Sorry to hear about the incident and the deer, but good you and passenger are safe.
I will look under the car to see what this looks like too.
I will look under the car to see what this looks like too.
Today my Ariya ran over a deer
Notice I said "ran over", not "hit". Fortunately was in a 25mph zone doing about 32mph when a yearling doe decided to bound out of the underbrush and cross the road (on the drivers side) as I was passing. Didn't see her until she came within inches of my front wheel and fender. I hit the brakes among a chorus of curses just as she realized she was now facing a wall of metal in front of her and decided she needed to turn and run back into the brush. She misjudged, slipped on the pavement, and the back half of her body slid around and under my car just behind the driver's side front wheel. I felt the car's back wheel ride over her like she was a speed bump. Not a life threatening issue, one would think, unless a leg was broken in the process which was not the case.
I looked in my rear view mirror to see her flailing on the road, unable to get up. That surprised me because she should have been up and retreating into the woods for such a small low speed event. I stopped the car just up the road where I could pull off safely, and got out to check for damages. There was absolutely nothing. Not a dent, scratch, or mark anywhere. The only evidence was a few bits of hair caught on the undercarriage. My husband in the passenger seat hadn't a clue what had happened until I told him.
It took just a minute to inspect the car on both sides, but by then I noticed the deer had stopped thrashing and remained still as cars coming down the road moved aside to avoid her. I drove back to the deer to see what injuries she had and was astonished to see not only was she was dead as a door nail, but had been completely gutted by my car when it ran her over! Eviscerated was the word a friend used later when I described the sight.
So I dragged her off the road, out of the lane of traffic and onto the shoulder to provide a buffet for the local carnivorous wildlife and the buzzards. Once home I looked carefully under my car to see what it was that had sliced that deer open so expertly. I thought my car's undercarriage was simply a flat battery cover, but found a piece of plastic on the frame that had a sharp edge that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for the deer.
I'm glad the deer didn't run out in front of me and I'm very glad my new Ariya sustained zero damage from running over the deer' s body.
But that raw end of the plastic piece is disturbing because it didn't break when it probably should have.
Edited to change metal to plastic. Didn't correctly identify it until today in daylight.
I looked in my rear view mirror to see her flailing on the road, unable to get up. That surprised me because she should have been up and retreating into the woods for such a small low speed event. I stopped the car just up the road where I could pull off safely, and got out to check for damages. There was absolutely nothing. Not a dent, scratch, or mark anywhere. The only evidence was a few bits of hair caught on the undercarriage. My husband in the passenger seat hadn't a clue what had happened until I told him.
It took just a minute to inspect the car on both sides, but by then I noticed the deer had stopped thrashing and remained still as cars coming down the road moved aside to avoid her. I drove back to the deer to see what injuries she had and was astonished to see not only was she was dead as a door nail, but had been completely gutted by my car when it ran her over! Eviscerated was the word a friend used later when I described the sight.
So I dragged her off the road, out of the lane of traffic and onto the shoulder to provide a buffet for the local carnivorous wildlife and the buzzards. Once home I looked carefully under my car to see what it was that had sliced that deer open so expertly. I thought my car's undercarriage was simply a flat battery cover, but found a piece of plastic on the frame that had a sharp edge that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for the deer.
I'm glad the deer didn't run out in front of me and I'm very glad my new Ariya sustained zero damage from running over the deer' s body.
But that raw end of the plastic piece is disturbing because it didn't break when it probably should have.
Edited to change metal to plastic. Didn't correctly identify it until today in daylight.
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If you are able to post some photos of the piece in question, I'm interested in what it looks like.Sorry to hear about the incident and the deer, but good you and passenger are safe.
I will look under the car to see what this looks like too.
Out of curiosity I looked underneath our Ariya, but I didn't really see anything that stuck out to me. There was cladding/paneling which would be hiding/protecting other parts, and of course a few bits and pieces. But nothing that made me think something would be eviscerated by the car, though the sheer weight may be lethal.
Could a piece of paneling have been shorn off, exposing what you saw?
Could a piece of paneling have been shorn off, exposing what you saw?
I feel bad for the doe. Did your Ariya flashed any warning lights of an object about to hit the vehicle?Notice I said "ran over", not "hit". Fortunately was in a 25mph zone doing about 32mph when a yearling doe decided to bound out of the underbrush and cross the road (on the drivers side) as I was passing. Didn't see her until she came within inches of my front wheel and fender. I hit the brakes among a chorus of curses just as she realized she was now facing a wall of metal in front of her and decided she needed to turn and run back into the brush. She misjudged, slipped on the pavement, and the back half of her body slid around and under my car just behind the driver's side front wheel. I felt the car's back wheel ride over her like she was a speed bump. Not a life threatening issue, one would think, unless a leg was broken in the process which was not the case.
I looked in my rear view mirror to see her flailing on the road, unable to get up. That surprised me because she should have been up and retreating into the woods for such a small low speed event. I stopped the car just up the road where I could pull off safely, and got out to check for damages. There was absolutely nothing. Not a dent, scratch, or mark anywhere. The only evidence was a few bits of hair caught on the undercarriage. My husband in the passenger seat hadn't a clue what had happened until I told him.
It took just a minute to inspect the car on both sides, but by then I noticed the deer had stopped thrashing and remained still as cars coming down the road moved aside to avoid her. I drove back to the deer to see what injuries she had and was astonished to see not only was she was dead as a door nail, but had been completely gutted by my car when it ran her over! Eviscerated was the word a friend used later when I described the sight.
So I dragged her off the road, out of the lane of traffic and onto the shoulder to provide a buffet for the local carnivorous wildlife and the buzzards. Once home I looked carefully under my car to see what it was that had sliced that deer open so expertly. I thought my car's undercarriage was simply a flat battery cover, but found a piece of plastic on the frame that had a sharp edge that was just in the wrong place at the wrong time for the deer.
I'm glad the deer didn't run out in front of me and I'm very glad my new Ariya sustained zero damage from running over the deer' s body.
But that raw end of the plastic piece is disturbing because it didn't break when it probably should have.
Edited to change metal to plastic. Didn't correctly identify it until today in daylight.
Not that I recall. Her appearance was so sudden that my full concentration went into avoiding her. If the car's sensors detected her, I didn't notice.I feel bad for the doe. Did your Ariya flashed any warning lights of an object about to hit the vehicle?
No, because both right and left sides of the undercarriage were exactly the same, and she slid only halfway under the drivers side of the car. She may have landed on her back, exposing her belly, which was laid wide open (intestines spilling out, if you'll pardon the graphic detail) by that sharp piece of plastic. The suggestion of the car's weight making the injury lethal is pretty compelling. If she had landed under the car behind the door, she might had gotten up and walked away after being run over because there was nothing but the smooth battery shield past that point.Could a piece of paneling have been shorn off, exposing what you saw?
Years prior I did hit and run over a deer in my Maxima at 50mph. It was at night, pitch black rural road. One minute the road was clear, next second a deer was framed in my headlights walking right in front of my grill dead center. It all happened so fast that I was too startled to react. The Maxima promptly knocked the deer down and ran over it without slowing down. That deer got up and departed, although it later died in the field next to the road. My Maxima sustained a small piece of plastic undercarriage broken just in front of the front passenger wheel. The piece was about the width of three fingers. Found it on the side of the road the next day when there was daylight to see. The piece was so small it was easily repaired with superglue. Absolutely no other damage at all to the car. Amazing.
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