kind of water they drove through to result in this issue.
In 2018, one of the owners maintained that he only drove in “heavy rain,” and people didn’t believe him.
This case shows that the owner was using the vehicle as intended, and that most drivers wouldn’t have bothered to maneuver around that puddle of water in the road.
I wish Tesla would address this, but the automaker doesn’t seem to respond to media inquiries anymore.
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