Sorry to alarm anyone, but this may save your life (and your family's life).
This issue was in a recent recall, and our VIN number was NOT included in the recall, however, the problem occurred anyways on our car. Luckily nobody was hurt.
After 29,000 miles, the front passenger tire decided to fully unscrew 2 large bolts hidden under a plastic cover at the front of the car (bolts that hold the tire joint onto the car). We backed the car into our garage to charge for the night and we heard a loud crunch as the joint broke through the plastic and the car dropped to the ground. We immediately stopped to examine what was going on. A large bolt was laying on the ground, surrounded by scraps of plastic and the wheel was tilted into the car holding it up.
The car could not be moved, the tire was completely disconnected from the car. A special tow truck from Tesla had to bring out something to prop the frontend onto some wheels to turn it so it could be towed. After the car was placed onto the tow truck, the second bolt fell onto the ground. While they put the car on the tow truck it ripped through the plastic that was under the car hiding where these bolts go. Each wheel has 2 bolts holding the joint on (at least on the front) - the back I am not sure if it's the same, but I would assume it's similar. We collected both of the bolts and the plastic as a souvenir (evidence of the problem).
You might be thinking: Oh big deal, your tire came off in your driveway... Imagine this happening going 80 on a highway with your toddler in the backseat. I have talked to several friends who own Teslas and they think the tire would have not flipped the car, even at 80 MPH because the battery is so heavy. I have seen tire "blowouts" total cars, so I have no idea what a 40 PSI inflated tire would do to a Tesla at 80 MPH, sucked under the car (as a worst case scenario), vertical or even sideways. Either way, this is very dangerous.
After we told Tesla what happened, they put our car in their service center in front of 30 other cars (on Christmas Eve) that had been sitting there for over 2 months and had rebuilt the entire bottom and frontend of the car in under 1 hour and replaced bolts on both the front driver and front passenger tire. It was probably because I was angry and pointed at my 5 year old possibly being a victim of a factory defect.
My wife is terrified of the car now and Tesla approved the car to be driven.
We're very grateful this didn't happen at high speed. Someone was looking over us at on Christmas Eve.
The experience at the dealership was not friendly at all; they knew this could lead to a lawsuit and were immediately pointing fingers at everything they could other than Tesla. The car is under a full warranty, is only 1 year old, and the service team were hostile about the situation right in front of my family. It was the worst experience ever. The only reason we can think of them getting the car repaired that quickly was to get us away from them and keep us quiet.
I have 2 pounds of bolts & parts in a plastic bag sitting on my desk from the incident.
Please get your tire bolts checked. Not the lug nuts, but the joint bolts.
Tesla is still my favorite car ever, but my wife is not convinced fixing 4 bolts in the front of the car is good enough to call the car safe. We're leaning towards the car being a lemon and would request Tesla to disassemble the vehicle and reassemble it to guarantee it was properly assembled. It's a really tough ask for something like that, so we might be returning the vehicle and changing to a 2023 Model Y.
Happy holidays, and be safe out there. Don't experience our mistake - learn from it.
I will be making a video of all the footage captured - including the tow truck, etc. I will try to post it tonight if anyone is interested to see what the final result looks like when the tire comes off. I will also post pictures of the bolts so you guys can see what to look for.
This issue was in a recent recall, and our VIN number was NOT included in the recall, however, the problem occurred anyways on our car. Luckily nobody was hurt.
After 29,000 miles, the front passenger tire decided to fully unscrew 2 large bolts hidden under a plastic cover at the front of the car (bolts that hold the tire joint onto the car). We backed the car into our garage to charge for the night and we heard a loud crunch as the joint broke through the plastic and the car dropped to the ground. We immediately stopped to examine what was going on. A large bolt was laying on the ground, surrounded by scraps of plastic and the wheel was tilted into the car holding it up.
The car could not be moved, the tire was completely disconnected from the car. A special tow truck from Tesla had to bring out something to prop the frontend onto some wheels to turn it so it could be towed. After the car was placed onto the tow truck, the second bolt fell onto the ground. While they put the car on the tow truck it ripped through the plastic that was under the car hiding where these bolts go. Each wheel has 2 bolts holding the joint on (at least on the front) - the back I am not sure if it's the same, but I would assume it's similar. We collected both of the bolts and the plastic as a souvenir (evidence of the problem).
You might be thinking: Oh big deal, your tire came off in your driveway... Imagine this happening going 80 on a highway with your toddler in the backseat. I have talked to several friends who own Teslas and they think the tire would have not flipped the car, even at 80 MPH because the battery is so heavy. I have seen tire "blowouts" total cars, so I have no idea what a 40 PSI inflated tire would do to a Tesla at 80 MPH, sucked under the car (as a worst case scenario), vertical or even sideways. Either way, this is very dangerous.
After we told Tesla what happened, they put our car in their service center in front of 30 other cars (on Christmas Eve) that had been sitting there for over 2 months and had rebuilt the entire bottom and frontend of the car in under 1 hour and replaced bolts on both the front driver and front passenger tire. It was probably because I was angry and pointed at my 5 year old possibly being a victim of a factory defect.
My wife is terrified of the car now and Tesla approved the car to be driven.
We're very grateful this didn't happen at high speed. Someone was looking over us at on Christmas Eve.
The experience at the dealership was not friendly at all; they knew this could lead to a lawsuit and were immediately pointing fingers at everything they could other than Tesla. The car is under a full warranty, is only 1 year old, and the service team were hostile about the situation right in front of my family. It was the worst experience ever. The only reason we can think of them getting the car repaired that quickly was to get us away from them and keep us quiet.
I have 2 pounds of bolts & parts in a plastic bag sitting on my desk from the incident.
Please get your tire bolts checked. Not the lug nuts, but the joint bolts.
Tesla is still my favorite car ever, but my wife is not convinced fixing 4 bolts in the front of the car is good enough to call the car safe. We're leaning towards the car being a lemon and would request Tesla to disassemble the vehicle and reassemble it to guarantee it was properly assembled. It's a really tough ask for something like that, so we might be returning the vehicle and changing to a 2023 Model Y.
Happy holidays, and be safe out there. Don't experience our mistake - learn from it.
I will be making a video of all the footage captured - including the tow truck, etc. I will try to post it tonight if anyone is interested to see what the final result looks like when the tire comes off. I will also post pictures of the bolts so you guys can see what to look for.
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