Snow damaged undertray

[DuncanCunningham]

Has anyone else had experience with snow damage to their front undertray?

My wife was driving along the road when she heard a dragging noise. she took pictures of it and i can see that the tray has torn and dropped.

I called the dealership and the cost is just under $130. I'd rather spend the money on a rear shelf than another tray that will get torn up by snow. we live in Utah and we've had a generous amount of snow lately.

the sales guy said to bring it in and see if it's under warranty. I don't think they'll do it under warranty as it not a coincidence that it's been terrible on the roads for snow and heavy slush this past weekend. I guess i could try but she can't drive around with it doing this and it's a lease too, so i'll have to replace it before return anyway.

Anyone else had experience with undertrays?

I've removed the rear one on my 2012 leaf to install a hitch. wasn't too bad in dry warm weather.

 

[LeftieBiker]

It really isn't different from the plastic undertrays used on ICE vehicles for decades, now. Usually either a fastener comes out and the exposed edge gets pulled open by slush, or there are ice chunks in the slush and that does the damage by itself.

 

[DuncanCunningham]

it seems to be plastic coated fibrous water resistant cardboard.. a piece was on the driveway this morning when she left before me. Seems like this stuff can tear easily, which is better than damaging the car but it doesn't look too tough to break off. looks like it was made to adsorb road noise too.

I might just ask them to remove it and figure something out in the spring.. either make one myself or buy it. The $130 didn't include the labor to replace it.. i guess 30 mins from drive in and out if they only had that one thing to do. It has a couple of recalls on it that have yet to be done, so maybe they would be willing to do it at the same time?

 

[LeftieBiker]

It really depends on the dealership. Some will actually do nice things for you, while others will charge you for work they didn't even perform. As for whether it's worth having it replaced, try to figure out why it failed. If the prevailing road conditions alone wrecked it, you need to make a stronger replacement. If it was missing a fastener or one came loose (have they had the part off at the dealership?), then a little of the easy-off kind of locktite on the fasteners might work.

 

[RonDawg]

As this is the first time I've heard of this problem (and the earliest Leafs in consumer hands are now 6 years old) I'm inclined to agree with Leftie and that this was caused by an external issue, and not necessarily a defect on the part of Nissan. I once hit a chunk of ice that had fallen off a pickup that was in front of me on I-80 in The Middle of Nowhere, WY. I heard and felt the car impact it but I didn't think anything of it. When I finally stopped a 150 or so miles later, I noticed the front bumper of my Nissan Altima rental was cracked and had slightly popped off the underlying metal brace. I was able to pop it back on but there was no hiding the crack. Fortunately my rental car insurance coverage on my AmEx covered the damage.