NHTSA Complaint #11565652 — 2023 TESLA MODEL Y

I hit a rock at approximately 35 mph that got projected under my car and caused a bad leak in the battery coolant system. Received a low coolant warning about one minute after the incident. The alert indicated that the car was safe to drive but to schedule service asap. Tesla instructed me to drive to the local SC that is 15 min away when though enough coolant had leaked to render the user display black. I had no turn signals, no speedometer, nothing except the ability to move the car. Tesla alerted me the next day that the damaged occurred at a poorly protected point where the coolant lines connect to the HV battery and that the battery with less than 20K miles needs to be replaced. As a result, they discharged the energy from the battery to avoid a “thermal event”. In doing some research, I discovered a number of documented cases of similar failure due to the fact that a plastic part is used to protect this critical area and is known to break and not offer ample protection to the coolant lines and front drive system. I’m very concerned that had this occurred on the highway and I continued to drive that a “thermal event” would occur and put me in grave danger of a vehicle fire. This area is too critical for proper vehicle operation and safety around high voltage components to use plastic parts to protect them. I also discovered that earlier model Model 3s used a heavy cloth for this role before changing to the plastic version.