1 mph incident = $14,000 and 4 months repair

[QYT97]

Just a watchout about a design flaw, for anyone else.

We love our RAV4EV but it suffers the same vulnerability as the Tesla S. I recently drove over a 5"-6" high parking stopper (a piece of concrete designed to stop the car at the right distance when entering a parking space (see image below) I had forgotten it was there (since it only blocked the front right wheel and was invisible from the driver's side) so as I pulled slowly ahead from a stationary position - getting to all of 1 mph, I estimate - there is enough torque at low speed that the car had gone over the obstacle before I knew what was happening. The wheel landed pretty gently on the other side but the concrete block had hit the underside of the battery cover behind the right front wheel. I later noticed a small coolant leak. The dealer said the coupling of the coolant hose and the coolant block had developed a small crack but it could not be repaired by welding - the whole battery pack had to be removed, shipped to Torrance, fixed and returned. Much labour cost and freight charges My insurance company is out $14,000 (yes, fourteen thousand dollars) and 4 months later I have the car back. Fortunately we had a fall-back car to use in the meantime.

 

[pchilds]

Sounds like the $3000 to remove a LEAF battery for body work to be done. There is always someone looking to scam an insurance company.

I would have found someone to weld it and not been without my RAV4 EV for 4 months.

 

[evdrive]

Wow, holly $%&*. That is a lot of $.

 

[QYT97]

Sounds like the $3000 to remove a LEAF battery for body work to be done. There is always someone looking to scam an insurance company.

I would have found someone to weld it and not been without my RAV4 EV for 4 months.

If I had known it was going to drag out to 4 months, I might have thought differently. :lol: As it was, it was 1) the Toyota Dealership where we bought the car, 2) Toyota main office and 3) Tesla folks, including a series of delays in communication as the responsibility for repair was tossed around, that were jointly responsible for the "scam" and length of time. :evil: I was told that someone from Torrance had to come up to inspect the freight packing before the battery was sent to them and then again to inspect the installation of the replacement/repaired battery. Not knowing about the details of the risks associated with new technology in the car and even less about welding, I had little choice but to take their word for it.

 

[miimura]

Sounds like the $3000 to remove a LEAF battery for body work to be done. There is always someone looking to scam an insurance company.

I would have found someone to weld it and not been without my RAV4 EV for 4 months.

If I had known it was going to drag out to 4 months, I might have thought differently. :lol: As it was, it was 1) the Toyota Dealership where we bought the car, 2) Toyota main office and 3) Tesla folks, including a series of delays in communication as the responsibility for repair was tossed around, that were jointly responsible for the "scam" and length of time. :evil: I was told that someone from Torrance had to come up to inspect the freight packing before the battery was sent to them and then again to inspect the installation of the replacement/repaired battery. Not knowing about the details of the risks associated with new technology in the car and even less about welding, I had little choice but to take their word for it.

Ultimately, the insurance company was paying so it was their responsibility to judge the repair quality and cost. Obviously, they weight your time less in the whole equation.

 

[QYT97]

Sounds like the $3000 to remove a LEAF battery for body work to be done. There is always someone looking to scam an insurance company.

I would have found someone to weld it and not been without my RAV4 EV for 4 months.

If I had known it was going to drag out to 4 months, I might have thought differently. :lol: As it was, it was 1) the Toyota Dealership where we bought the car, 2) Toyota main office and 3) Tesla folks, including a series of delays in communication as the responsibility for repair was tossed around, that were jointly responsible for the "scam" and length of time. :evil: I was told that someone from Torrance had to come up to inspect the freight packing before the battery was sent to them and then again to inspect the installation of the replacement/repaired battery. Not knowing about the details of the risks associated with new technology in the car and even less about welding, I had little choice but to take their word for it.

Ultimately, the insurance company was paying so it was their responsibility to judge the repair quality and cost. Obviously, they weight your time less in the whole equation.

I would guess they knew even less about the technical aspects of such a repair and were just as much, probably more so, in the dark about the progress, or lack of, of the repair process. But, yes, it didn't affect the insurance company how long it would take to fix.