2015 Repair Risks

[Dr.K]

Moderator note: This thread is a combination of three threads started on the same topic.

I am original owner of a P85D built in early 2015. While it is a fabulous car ,I am thinking about its future.
What big repairs are likely? I have had all the handles replaced with an updated generation supposedly more reliable handle, the charge port flap updated as well. Some parking sensors replaced. The airbag replaced. The coolant heater (made by LG) replaced. The gen 1 MCU was replaced just a couple of months ago with a refurbished one, and the drive unit was replaced last week (original a letter M serial number replaced by a T serial number). Anything else with known likely failure. Anything else big to be expected?

By the way all repair times were incredibly quick and easy. Difficult to communicate with the shop these days, but really quick once you have.

 

[glide]

I have had my MCU, rear drive unit, and all 4 door handles replaced so far. That’s about $16K if I’m remembering correctly.

And Tesla has done me a “favor” by making sure my battery is crippled for now and will be sure to fail outside of the warranty period. So there’s also that $20K+ bill hanging out there.

 

[bmah]

2015 85D owner here. I've had 3 of 4 door handles and the MCU replaced. Trunk latch / actuator were replaced twice (seems to come up with some regularity on the 2015 Model S).

When this car gets out of extended warranty I'm going to consider a proactive replacement of the eMMC chip in the MCU.

Bruce.

 

[Decibelle]

Just over 50k miles.
So far I have had about $3,000 worth of extended warranty repairs. The compressor and a valve for the air suspension, and the fan for the interior hvac.

 

[aerodyne]

20 months in on a 2015 Tesla used MS, no significant out of pocket cost.

But the car failed to drive and is now at the SeC with the pack pulled, awaiting parts.

If the cars behaves for the remainder of the 2 year warranty, I'll keep it. If not, up on blocks it goes to be turned into a powerwall...

 

[sorka]

2015 P85D with 114K miles. Spent $239 out of pocket for a door pivot gear replacement. Would have done it myself but it happened while on a long road trip so I had no choice but to get a ranger to fix it which they promptly did resulting in no delay in the trip. I spent $85 on the latching motor for the rear hatch because it was going to fail soon and I wanted to proactively replace it which I did myself.

I spent $1000 on a left rear air spring that was making a slight rattle sound. Nobody else could hear it and it still worked fine but I wanted the noise gone.

I spent $450 on new forelinks because those have a tendency to break an I wanted to replaced them pro-actively.

So it sort of depends on how you look at it. My out of pocket expenses on stuff that actually broke is the door handle which failed.

 

[AMPd]

I have had my MCU, rear drive unit, and all 4 door handles replaced so far. That’s about $16K if I’m remembering correctly.

And Tesla has done me a “favor” by making sure my battery is crippled for now and will be sure to fail outside of the warranty period. So there’s also that $20K+ bill hanging out there.

Drive unit wasn’t covered under warranty?

 

[glide]

Drive unit wasn’t covered under warranty?

It was. Those are out of warranty costs per OP’s query.

 

[AMPd]

It was. Those are out of warranty costs per OP’s query.

Oh I see, makes sense.

I thought maybe Tesla found some loophole to avoid covering the drive unit under warranty... yes I’m very pessimistic about Tesla now.

 

[aerodyne]

If you check the EPC one day and find the drive unit pieces have migrated to another assy, like the drive shafts, then you will know...

 

[Doanster1]

Late ‘14 P85D here with mostly the same list of repairs, all under warranty, which is about to run out. 3/4 door handles, rear DU, battery coolant heater, IC, and liftgate struts.
MCU still working...

 

[dark cloud]

Since I plan to keep my 2014 P85D for the long term, I voted keep it.

Over 80,000 km this has been the lowest maintenance cost car I have ever owned, and that includes 3 Honda's.

 

[OrbiterTI4]

Jun2015 85D, 56k miles

Bought with the intention of owning for 10 yrs before re-assessing. The end of this month will be the midway point of that original plan, and I've questioned whether we will make it all the way.

Failures/recalls (not associated with repairs from a collision): Three door handles, two rear window regulators, one front camber arm due to failing ball joint, one headlamp, instrument cluster, sideski tape, underbody aeroshield, two full HVAC assemblies due to heater PTC failures from a drainage issue prompting an engineering design change, one airbag recall, one rocker damaged by Service Center while doing AC desiccant.

Between the first two annual service visits (back when that was a thing) and the failures suffered to date out of warranty, I've spent more $$ and had more visits for service/warranty than any other vehicle I've driven and/or owned for more than a year ('85 Jeep Cherokee, '95 Jeep Cherokee, '03 VW Beetle, '09 Chevy Malibu, wife's '09 Toyota Rav4).

There's also the effect of tires only lasting 25k miles when warrantied 60k and the not-insignificant infrastructure costs to get 240V home-charging service. To be fair, I will need to go back and try to get a swag on how much I have saved on fuel - I've been on a "100% free nights" plan for 1.5 years, was paying 4.5 cents per kWh before that, and had a few FUSC runs.

BUT...we love driving the vehicle. We are currently cash-flow positive such that we can afford the repairs as they pop up. We have never had an issue with the Service Center. The only times we have NOT gotten a loaner were repairs that were 2 hrs or less. The car has an accident on its driving history now, so despite the title still being clean/non-salvage, I've been told by dealers "if you trade-in, I will only offer salvage-parts value because its going straight to auction and I have to guarantee my dealership a profit", and I don't know if a private party will be interested (in paying more than salvage value, anyway).

TL;DR - For better or worse, I think I'm keeping mine, which is of a similar age as yours, and hasn't had as many major failures as yours (MCU, Drive Unit, knock on wood).

 

[SSedan]

2014 P85 bought almost 3 years ago at 65k now 96k miles.
Was at a dealership, called Tesla about service history and they said it was very well cared for started life in New Mexico.
Right away I spent $800 on 4 year service due to miles.
$300 to swap primary charger to secondary, there is a fault in this configuration it charges at 72 instead of 80amps but cost $300 not $2200.
TPMS module failed disabling the car on an out of state road trip. $600 but that included new tire sensors which are consumables.
The next week battery heater failure disabled the car again they goodwilled the $400 repair.
Suspension rattle last fall took a week and $1200 control arms and swaybar links.
The charge port LEDs are half out, colors get weird in wet weather.

$700 in brakes and rotors diy labor, Wisconsin uses salt, brakes need to be disassembled and cleaned/lubed annually.

Has a clunk in the rear now they claimed they couldn't replicate when I'm for suspension work. Hope it is just the splines needing lube not a DU.

I love the car but it has by a big margin been the least reliable sub-100k vehicle I have ever owned. My wife has a 2014 Impala with I think 108k, always a Wisconsin car, owned it since 2015 with 20k. It is a much more reliable vehicle, but front wheel drive is for girls and people who don't know how to drive.

I wrecked my back recently, my car has better lumbar support so my wife has been shuttling me to appointments with it and it is growing on her but I don't think she will want one of her own due to the problems mine has had.

 

[Dukeybootie]

@sorka

Curious about the fore link replacement. Is this issue you refer to the same as the control arm issue? Did you have it done at the service center? I assume both left and right sides were replaced?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Ramp1999]

2015 85 S 44k miles . just got this car used with no warranty. It has ap1 and free SC and data package.
so far had the 12 volt replaced and the passenger door handle so far that was 500 bucks.
They came to the house and fixed it all up in about 2 hours.

 

[David29]

My 2015 70D has a tad more than 50,000 miles. I voted "Keep it," but my caveat is that I did not see what the OP's mileage is -- perhaps I missed it.
My car has been fairly good. Some cars of my car's vintage and miles have had fewer problems, some more. The only time the car left me by the side of the road and unable to drive was when the steering rack failed. I had been told that would be replaced due to a factory recall, but it failed before they called me in. (Fortunately I was walking distance from home, lucky me!)
I have so far had very little happen since I passed the 4-year mark on the original warranty. But I know my car's MCU is approaching the typical failure point of the eMCC chip. I have had 2 false alarms when I (and the shop) thought it was ready. That alone prompted me to buy the Extended Service Plan, so for the moment I am not afraid of what costs I will face for quite some time.
I am retired, so I do not drive all that much (especially now with the Covid-19 limitations, of course) and do not rely on the car every day, so that makes it easier to tolerate occasional problems. The local Tesla service center is only about 2 miles from my house, and I have had excellent service from them for nearly 5 years.
The other factor is that I never bought a new car before this one. For 48 years, all my cars were used, so I am somewhat accustomed to, and not afraid of, cars that need work and break occasionally. (Some of the stories in this post are a bit unsettling, though....)
One other point: My car has gray leather upholstery, a sunroof, and coil suspension, none of which are available any longer and which I like. (I may have to change my mind on the suspension if I ever get to drive a Raven, because I understand the ride is fantastic with the new air suspension.) And from what I have read, my AP1 is at least as good at what it does as the AP2 cars are -- they do more, but less well.
Good luck, whatever you decide!

 

[GoBlue88]

78,000 mile May 2014 S85 here. I've had the following work done under warranty:

- January 2016: battery coolant heater replaced
- June 2016: battery sent off to Fremont to have high voltage assembly replaced (loaner battery installed for 4 months)
- June 2016: Pano roof front applique and moving glass retaining tab replaced and front bracket adjusted
- January 2017: 12-volt battery replaced
- May 2017: drive unit replaced
- March 2018: MCU1 replaced due to de-laminating issue. Found out last week it was a new MCU1 (early 2018 manufacturing date) as opposed to a refurb (see May 2020 note below)
- March 2018: tire pressure monitoring system module and harness replaced
- January 2019: axle hubs lubricated due to loud clicking noise coming from them on acceleration
- January 2019: liftgate drain plug retrofit per bulletin

Out of warranty:
- March 2020: Dead MCU1 issue recovered with offline update by service center (as opposed to expected $1500 swap out for a refurb, fortunately)
- May 2020: MCU1 dead again. Service center stated "unknown ETA" for available MCU swaps. Upgraded eMMC with 3rd party instead, which is how I discovered the MCU was new in March 2018. eMMC lasted 2 years...

The biggest thing I can say after this experience is watch for the eMMC failure that is surely to come post warranty, and that a proactive swap will be worth it. Better than swapping out for a refurb MCU1 that just might fail again in 2-4 years. With the upgraded eMMC, my screen is snappier, my iPhone app connects to the car much faster, and there's 4x the memory of the eMMC that Tesla uses, so it should last a very long time.

 

[sorka]

@sorka

Curious about the fore link replacement. Is this issue you refer to the same as the control arm issue? Did you have it done at the service center? I assume both left and right sides were replaced?

Thanks in advance!

I haven't replaced them yet. I got the parts right as the world was shutting down and haven't hardly driven. I need to wait until I feel comfortable going to get my alignment done which will be needed after swapping them out. Should take about an hour per side.

 

[ShawnA]

Hi Dr K,

My wife's 2015 Model S 85 D has been like a Good dream...
We are the original owners, picked it up in May 2015.
Hardtop - no sunroof - 19" Wheels.
Maintenance to date:
Airbag recall
Steering Recall
Seat belt recall
Adjust a door handle

New tires.
She rarely supercharges - lifetime less than 10 times.
Still on original 12 volt battery!!!

Original battery miles at 100% is 271.
Her 100% as shown today on the app is 270.

Shawn