These Are the Essential Parts That Have Fallen off Your Car While Driving

Image: VW

“My buddy and I were taking our combined 3 kids to the local air show, blasting down the freeway at 120km/h (75 mph), when the splash shield on the bottom of the engine fell right off our 2010 Tiguan. A rather surprising ‘ba-dum-bum’ as the back wheels drove over it, and it was gone forever behind me in heavy traffic.

“Our third party mechanic confirmed no damage, and we decided together it was not worth replacing as this is primarily moms daycare-and-groceries ride.

“Deepest apologies to all those poor bastards behind me on the freeway. We were even in the middle lane when it happened, for maximum secondary impacts.

“Said Tiguan has been rolling with a permanent check engine light since October due to a slightly faulty intake flap that causes a rough idle when cold and nothing else. God bless you VW.

“(Good news is the endemic water pump and timing chain tensioner issues were caught proactively on our end)”

If you can drive around for years without a splash shield, is it really essential?

Suggested by: GameDevBurnout