Suggestion for New Product - active grill shutter protector

[dcbr]

Is damage to this part due to it being cheap brittle plastic covered under warranty?

They are quite fragile. My shutter needed replacement after a chunk of ice hit it and broke a couple of the flaps resulting in the entire assembly collapsing. Fifteen hundred dollar repair bill mostly paid by insurance, not under warranty. I'm still open to buying some kind of grill protector if it becomes available,

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[Rumline]

is this something your insurance company would cover? is it something you want them to cover (meaning taking the hit on your policy as part of that)?

I think they'll cover it...still waiting for an adjuster to come take a look at it. Nearly 5k is above my threshold for "just pay it myself" so I'm going to file the claim assuming they'll cover it. It's comprehensive not collision so it shouldn't ding me too bad, fingers crossed.

I honestly think if the prices were the same and I wasn't price locked at a good interest rate and pre-price increase price, I would dump my order and pick up a BMW i4 edrive50 a local dealer has instead.

Keep the order, get the BMW, then flip the Mach E for profit.

I still love my Mach E. Looked at other options out of boredom the other day and can't find anything I'd rather have. Maybe an R1S but those're still 18 months away.

Edit: to prevent the rock strike in the future I'm thinking of putting up some 1/4" chicken wire in front of the radiator. There's space in there. Because if you reinforce the doors, that's cool, but if the doors are open and in comes a rock...RIP. How is this not a design flaw? Maybe the doors are only open when you're stationary/moving slowly?

 

[GoGoGadgetMachE]

I think they'll cover it...still waiting for an adjuster to come take a look at it. Nearly 5k is above my threshold for "just pay it myself" so I'm going to file the claim assuming they'll cover it. It's comprehensive not collision so it shouldn't ding me too bad, fingers crossed.


Keep the order, get the BMW, then flip the Mach E for profit.

I still love my Mach E. Looked at other options out of boredom the other day and can't find anything I'd rather have. Maybe an R1S but those're still 18 months away.

Edit: to prevent the rock strike in the future I'm thinking of putting up some 1/4" chicken wire in front of the radiator. There's space in there. Because if you reinforce the doors, that's cool, but if the doors are open and in comes a rock...RIP. How is this not a design flaw? Maybe the doors are only open when you're stationary/moving slowly?

what's surprising to me is that this is not the first Ford to have active shutters. I wonder if these are designed differently or just really bad luck, or this happens and we don't hear or..., just dont't have enough information right now to do anything but vaguely guess.

 

[StillWaitingForMachE]

Keep the order, get the BMW, then flip the Mach E for profit.

I want my Mach E. Just been really frustrated recently as it seems like "Recall recall another cheap part recall" and I still don't have my car and it's been 8 months. And I got really really excited last week because it was supposed to be delivered, but it wasn't and now it's late and I'm really just losing my mind at this point

The BMW was a solid car though.

Update: I got my Mach E a few months ago. Waiting for it was the right choice

 

[AOSK]

oh wow, some discussions here. we been thinking about this, but we cant really find a good solution. because the part that would likely to break is where these plastic pieces connect to the car. it might change nth if we only adding some snap-in cover on it.

 

[mergedown]

Dealing with this myself. Missing one on the passenger side. I'm not afraid to replace it myself, but I'm really struggling with the $500 price tag for the part. I found someone that sent me some spares from their damaged vents, but they didn't have the ONE vent I need. Looks like the vent came out but nothing else broke.

 

[mergedown]

Still looking for a replacement shutter for mine as I only need one. $600+ for the full front piece does not seem worth it. Anyone have any better ideas?

 

[DadzBoyz]

I could see something like this, black, framed and put over the louvers.

 

[AOSK]

I could see something like this, black, framed and put over the louvers.

hey! you do remind me!
we were kept thinking about adding sth on top of the active shutter, but then we think it wont change the strength of the original active shutter.
but this we could make, we made something called bug-proof net for the front grille on other cars previously, just didnt think of this one could actually solve this issue.

 

[dcbr]

hey! you do remind me!
we were kept thinking about adding sth on top of the active shutter, but then we think it wont change the strength of the original active shutter.
but this we could make, we made something called bug-proof net for the front grille on other cars previously, just didnt think of this one could actually solve this issue.

Go for it. I would love to see some prototypes you have in mind. Even some minimal protection from ice chunks and road debris would help.

 

[krafty81]

Interested

 

[agdad]

A Stick on metal mesh custom cut for each louvre

 

[mergedown]

oh wow, some discussions here. we been thinking about this, but we cant really find a good solution. because the part that would likely to break is where these plastic pieces connect to the car. it might change nth if we only adding some snap-in cover on it.

How about just creating replacement parts? Seems like there could be some business in replacements as owners start to lose a shutter. I'm still looking for a replacement for mine.

 

[AOSK]

How about just creating replacement parts? Seems like there could be some business in replacements as owners start to lose a shutter. I'm still looking for a replacement for mine.

still? which piece was broken on your case?
I could probably get you the 3d scan data of it to 3d print quick fix

 

[mergedown]

@AOSK Passenger side middle.

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