12V Battery - Air Horn and Rude Service Advisor

[Les2018]

Last Friday, after opening the front doors the car died without any warning. I had to call Tesla and a tow truck was sent.
The guy could not find the negative-earth location to connect its jump starter battery pack, he even connected negative and positive on the same place causing sparks and else. BTW this guy told he received training by Tesla to tow these cars, go figure!
I had to intervene and finally made the jump starter worked.
Car was delivered to Dania Beach Service Center.
Saturday morning I called them like 10 times without results, as always, I went there to know about my car and get a loaner (S85)

Monday morning, I received a text> Car is ready to pick up. Usually, Dania Service takes 1 week to fix anything.
The "nice" service advisor with an attitude told me the problem was a motorcycle air horn I installed 2 years ago, I replied, the real problem was the battery that has more than 2 years. He rudely insisted. Horn was disconnected by service.
A new battery was installed paid by Tesla. I decided to take my car and go. I do not like to waste my time with people that only wish to be right.

Tired of the anemic horn, I personally installed a Denali Motorcycle Air Horn, really small but with a powerful sound to wake up distracted drivers and texters. Never had a problem in 2 years, never an alert. Everybody here knows Tesla 12V batteries usually dies when are around 2 years old.

I know about the lithium option but I do not wish to spend money on a leased car.

Les

 

[Silicon Desert]

[QUOTE="Les2018, post: 3677418, member: 72569 I had to call Tesla and a tow truck was sent.
The guy could not find the negative-earth location to connect its jump starter battery pack, he even connected negative and positive on the same place causing sparks and else. BTW this guy told he received training by Tesla to tow these cars, go figure!
[/QUOTE]
I don't know about your other woes, but the comment that caught my attention is about the tow truck driver. I never believe anything they say as more often than not, they claim to know far more than what they really know. If they were as smart as they sometimes claim, they would be designing cars instead of towing them

Aside, I am a bit doubtful that the horn caused the 12v to die.

 

[posity]

Everybody here knows Tesla 12V batteries usually dies when are around 2 years old.

It certainly could be the air horn went defective: an ammeter would answer that in a hurry. Aftermarket parts are notorious for low quality designs. It is very reasonable that Tesla service is suspect of them: that is the first thing I would check if I was them. Rather than basing your opinion/analysis of Tesla service on a supposition that 'everybody knows', someone could simply measure if the air horn is drawing current. If so, then Tesla service was correct in their diagnosis. Also, if the air horn developed a slow air leak, that would turn the compressor on over and over - draining your battery. So there are multiple ways that air horn could fail and it is quite reasonable to suspect the air horn as the root problem.

 

[Uncle Paul]

In Tesla's opinion, it was the aftermarket air horn that caused the problem. Perhaps they were right.

No matter, they replaced your battery, and paid for their diagnosis and labor as well...still you gripe.

Did they pay for your tow truck and driver as well?

 

[Les2018]

Response to comments:
1) Denali Sound Bomb Air Horn and cable relay have been tested and they are OK. To be on the safe side I am not going to reinstall it.

2) This type of air horn is not the same as the ones that boats and trucks use. It has no air tank, air goes directly from the compressor to the acoustic unit. Compressor only works when the horn is activated, an air leak is not possible.

3) Yes, Tesla paid for the tow truck and the battery. These services are included in the warranty, are they?

4) If your statement is true, nobody could use any accessories on Tesla cars, no dash cams, no phone charging, no radar detector, no gps, etc. As far as I know, the battery is always been charged by the main battery.

5) 1st I have the right to complain, I am a customer and this is a free country. I only gripped about the service advisor attitude, they always have that unfriendly behavior. I never experienced that with other service centers.

6) As far as I have been reading in this forum, TESLA is not always right.

Have a great day!

 

[lakemirror]

Actually it seems by the tone of your posts that you are the one that "only wish to be right". Glad you got your car back so quickly. Now that your aftermarket horn is disconnected, you should be able to tell if it was the problem or not.

 

[posity]

1st I have the right to complain, I am a customer and this is a free country.

Wow - and you wonder why you thought the Service Advisor was supposedly 'rude' to you?

My neighbor was the service manager of the local BMW dealership. He certainly could tell stories about customers that felt they had the right to complain. I thought he was a saint dealing with this day in and day out. You weren't, per chance, a former BMW owner, were you?

 

[Les2018]

Good morning Mr. Posity,

Wow - you great conclusion is that I am a bad person because I dare to question the service advisor report and that every BMW owner or former BMW owner is a complainer.

Look, when I fell that I must question anything I will do it. I am not here to be mute to anything that Tesla, a Tesla service advisor or Elon Musk tells me. My questioning is always done with respect.

I really hope you are not the type of people who do not question things, that does whatever other people tell them to do or that stay stoically when something happens...

Have a great Day!