2021+ Model S and Model S Plaid Refresh Issues Thread

[impastu]

One of my (irrational?) fears is that I'll miss something at delivery time (like a rattle or a battery problem) and go to schedule an SC appt only discover the first opening is in 2 months, given all the new MS problems + the flood of refreshed Ys. God help the new MX owners whenever they start taking delivery.

In NY mobile service availability has been plentiful and the work has been competent and high quality. The triage team reviews the issues submitted and may send me to an SC instead, but most issues with our X have been addressed by mobile service.

 

[impastu]

I don't have a Plaid even though I've bought two new S's and really dig the new interior. I'm not going to buy a third car that looks identical from the outside LOL... I know from experience to avoid any new Tesla product for a few years...

I bought a new S in 2015 and had lots of stupid problems, people told me "oh Tesla is a new company you should expect issues". Then I bought a new S P100D in 2018 and it had lots of stupid little issues too (front air shocks replaced, charge port door, dead key fob, headlight DRL out, charge cable died, wood dash cracked, Autopilot stalk replaced, etc.). WAY too many issues for a $193K car (CDN).

I feel bad for you guys. I'm taking a break from Tesla mainly due to quality. It's really pathetic that Tesla seems to actually be getting worse when it comes to quality with the S. I've switched off to Lexus for the time being although I miss the electric torque, I do not miss the endless repairs, and the Lexus build quality is impeccable. Good luck folks, hopefully this thread deters or dampens buyers until Elon realizes that building shitty cars is going to hurt in the long run. I wonder if he knows the typical YouTuber is going to be buying the Rivians, the Lucids etc and they will be gone from the brand too.

Enjoy your Lexus. My dad swears by them.

 

[brunla]

So this isn't an issue but just wondering if anybody else has felt this. When you lift your foot off the accelerator and you start to slow, has anyone noticed that your lumbar support appears to get firmer to support your lower back during braking? I don't know if it is my imagination, but I swear I feel it.

 

[omarsultan]

So this isn't an issue but just wondering if anybody else has felt this. When you lift your foot off the accelerator and you start to slow, has anyone noticed that your lumbar support appears to get firmer to support your lower back during braking? I don't know if it is my imagination, but I swear I feel it.

Does this mean your car is back and fixed or were you fondly reminiscing?

 

[juanmedina]

Weighing in here a bit. I haven't seen anyone with this issue but thought I'd share in case anyone else encounters this issue.

My car was delivered at the end of June. Everything was working great until mid-July. The main screen simply wouldn't load about 85% of the time. You can see the backlight coming on, and then turning off, indicating to me that the screen is indeed trying to reboot, but simply cannot.

I took my car in a couple of weeks ago for a window trim rupture repair that came like that from the factory. I mentioned the screen issue to them then. The SC did a 12V reset on the car and the screen was happy for a few hours. After that, right back to the same issue. I requested service AGAIN, and can only get into the SC in early October.

Fast-forward to last Saturday. I start getting text messages from a random customer service rep at Tesla asking me for timestamps on when the failures were occurring. I obliged and sent several photos showing the clock and the dead screen over various periods of the day(s).

I can tell they did something to my car because the screen miraculously worked for close to ten hours yesterday. (yes. I love going to my garage twenty times a day to check on a fxxcing screen) Woke up today and the screen was down again. I drove my son to school this morning and performed the scroll wheel reboot. Screen came back on about two minutes later. It has held for several hours, but I expect it to fail again at any point.

I am thinking of opening a case with the NHTSB as this is clearly a safety issue as well. (no backup cameras, etc) I also have to keep my insurance, etc in the middle console in the case that if I were to get pulled over I would not be able to open the glove box.

I still don't have my plates as well since Tesla "couldn't" send my paperwork for almost a month after delivery.

This entire experience has left me VERY salty with Tesla. From the delays, license plate issues, and now the screen, I am starting to contemplate dumping the car altogether and going back to an ICE vehicle until the competition has caught up.

This is absurd for a $90K vehicle.

Use the voice command "open glove box". Don't you have a rear mirror lol?

 

[MAHahh]

I didn’t have 0 issues at delivery, but just got my LR back yesterday from the SC, and now I do have 0 issues (that I actually care about)

I had only two very minor issues, which were fixed in 5 minutes, during my delivery inspection. I discovered a third issue 2 days later, stopped by the SC with no appointment and they fixed it, again in less than 5 minutes. Since then, no issues at all. Never had an issue with my 2016 S, either. Maybe I'm just incredibly lucky, but I have had a great experience - other than the 6 months wait.

 

[dropgems]

Is there any case for later Vin’s getting better with QC or is it just a total crapshoot? I have a vin on one order and my other order is months out. my local dealership sucks so I the less stuff I have to fix the better….

 

[dlfjed]

Folding mirror mystery. Driving back and forth in my driveway last night I think I figured this out. Background, when you press fold mirrors a box appears asking if you want to save that as a location. If you open controls and slowly drive towards a saved location the box appears under fold mirrors indicating savED location. It is grayed out a bit. If you press savED location the button will change back to asking if you want to save location thus “deleting” the location. Careful if backing up to do this as the controls page covers the backup camera. Hope this helps.

 

[brunla]

Does this mean your car is back and fixed or were you fondly reminiscing?

I just got it back. I'm definitely hesitant to say it is fixed though as the alignment worsened the more I drove the car previously. So I am doing a road trip this weekend and the final verdict will come next week! Fingers crossed.

 

[jebinc]

Is there any case for later Vin’s getting better with QC or is it just a total crapshoot? I have a vin on one order and my other order is months out. my local dealership sucks so I the less stuff I have to fix the better….

There is always hope, but it's really just a crap shoot. If your car was built on a Monday morning, watch out!

 

[Nappypapi]

For those that have the 19" LR and werent planning to have summer tires, are you planning to switch them out to all season? If so what ones will you go with? Im in DC area and know that i would be best served to switch all though not sure what would be ideal. I was hoping tesla might provide guidance

 

[3YPlaid]

Did you get your grille dent sorted yet? Curious as to what your service center says is required to replace it. My service center said the windshield has to come out, and the dash disassembled to replace it!

I had my grill and windshield replaced. Grill dented and inside of the windshield was scratched. I wish I hadn't. The windshield doesn't line up with the roof glass now and I hear a distinct wind noise coming from the pillar on the passenger side. The service center did their best to fix the wind noise but it is still there somewhat. I KNOW the car was quieter before. In fact, I don't hear that in the Model Y. They are telling me that the windshield sits on some sort of posts and there really isn't an adjustment and that it is actually the roof glass that isn't just right. No way I am going down the path of replacing that!

 

[3YPlaid]

Spent hours cleaning the film off the inside and outside windows and now can easily see how distorted the windshield is. Like verticle ripples.
Should have kept them dirty and not noticed.

same. super annoyed the service center couldn't be bothered to clean it.

 

[3YPlaid]

Downloaded version 32.5 last night and it said auto park was supposed to be included in it but it wasn’t. Has anyone gotten auto park yet?

same. don't see auto park and smart summon has never worked. anyone else get smart summon to work?

 

[omarsultan]

same. don't see auto park and smart summon has never worked. anyone else get smart summon to work?

I had AutoPark working, but that was on a FW release that did not go into wide distribution. Smart summons works for me, at least to get my car out of the garage, dumb summons mostly fails.

 

[RMG007]

Bummed to read about the complaints about the MS sound quality. I have a '21 MYP and think the sound quality is the best
I've ever had in a car. Easily. Especially playing 24 bit files. Are folks saying that the MS is inferior somehow to the 3/Y system?

The sound in the newly refreshed S is definitely not as good as in the Model 3. However, I read in another thread that 2021.32.5 remedies this and the poster said the audio was now "4x better"

No issues for me at delivery - none. Did see battery overcharging (92% with 90% requested) and range irregularities. Car sat in the garage, plugged in, drawing 5-8 amps for two days but showed no charging - curious - never saw this with my P85 or 100D. 32.5 loaded yesterday. Overcharging and displayed range irregularities disappeared - battery balancing complete? 32.5? Don't know. Anyway, no more battery or displayed range issues, no more unexplained power draw.

Glass distortion: very minor on bottom of rear glass - not unique to Tesla - not a new issue ('71 Mustang fastback, older Barracudas, etc). Would never have noticed it outside this forum.

Yoke: before delivery, thought I would be neutral. Hated it for first 150 miles. Took a 416 mile trip the day after delivery. After many frustrating miles, I changed my hand position from top of yoke to bottom - everything changed. No more false turn signals, horn, or washer activation. Highway nags disappeared, actually surprisingly comfortable. Minor adjustment on my part, major change in car actions and my driving satisfaction.

Permanent Yoke deficiency: yoke won't accommodate the raised "Farmer Finger" when greeting oncoming drivers in rural areas.

Purchase/delivery lack of comms from Tesla: Commissioned sales people have a strong incentive to communicate with the customer and ensure satisfaction after delivery. AFAIK, there is no one person at Tesla that has ANY direct incentive to keep the customer informed or happy. We don't get a sales pitch for undercoating, nitrogen-filled tires, or extended warranty, but we also don't get the comms we have been programmed to expect. Don't expect Tesla to contact you proactively - not going to happen. Dynamic (ha) delivery info on your account page doesn't help.

It may be beneficial to new owners and to those awaiting delivery to be a little more patient and a little more flexible.
In my experience, Tesla will sooner or later take care of the issues that crop up. Some sooner, some later.

Love the car - like Christmas with every drive. Well worth the wait and frustrations - for me anyway.

Just my 2 cent opinion - YMMV.

Sorry for the long post.

I agree with most everything in your post. I have the rear windshield glass distortion, but it doesn't create a safety issue. Tesla will be changing out the wood dash and pieces on the center console because they are rough and almost splintery. It's as if they are dried out and not smooth like on the doors. Tesla will also be taking a look at my charge port door that doesn't open when pressing the button on my HPWC.

I saved the location of my home to auto fold mirrors in when arriving. I no longer wish to have this happen. It does not appear that there is an option to stop the auto fold on location feature once you've enabled it for a location. Am I missing something?

When you are in the memorized area, open up the settings and deselect the mirrors. That should take care of the issue.

 

[jebinc]

I had my grill and windshield replaced. Grill dented and inside of the windshield was scratched. I wish I hadn't. The windshield doesn't line up with the roof glass now and I hear a distinct wind noise coming from the pillar on the passenger side. The service center did their best to fix the wind noise but it is still there somewhat. I KNOW the car was quieter before. In fact, I don't hear that in the Model Y. They are telling me that the windshield sits on some sort of posts and there really isn't an adjustment and that it is actually the roof glass that isn't just right. No way I am going down the path of replacing that!

@WilliamG

 

[WilliamG]

I had my grill and windshield replaced. Grill dented and inside of the windshield was scratched. I wish I hadn't. The windshield doesn't line up with the roof glass now and I hear a distinct wind noise coming from the pillar on the passenger side. The service center did their best to fix the wind noise but it is still there somewhat. I KNOW the car was quieter before. In fact, I don't hear that in the Model Y. They are telling me that the windshield sits on some sort of posts and there really isn't an adjustment and that it is actually the roof glass that isn't just right. No way I am going down the path of replacing that!

Thanks, @jebinc

That's weird 3YPlaid. Got any pictures of it not lining up? Mine was replaced last week and is just fine in terms of lining up/wind noise, but I didn't have the grille dent replaced since I was told it required a lot of dash disassembly. Was that true?

 

[Philekins]

For those that have the 19" LR and werent planning to have summer tires, are you planning to switch them out to all season? If so what ones will you go with? Im in DC area and know that i would be best served to switch all though not sure what would be ideal. I was hoping tesla might provide guidance

Someone has posted they flagged the 19” summer tires as an issue at pickup and SC is ordering all weather replacements… worth a try in colder climates… maybe not so much in FL

 

[Gluber]

Someone has posted they flagged the 19” summer tires as an issue at pickup and SC is ordering all weather replacements… worth a try in colder climates… maybe not so much in FL