Lightbar flew off while driving on highway!!

[mongo]

The adhesive is the same stuff that holds on the windshield, BETASEAL Express/Express+.
Should be covered under warranty.

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[RoboTaxi]

Was yours installed in colder weather? My service center had to warm up the windshield with a heater for proper adhesion. Glues don’t work in the cold.

 

[rrizzi7210]

Seems moisture could get trapped between the two horizontal beads based on your photos. Mine was installed in Oct '24, with no issues. They kept my truck for a few days. I know the director of the SC near my house, who was relocated from Texas at the plant to clean house at his new SC. He was already there when my truck was worked on, and owns a CB himself. Only time will tell.

I agree that the installation process seems to be prone to error, due to techs not following guidelines, best practices and above all lacking experience.

 

[MI2Y4U]

I want the lightbar that is shown on the original demo model. It is flush with the windshield but inside the truck. At least if it falls off the pieces will be inside the truck!

 

[BlueLightning]

Need advice. My factory OEM Lightbar just flew off my truck while driving on the highway. Luckily no one behind was injured nor did it cause any damage to any vehicles behind me but the Lightbar is pieces across the highway. In addition, where the harness feeds into the car on the driver side, the plastic rail broke into pieces. I was able to “snap” into place. The Lightbar was installed in February of this year.

Question? Is this a Tesla responsibility as the adhesive didn’t work? Or is this an insurance claim?

If Tesla responsibility, do I set up service through the app and explain details there? Or do I pay a visit to service center. The service center that installed was Springfield, NJ SC.

This sucks!!!

Big bummer, and scary. I would assume that if Tesla did the install and you have the warranty paperwork, you should be able to go back and reinstall it at no cost.

Hope you get it situated. Take care.

 

[DAE1]

oof, that's rough. I'd certainly point the finger at Tesla, this is no different than a sail trim or cantrails flying off - they installed it, so they are responsible. Might be helpful to grab any footage from Sentry, but I assume they'd be able to see in the logs when the harness disconnected, and correlate that to your location/speed (not that it should ever fly off).

While driving, does Sentry save data from the rear camera? How would you be able to use sentry for this event?

 

[BlueLightning]

OP here, pictures attached.

Do not think glue is the way to go after production. Doesn't have enough time to set and cure. Maybe sand both sides to make more contact for the glue to hold.

I am not promoting Jeep or accessories, but maybe Tesla needs to go analog with tried and true.

Why not have some stainless steel side bolted mounts that connect onto the stainless panel of the windshield housing to ensure that the lightbar is permanent?!

This would also prevent the stainless panel from flying off.

Now, before saying "I don't want those crazy mounts taking away from the lines of my CT," many out there don't mind, LOL

Hope Tesla gets it replaced.

 

[Shrey]

Sucks this happend to you OP. Hope Tesla comes through. I got mine installed on Thursday May 8- hope they used the latest UPDATED instructions & stays on.

To those who got it installed - do you do any car washes? Ive been using touchless but am holding off for a few days before I go in with the lightbar installed.

 

[Lasttoy]

Service ticket. Its happened to a few already. Glue is defective

 

[mongo]

Service ticket. Its happened to a few already. Glue is defective

Or glue is fine, but lighbar surface prep was lacking.

 

[Amuma]

Need advice. My factory OEM Lightbar just flew off my truck while driving on the highway. Luckily no one behind was injured nor did it cause any damage to any vehicles behind me but the Lightbar is pieces across the highway. In addition, where the harness feeds into the car on the driver side, the plastic rail broke into pieces. I was able to “snap” into place. The Lightbar was installed in February of this year.

Question? Is this a Tesla responsibility as the adhesive didn’t work? Or is this an insurance claim?

If Tesla responsibility, do I set up service through the app and explain details there? Or do I pay a visit to service center. The service center that installed was Springfield, NJ SC.

This sucks!!!

Tesla service ticket will solve all issues with this for free.

 

[Tecyber1]

The Lightbar is silly to begin with but the way they are mounting these is straight laughable garbage! Smdh!

 

[Diveflyfish]

Or glue is fine, but lighbar surface prep was lacking.

Also, I wonder what material like rain-X or other superhydrophobic chemicals the windshield of those CB that lost the light? Perhaps an unseen alteration to the glass affected the bond. The only way the SC could ensure adequate surface prep is to know exactly what chemicals were used on the glass. To be sure appreciating what bonding agents require to work with extreme thermocycling is critical

 

[CybertruckWraps]

Yeah, adhesive is dumb for cant rails and even more dumb for the lightbar. I wonder how many psi of force Is applied to that thing at highway speeds…..clearly a lot!

 

[Cactusrick]

Interesting... I have an appointment 05/14/25 to have the light bar installed... been waiting since the end of July - hopefully they have a new install plan...?

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