Broken Headlight Question

[Bertman]

Hello, I had a couple deer run into the side of my truck tonight and caused some damage. I have a 2021 Laramie Night edition. The housing for my LED headlight is shattered.

I haven't taken it into the body shop yet, but I'm concerned about water getting into the lights. Does anybody know if water gets into the housing, will that short anything electrical out?

I'm pretty sure it'll take a while to get the parts to fix it, so it could be like that for a while. I can't really tape it off without covering the lights.

 

[Darksteel165]

You can tape that no problem.
Use the clear shipping (heavy duty) tape.

Going to need a new headlight housing and it looks like the body shop can do paintless dent repair on the front quarter panel.

I think this is the part number 68533273AA but you should call a dealership and give them your vin number to get the correct part then you can shop around., should just be a few screws to change it out.
As far as the quarter panel if you lookup paintless dent repair and send them the front and rear of the metal they should be able to give you a quote, it doesn't look very bad at all.

 

[Bertman]

Thanks for the info, I'll try to get some packing tape.

I'm not interested in fixing it myself, I've already made an insurance claim and am going to see the body shop tomorrow.

That's just a portion of the damage, the second deer hit my drivers side door, dinged up the rear drivers side door. Hard to see in the pictures, but the hood is shoved over to the passenger side a bit and has some minor damage as well. There's probably more that a trained eye can see.

 

[6of36]

Halogens would fry instantly if wet, but LEDs are pretty good against water damage. You still want to keep as much out as possible, but they will probably work until they are replaced.

 

[Bertman]

Here's another picture, caved in this section on the driver's door, which bowed out the section below the handle. Also damaged the hood, shifted the hood to the side, damaged the rear drivers door, I forgot every specific item that needs to be repaired or replaced. The estimate was ~$6800 for 2 deer to go kamikaze on my truck. They did limp away.

 

[Darksteel165]

That picture reminds me of when I saw a deer run INTO the side of a Tesla right in front of my house, in the city.
I had to look at the video cameras as I didn't believe the guy until he showed me the deer fur stuck in the dent in the driver side doors.

 

[Bertman]

That's pretty much what happened to me. I saw the 2 deer running full speed out of a wooded area, I hit the brakes, was almost stopped, double impact. My insurance adjuster called me thinking there was a mistake because I wasn't having my grill replaced, "No mistake, the deer hit me".

 

[6of36]

My brother has had more than a dozen deer incidents. He had one smash it's face right into the driver's window. I had one almost hit the side of me a couple months ago. I've been lucky, and haven't hit one in over 30 years. I hope I didn't just jinx myself. I have a cousin, that has hit over 30. We need a longer deer season, to thin the herd.