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I hit a roo and the "active hood" deployed

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Jude

Member
Sep 16, 2015
63
11
Two kangaroos jumped in front of me today and I hit one. Broke its leg, poor thing, but it still managed to hide so I couldn't find it to tell the injured wildlife people.

Anyway, the hood (windscreen side only) raised a few centimetres and I got an "active hood deployed - call Tesla service" message. Which I did, and they called the roadside manager in Australia who will call me back on Tuesday. Apparently this is the first time it's happened in Australia so thought I'd let you know about it.

On collision, the hood automatically activates and raises to soften the impact of a pedestrian landing on the hood. The car is completely driveable, just looks odd with a raised hood.

There seems to be no other damage (bar a paint scrape) and a bent license plate. The solution will either mean a trip to the service centre in Sydney (or a tow I guess) or a ranger car will come out to me, depending on how easy it is to reach the switch that needs replacing.

Photos attached.
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I'm really sorry that you damaged your car... What a pain.

Don't you just love how the car has features that you didn't know it had? How exciting.

Oh well, it could have been worse. At least the airbags didn't go off. Apparently that causes a stack load of damage inside the car.

Please keep us informed as to how they close your bonnet. Hope it is relatively easy. Wish you could do it from the touchscreen.
 
Really sorry to hear about the damage. It is amazing there is no panel damage. Have to wonder how the car knew not to deploy the airbags. They will have to replace the pyrotechnic charges as well. I would be surprised if this can be done by a ranger. The whole system may require checking and resetting.
Did you hear an explosion?
 
Very sorry to hear that. Do you think the active hood reduced the damage to the car from the impact? And what about the roo... did the wildlife people get to it? Would be nice if it saved the roos life too?

The active hood is designed to allow the car to absorb more of the impact so as to minimise damage to the unfortunate pedestrian (or kangaroo in this case), so it would be surprising if it had reduced damage to the car.
 
Astonishing. I remember hearing of the active hood quite a number of months ago, but I also believe this is the first time its deployment has been shown in this forum. In addition to reducing the injuries to the 'roo and damage to the vehicle, I wonder if it also prevented 100 kg of pot roast from ending up in your lap.
 
Ok - questions answered below.

- I heard no explosion Dborn. The service centre didn't mention pyrotechnics (fireworks on board?! :)
- no Colina I don't think the active hood reduced damage to the car. There's a crimp in the nose's paintwork (and a bent plate) but that's it. I think active hood triggered at a lighter touch than perhaps necessary in this case.
- the roo was there one minute and gone the next. While I was on the phone to the injured wildlife people it managed to move away. I looked for it but it was gone. It will die a slow painful death I suspect. :(
- it was a young roo, not full grown - fortunately for the car.
- apparently this has also happened in Norway with an elk!
- and DaveWaterloo I have no idea of speed at point of impact. I slammed the brakes. If I had to guess I'd say ~20kms/hr?

Here's a photo of the view of the active hood raised from inside the car. I haven't tried opening the frunk, just in case.
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Must admit that I only clicked on this thread to see what "roo" was (thought a typo), until I saw it was an Australia thread. Then realized, holy moly- my car protects me, my passengers and potential outside human casualties? Jaw drop. Mic drop. Just when I thought I could no longer be more amazed.....
 
This has been really interesting (sadly at yours and the roos expense!). What are the limits on driving the car with the active hood deployed?

As explained to me, the car drives completely normally in this mode. Only the aesthetics are affected (and there's a slight increase in car noise, and also I suspect the aerodynamics is affected a little).
 
Not in the USA.

Are you sure about that? I was under the impression that even the founders cars have it. Mine, built in October 2014 and a sig certainly has it. The affected car above is a lot newer than mine.

- - - Updated - - -

Ok - questions answered below.

- I heard no explosion Dborn. The service centre didn't mention pyrotechnics (fireworks on board?! :)
- no Colina I don't think the active hood reduced damage to the car. There's a crimp in the nose's paintwork (and a bent plate) but that's it. I think active hood triggered at a lighter touch than perhaps necessary in this case.
- the roo was there one minute and gone the next. While I was on the phone to the injured wildlife people it managed to move away. I looked for it but it was gone. It will die a slow painful death I suspect. :(
- it was a young roo, not full grown - fortunately for the car.
- apparently this has also happened in Norway with an elk!
- and DaveWaterloo I have no idea of speed at point of impact. I slammed the brakes. If I had to guess I'd say ~20kms/hr?

Here's a photo of the view of the active hood raised from inside the car. I haven't tried opening the frunk, just in case.
16952c063f37d90e1703f39cab58aa18.jpg
There are quite a few pyrotechnics in the car - seat belt pretensioners, airbags, and yes, they are all explosive. I was under the impression that the active hood was driven the same way...