Rear Ended

[ewodraska]

My Leaf was recently rear-ended, while in my own carport. Rotten luck. :evil:
Delivery Driver left his Dodge Ram Quad Cab 2500 4x4 Diesel in drive when he got out to deliver a package. Smart fellow.
His truck hit my leaf at around 5 mph, resulting in $1800 worth of body damage.
That wasn't the real damage though.
If your Leaf is hit while the parking brake is engaged, be sure to have the dealership check the parking brake. My brake cable ended up "bunched" up from the car being pushed ~12" from the impact. The tech said that the motor is supposed to only receive 4 ohms, and the damage was causing it to get 52 ohms. Of course this was discovered when I went to pick it up yesterday from the dealership after they told me the car was ready. Disappointed, but glad the problem appeared while I was there.
I have another concern that the transmission will also be damaged, but won't show up until later.
One would have thought they would have at least checked the parking brake.
After the new part is installed they will check to see if the damage traveled further up into the control module. Unfortunately the part won't be here for a week.
I've been Leaf'less for a week now, and will be at least for another week. The thing I hate the most is going to the gas station to fill up the rent-a-car. I plan on being reimbursed for all the gas I put in, since all my energy is provided from my PV system.

 

[mwalsh]

Ow! That sucks.

 

[GeekEV]

I have another concern that the transmission will also be damaged, but won't show up until later.

Ouch. On the positive side, there is no transmission... Just a fixed gearing to the motor.

 

[ewodraska]

Do you think the fixed gearing could be damaged?

 

[rawhog]

.

 

[JJnHAWAII]

Sorry to hear about your leaf...
It must be hard driving another ice vehicle after getting comfortable with the leaf and the fact it uses no gas.

 

[bradleygibson]

Sorry to hear about the damage...

I'm not sure if that was a typo or if someone didn't know what they were talking about when they explained this to you, but FYI: electrical loads (your motor) can't "receive ohms", as ohms are a measure of resistance to flow.

 

[TonyWilliams]

If you're in San Diego, you can rent another LEAF from Enterprise on Balboa Ave.

No gas bill !!!

It might be possible that the pin that puts the "transmission" in park could be bent or otherwise damaged from a 6000 pound pickup impact. Easy to check.

It's unlikely, in my opinion, that there would be other drive train problems.

 

[ewodraska]

Hard to find a Leaf for rent here in Tucson. Enterprise is supposed to get them soon.

The ohms came from the estimator, I will need to talk with the tech to find out the true details of the problem, and I will have them check that pin.

 

[LTLFTcomposite]

Did the battery burst into flames, electrocute emergency workers, and suck your house into a gravitational collapse? That's pretty much what the naysayers claim would happen :lol:

 

[adric22]

So were you able to get the body damage repaired in a reasonable amount of time. That is something I've feared with the Leaf being so new and the vehicles so scarce - will there be a hard time finding spare parts in the event of a visit to the body shop?

 

[ewodraska]

It took a week for a new bumper, and the hatch could be repaired/painted at the shop.

It will take another week for the parking brake motor, which is $750.00. So it looks like 2 weeks or so without my leaf. I was worried it would have been a much longer lead time on the parts.

 

[SanDust]

It took a week for a new bumper, and the hatch could be repaired/painted at the shop.

It will take another week for the parking brake motor, which is $750.00. So it looks like 2 weeks or so without my leaf. I was worried it would have been a much longer lead time on the parts.

Sorry to hear about your crash but no one was hurt and two weeks isn't too long. (Easy for me to say). Nissan seems to be able to repair the Leaf in a reasonable amount of time which is very good news.