FSD drove through a huge pothole and caused damage

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

i have FSD v14.2 on my MYP and i’ve been using it since the trial. it went through a ginormous pothole and at first i thought i might have been fine, but it turned out it cracked both my front right and my rear right rims! i’m waiting to hear back if i can get the cracks welded or if the rims will have to be completely replaced. it was partially my fault because i was looking ahead at the mountains to admire them when i should have been paying attention. the only defense i have is that i thought everything would be fine because it was a completely straight two-lane road with no cars ahead and no cars behind, and the lane lines were clearly visible. but please be aware of this from now on so you do not end up like me . i am really hoping that it’s a fixable issue because the estimate i’m getting is $1,720.

 

[Procal]

That is rough, and extremely unfortunate. I've learned over the few thousand miles I've been using FSD to never not pay attention. It is just too inconsistent to look away from the road for too long. I had a similar incident earlier this year (however, it was on v13) where a rock flew from under another car on the road. The rock was roughly the size of a volleyball and damaged the other vehicle's underside, but they kept driving. I wasn't so lucky, the other vehicle kicked it up by hitting it, and it flew into my lane while I was using FSD. Luckily it didn't go through my windshield or cause much damage other than completely destroying my rim and tire. I had to get the car towed to a service center, and it ended up costing me about $700 to get the rim and tire replaced by Tesla. Lesson learned, never take your eyes off the road while FSD drives. I attached the photos of the rock and rim.

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

That sucks, so sorry this happened to you! Both of you!
The worst thing that’s happened to me so far (beyond catching a small rock every time I picked up a new car) was a similar experience to Procal’s. Mine was with a car running over a re-tread fragment, about 18” long. It went under my 2020 Y and bashed the front end a little. The PPF I had DID a great job but I think there were some stress style cracks in the bumper. Just a few lines if you looked closely. Nothing like having to replace rims though. I keep a spare rim for each car in the garage for such instances. It only helps a little if you lose two on one side, ouch!

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

That is rough, and extremely unfortunate. I've learned over the few thousand miles I've been using FSD to never not pay attention. It is just too inconsistent to look away from the road for too long. I had a similar incident earlier this year (however, it was on v13) where a rock flew from under another car on the road. The rock was roughly the size of a volleyball and damaged the other vehicle's underside, but they kept driving. I wasn't so lucky, the other vehicle kicked it up by hitting it, and it flew into my lane while I was using FSD. Luckily it didn't go through my windshield or cause much damage other than completely destroying my rim and tire. I had to get the car towed to a service center, and it ended up costing me about $700 to get the rim and tire replaced by Tesla. Lesson learned, never take your eyes off the road while FSD drives. I attached the photos of the rock and rim.

you would think i would know better. i’ve been using FSD since 2022 and i’ve never really trusted it enough to be safe, like how you would treat a teen driver. but of course, the ten seconds i take my eyes off the road just to look ahead, this happens .

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

That sucks, so sorry this happened to you! Both of you!
The worst thing that’s happened to me so far (beyond catching a small rock every time I picked up a new car) was a similar experience to Procal’s. Mine was with a car running over a re-tread fragment, about 18” long. It went under my 2020 Y and bashed the front end a little. The PPF I had DID a great job but I think there were some stress style cracks in the bumper. Just a few lines if you looked closely. Nothing like having to replace rims though. I keep a spare rim for each car in the garage for such instances. It only helps a little if you lose two on one side, ouch!

i want to get a PPF on my cars but there are so many options, what did you go with and how did you decide?

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

i want to get a PPF on my cars but there are so many options, what did you go with and how did you decide?

It's called Flexishield. I have it on my side mirrors, front bumper, fenders and hood. Also some where rocks can cause issues on the lower side portions of the car. The S had some protection in front of the rear wheel wells but it wasn't much so I now have it up to the top of the wheel cut out instead of middle.
I can't say if it's 'worth it' as all that would be money you could save for when you need repair / repainting but the guy that did mine is a friend.

 

[Procal]

i want to get a PPF on my cars but there are so many options, what did you go with and how did you decide?

It depends if you plan on selling the car in the future, or if its value is worth what you will experience in paint damage over that time. Personally, if I could afford it, I would definitely get a full PPF. Most shops I've been to usually quote between 4k and 5k for Xpel which I think is one of the more premium options. I don't really care for a color change, but it seems to work the best as far as protection goes.

 

[TESLASUPERFAN]

I’m assuming none of u have the front bumper camera, it MIGHT have avoided the road obstacle but I doubt it.

I figured that’s was one of the features of having a 2026 model: pot hole avoidance.

 

[Procal]

I’m assuming none of u have the front bumper camera, it MIGHT have avoided the road obstacle but I doubt it.

I figured that’s was one of the features of having a 2026 model: pot hole avoidance.

My 2024 model 3 does not have a front bumper camera. However, it does avoid potholes, but very inconsistently. Most of the time, it will only avoid them if a car ahead avoids it with enough time for FSD to react safely. And other times it simply completely ignores them. It seems like they really reduced its sensitivity in v14.2 due to the amount of complaints about how it would react to small objects. I’ve noticed that it no longer reacts at all to really small objects on the road like it did in v14.1 a few weeks ago.

 

[TESLASUPERFAN]

Hmmm interesting, I would assumed that all that data collecting would include new pot hole code and enhanced by the front bumper camera being utilized for this avoidance. Like FSD is a big waste of money if it just drives into pot holes at high speeds.

 

[Procal]

Hmmm interesting, I would assumed that all that data collecting would include new pot hole code and enhanced by the front bumper camera being utilized for this avoidance. Like FSD is a big waste of money if it just drives into pot holes at high speeds.

I honestly don’t think they are fully utilizing the front bumper camera yet. Keep in mind, the cybertruck has had it for a while now, and that until recently was significantly worse at FSD than every other model. The only confirmation we have that it is being used to some capacity is that the car will warn you if it becomes blocked. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that FSD had been trained to really use that camera for anything more than similar to the rear bumper camera at the moment.

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

Think about it- when you avoid a pot hole you saw it coming. The front bumper camera isn't gonna help with this, it's looking at the ground. Tesla has the tech to avoid pot holes already in the cameras, it simply hasn't got it programmed. Pot holes covered with snow are always gonna be a problem, so that's nice.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

Think about it- when you avoid a pot hole you saw it coming. The front bumper camera isn't gonna help with this, it's looking at the ground. Tesla has the tech to avoid pot holes already in the cameras, it simply hasn't got it programmed. Pot holes covered with snow are always gonna be a problem, so that's nice.

i agree the front bumper camera cannot even see that far in the distance, at least not enough to take any action at a high rate of speed. it would only be useful for low speed maneuvers.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

the verdict is both rims can be welded together, and that option is free since i know quite a few welders. it shouldn’t cost me any more than a lunch as a thank you for the favor! i have however been reminded that FSD is not perfect still however much i want it to be. and let this be a lesson for others please!

 

[Procal]

That’s awesome news! Did you by chance take it to Tesla to have them look at the suspension components to make sure they didn’t get damaged as well?

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

That’s awesome news! Did you by chance take it to Tesla to have them look at the suspension components to make sure they didn’t get damaged as well?

i did not take it to Tesla directly only because i was worried they might add something to the title since it did become undrivable in the physical sense. but i did take it to a third party that is Tesla-certified, and because i’ve taken all my cars there in the past, and i went to school with the owner, they didn’t charge me for an full inspection. i did need an alignment which i did get don. (i should have mentioned that earlier) i’m going to be honest with you, i don’t know how i escaped this without paying anything!

 

[Procal]

i did not take it to Tesla directly only because i was worried they might add something to the title since it did become undrivable in the physical sense. but i did take it to a third party that is Tesla-certified, and because i’ve taken all my cars there in the past, and i went to school with the owner, they didn’t charge me for an full inspection. i did need an alignment which i did get don. (i should have mentioned that earlier) i’m going to be honest with you, i don’t know how i escaped this without paying anything!

Honestly, I envy you. I wish I had similar friends in the car repair industry when I had my incident. Tesla service seems to treat any damage like this like a collision, and charges accordingly. Hopefully with time and competition in the EV repair space we will see those prices come down, because at the moment they are a bit ridiculous in certain aspects.

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

It is good to know people ‘in the biz’ sometimes. Not because you’re getting a ‘discount’ but because you’re getting a fair deal! Throw them $20 if they do it for free. Their time is worth something.

 

[ALIEN SUPERSTAR]

Honestly, I envy you. I wish I had similar friends in the car repair industry when I had my incident. Tesla service seems to treat any damage like this like a collision, and charges accordingly. Hopefully with time and competition in the EV repair space we will see those prices come down, because at the moment they are a bit ridiculous in certain aspects.

at some point, we will get cheaper prices to repair EVs. obviously, right now it's extremely expensive, but we haven't had one hundred years of development and adoption from the car industry. since EVs at their core have much less moving parts, which makes them easier to repair, once we get the cost of materials down, it will be much cheaper. but until then, we have to do what we have to do.

 

[PrescottAZRichard]

FWIW- the body work that my partner's 3 needed was pretty standard. The guy that I know farmed it out to body shops as it was a little more than something he could handle in his personal garage . His name is Dima, and he explained how he chose the shop that would be best for our repair. Seems like there are a few ways to approach this kind of damage- the Tesla way which was replace everything with new stuff. If someone caused this damage to my car this is the way we would go. Then there is cut it out, fix or replace it with a replicant, weld it back in and finish it. That's a bit barbaric and Dima chose the third option which was a shop that welded nail like objects with 'eyes' to the dent and then using them to pull it out. This shop also put the texture back on the car and painted appropriately. In our case there was no risk of damage beyond the exterior piece, nothing went UNDER the car so we were comfortable doing it and now I have the perfect Christmas present for my partner. Already done and we're one week into December .
These smaller shops that have the right tools can do magic, but finding the right one could be tough. That's where my middleman came in handy. Shops that saw things off and weld them back on get good at that and default to it I think. Shops that have the tools to weld those nails and pull dents out get good at that. If it weren't for Dima I'd most likely have gone to a local place and gotten it done for more money, prolly just as well with whichever method this shop is used to using. I could have spent days shopping around repair places before settling on one.
So if you're in the Phoenix area and you need something like this - I know a guy . Sure hope no one needs him though, at least not for more than PPF, ceramic coat and tint.
Oh, I should get an 'after' pic to post...