1400 miles and my first flatbed/service experience

[caddieo]

In the 18th month of ownership, the 12-volt message appeared on my dashboard. The local SC did not have a replacement in stock but reassured me that since there were no other symptoms, I could continue driving without worries until the replacement arrived. As it turned out, this took almost a month but they were right about my having no problems.

 

[Blu Zap]

Well 8 months and over 5400 miles. All is good, no need to tow and no 12V battery failures. I think we all know there was a batch of bad 12vs earlier on in production. That seems to have past. Now it appears there is another issue, perhaps the DC/DC switch, that is causing the same error message. I will keep a watch-ward eye for that.

Meanwhile, I see from the various replies about how Tesla service continues to keep us very satisfied. Back up options to loaner cars, etc. Nowadays customer satisfaction is measured by Net Promoter Scores. "Would you recommend Tesla to a friend or colleague?" Apple is 47, Disney is 50. Top customer satisfaction companies. Tesla is at 96.6. The highest NPS I have seen!

 

[FredTMC]

Well 8 months and over 5400 miles. All is good, no need to tow and no 12V battery failures. I think we all know there was a batch of bad 12vs earlier on in production. That seems to have past. Now it appears there is another issue, perhaps the DC/DC switch, that is causing the same error message. I will keep a watch-ward eye for that.

Meanwhile, I see from the various replies about how Tesla service continues to keep us very satisfied. Back up options to loaner cars, etc. Nowadays customer satisfaction is measured by Net Promoter Scores. "Would you recommend Tesla to a friend or colleague?" Apple is 47, Disney is 50. Top customer satisfaction companies. Tesla is at 96.6. The highest NPS I have seen!

never had a 12v battery issue after 50k miles and over 2 years of driving. Sounds like just a bad batch of 12vs or related components.

 

[martinwinlow]

Interesting to note that the 12V auxiliary battery in my MS (60) is the same size as the one in my i-MiEV!

 

[Andyw2100]

My December build P85D that had about 6000 miles on it was in for a wind noise issue and to have the winter wheels taken off and the all seasons put on a few weeks ago. I was surprised to see, when I received the car back, that the service center also proactively replaced the 12V battery, because the logs indicated a problem with it.

 

[PatD]

My MS is on its way home shortly. I received a copy of the work order and they did replace the "HV Harness - Front Drive to HVJB". Initial diagnosis was "low isolation." They also installed firmware 2.4.213 - sounds like that just released and is only being seen at the service centers as of yesterday's posts. I imagine it's bug fixes.

I want to re-iterate again - Tesla service was remarkable! Hats off, I only hope this level continues as more and more Teslas are on the road!

 

[kyalami]

This 12V battery failure problem is very disconcerting. Keeping a 12V battery charged is not rocket science, even in an electric car! It would be very convenient if the 12V battery was at least accessible so that you could "jump" and reboot the car if it gets turned off when the battery is dead without having to have it flat bedded to a service center. What has been described in this thread can't be any fun at all, in spite of Tesla's wonderful service culture.

 

[apacheguy]

@kyalami - Note that the OPs experience was totally unrelated to the 12 V. It was a symptom, but not the cause.

 

[Nixx]

So, let's say I drive 300km to my cabin, which is 50km from any point of civilization and 1100 km from the nearest service center.

What exactly is Tesla going to do to if the 12v battery dies and the car won't start? Just call a tow truck and give me a rental, then flatbed my Model S 1100 km, or would they send a ranger out?

Is the 12v battery replaceable by myself if I had one out there?

 

[PatD]

Correct - my issue had nothing to do with the 12v. It was simply one of many error messages and it was a symptom, not a cause. The 12v was never replaced.

I can tell you that when I arrived home, the flatbed driver had my nose cone off and had a standard looking jumpbox connected to two points behind the nose cone. The tech I originally spoke to mistook my issues as the screens wouldn't power up (Not sure how they came to that conclusion since I was reading the error messages to him.) Thus the flat bed driver was trying to give it power (Before I showed up and explained things) so he could get the car in to tow mode.

Anyway, long story short - take a look behind the nose cone. You may see a positive and negative terminal in there, if you ever truly need them.

 

[arg]

This 12V battery failure problem is very disconcerting. Keeping a 12V battery charged is not rocket science, even in an electric car! It would be very convenient if the 12V battery was at least accessible so that you could "jump" and reboot the car if it gets turned off when the battery is dead without having to have it flat bedded to a service center.

You can - pop off the nosecone cover and you will find two terminals to which you can connect jump leads or a charger, just like an ICE car.

However, in the OP's particular case it appears the 12V battery went flat as a side-effect of the original problem, rather than being the actual cause. Indeed, they did jump-start the 12V in order to get it onto the trailer (mentioned in the first post in the thread).