There's been an uptick in posts from people (like me) who are unhappy with the FSD situation and how Tesla has been handling it to date, and most of us are just sort of venting, but the real question is: what can Tesla to do fix it?
If Tesla said "Ok fine, you get to pick a solution that has to please as many people as possible and everyone still mad afterwards gets to blame you", here's what I came up with after I actually sat down and thought about this a bit.
It's not completely perfect, and it's very very very far from what's best for Tesla's bottom line, but it's what I think is The Right Thing To Do® in light of all the broken promises, misleading communications, and so forth.
Customers with leases:
Purchases:
MCU1 customers:
We don't yet know what's going to happen with HW2.0 customers since they've got more than just computer differences to account for.
If it's determined that it's genuinely impractical to actually do the upgrade, which might require replacement of cameras, wiring harness, and god knows what else, Tesla should offer the owner their choice of one of the following:
As you can see, most of these solutions are based on the idea of keeping customers as customers, and in many cases, keeping them as long-term repeat buyers. I'm not a business genius, or a financial wizard so maybe this is the sort of thing that might kill the company if they actually did it, but if I put myself in the shoes of someone in each of those categories, these are the sort of solutions I feel like I'd accept and feel pretty good about.
What do you folks think? Fair? Too much? Too little? Viable? Completely impossible raving of a madman? Really interested in a discussion on this.
If Tesla said "Ok fine, you get to pick a solution that has to please as many people as possible and everyone still mad afterwards gets to blame you", here's what I came up with after I actually sat down and thought about this a bit.
It's not completely perfect, and it's very very very far from what's best for Tesla's bottom line, but it's what I think is The Right Thing To Do® in light of all the broken promises, misleading communications, and so forth.
Customers with leases:
- Anyone who leased a Tesla with FSD and took delivery before 11:59pm on 12/31/2017 Pacific time gets free FSD for life (tied to the registered customer, not their account, with verification whenever a new vehicle is acquired to avoid shenanigans with accounts being transferred to others) on one leased Tesla at a time for as long as they maintain continuous leases (with reasonable exceptions for delivery delays, etc between cars). If they decide to buy one and stop leasing, it will also get FSD for free but that ends the gravy train.
- Anyone who leased a Tesla with FSD at delivery after people in (1.) but before the FSD price drop in February 2019 gets FSD for free on their next leased Tesla, and 2,000 miles of non-expiring Supercharger credit on both their current car and the next one.
- If a vehicle was delivered without FSD but the customer added it after delivery, the benefits applied are based on the time FSD was added, not when the vehicle was delivered.
Purchases:
- Anyone who purchased FSD for a non-leased vehicle in the same timeframe as Leases (1.) gets a lifetime FSD that can be used on one car at a time, with a process to transfer to a newly-purchased vehicle from Tesla (cannot transfer to used vehicles, nor between other vehicles they may already own).
- Anyone who purchased FSD for a non-leased vehicle in the same timeframe as Leases (2.) gets a one-time free FSD transfer to a new Tesla vehicle purchased any time before 1/1/2025, and 2,000 miles of non-expiring supercharging credit for both their current vehicle and the vehicle to which they add FSD.
MCU1 customers:
- Rumor on the street is that HW 2.5 + MCU1 vehicles may not be able to be upgraded to HW3
- If an MCU2 upgrade is needed to implement HW3 and it can be done in a practical sense, they should do it. It's that simple, because it's the right thing to do. If they need to raise the FSD price for MCU1 cars that don't yet have it purchased, I think it's perfectly OK for them to do so, but those who already paid do so in good faith.
We don't yet know what's going to happen with HW2.0 customers since they've got more than just computer differences to account for.
If it's determined that it's genuinely impractical to actually do the upgrade, which might require replacement of cameras, wiring harness, and god knows what else, Tesla should offer the owner their choice of one of the following:
- Full refund for FSD + interest + free FSD on their next Tesla
- An *extremely* generous trade-in credit towards a preowned HW2.5 or HW3 Tesla, which will include FSD and have the computer upgraded before delivery if needed. When I say "extremely generous", I mean it. They shouldn't be paying out of pocket for this, and the car they get should be quite a bit newer and better than theirs. If the customer does this, it'll be treated as if it were the car s/he took delivery of originally for date-based stuff above.
- A well-above-market-value-but-not-quite-as-totally-bonkers-as-option-2 trade-in credit towards a new Tesla, which will include FSD for free and any other benefits based on the date of purchase above.
As you can see, most of these solutions are based on the idea of keeping customers as customers, and in many cases, keeping them as long-term repeat buyers. I'm not a business genius, or a financial wizard so maybe this is the sort of thing that might kill the company if they actually did it, but if I put myself in the shoes of someone in each of those categories, these are the sort of solutions I feel like I'd accept and feel pretty good about.
What do you folks think? Fair? Too much? Too little? Viable? Completely impossible raving of a madman? Really interested in a discussion on this.
