Hey guys,

Lurker/first time poster. I just picked up a 2014 Outlander Sport SE AWC at a steal. My sales guy was young and former military. Towards the end of the sale, he took it upon himself to "demonstrate" the durability of the front plastic side fender. He pressed on it with both hands a moderate amount and let it snap back into shape.

Being somewhat OCD, especially about my new shiny things, I was not impressed. I have thoroughly looked over the body panel for any signs of damage (including looking at the paint reflection from different angles) and I cannot find any.

Does anyone have an opinion on if this is OK or if there is any possibility of damage inside or fatigued plastic as a result of this little "demo"?

Thanks for your opinions, I appreciate this great community!

Grant

 

Haha what a stupid thing for him to do, that said if you don't see any damage I think you're fine. It's not going to degrade over time, there's either damage or there isn't.

 

I have leaned on my body panels out of habit with my previous steel body vehicles and have pushed the panels pretty far in by accident, but I really can't see any visible damage to the best of my naked eye either.

 

First, Welcome to the forum! Glad you joined the group.

Second,
You can relax.
That hand-demo isn't going to cause/do any damage to THAT panel. It's the same polypropylene material used to make our bumpers!
> So, unless he punched it like mike tyson - Even then... He's likely smash his fist first, against the high-strength steel sub-frame than cause any damage to that panel.)
Give your OCD a rest - You're not going to to see anything "improper" on the paint or underneath.

** And, if you still don't believe me...

Wait til I get home tonight. I'll post the pics of the front-end of my previous O.Sport (2013 Silver AWC), it ended up bouncing off the highway concrete bridge-barricade "after" we were struck from behind.
On the driver side that ended up coming in contact with the barrier... You couldn't tell hardly anything - after it was pulled away.

 

As promised..
(Front Driver Side Panels & Bumper)






The front driver side came to rest against the barrier after the wreck.
(Original LINK)

 

One thing to remember about our bumpers, is to watch for damage BEHIND them. I had only very light scratches on my bumper after being backed into, but the damage behind the bumper was about $2,500.