Bubble like issue on dashboard

[r1200gs4ok]

i got the sun shade from Evannex.....It was just like the one I have in my truck and the truck's is a perfect fit......however, the Model 3 has some issues.......Eric at Evannex has been great with getting information to the vendor...in my case, the shade is short and not wide enough....you want the shade to go all the way to the bottom of the windshield and to the top of the windshield so it is almost air tight and leaves no gaps between the glass and shade and fit under the visors....

the vendor was worried about the sensor below the mirror.....however, the bottom of the "U" where the mirror slips into is critical.....it must be close to the mirror and at the same time not cover the sensor.....

i had them add 1.25" from the centerline of the bottom of the "U" to the bottom of the shade.....added 0.5" to each side to insure coverage from side to side and shortened the "U" opening by .05" from side to side......again from the centerline of the "U".....all corner radiuses, "U" radiuses remain the same so they will fit into the corners of the windshield......

bottom line is shade will be longer by 1.25"........wider by 0.5" and the opening of the "U" for the mirror will be 1" not as wide.......this will enable the shade to fit from top to bottom and side to side and go under the visors to give a very tight fit and be against the glass and have no air gaps.....

the vendor and Evannex were very receptive to my dimension recommedations and I can't wait to get the new one...will update when received......

 

[samueldouglas]

I have this issue as well. There are two very small bubbles on the rear edge of the top dash piece of my Model 3, about dime-sized or a bit smaller. They ordered a replacement dash (they do have to replace the whole dash apparently, wood and all), I left the vehicle at my local service center, and they called me an hour or two later to tell me Tesla management would not allow them to perform the replacement. They said technically the part was still "within spec" even with the cosmetic defects. I'm considering re-engaging Tesla at a higher level than the Service Center, since if given the option I would have definitely bought the "no dash bubbles" version of the Model 3 at the same price.


Otherwise, it's a superlative vehicle and customer service from Tesla has been fantastic. This has been my only dissatisfying experience so far.

 

[spurs10]

I have this issue as well. There are two very small bubbles on the rear edge of the top dash piece of my Model 3, about dime-sized or a bit smaller. They ordered a replacement dash (they do have to replace the whole dash apparently, wood and all), I left the vehicle at my local service center, and they called me an hour or two later to tell me Tesla management would not allow them to perform the replacement. They said technically the part was still "within spec" even with the cosmetic defects. I'm considering re-engaging Tesla at a higher level than the Service Center, since if given the option I would have definitely bought the "no dash bubbles" version of the Model 3 at the same price.
View attachment 432814 View attachment 432817

Otherwise, it's a superlative vehicle and customer service from Tesla has been fantastic. This has been my only dissatisfying experience so far.

Yours is relatively minor
Mine was in the front
I notice there is still bubble with the replacement but it’s located not near my line of sight

 

[RandomJohnny]

Appt follow up from today. Made appt 4 weeks ago so they would have plenty of time to get part. They wanted me to send pics of dash so tech could verify before ordering(i sent multiple pics and a video).

-drive 2 hours to service center (btw, first time seeing dash during sunrise and it looked awful, counted about 15 bubbles)
-drop off car, get loaner, had odd suspicion by how folks were acting that they weren't going to replace the dash
-told me car would be ready by end of day (which I thought was odd) and I told them I would be back tomorrow
-I get about 3/4 of of the way home and I get a text that my car was ready for pickup (1.5 hours after drop off)
-I pull over and look at the invoice and it states that they confirmed the presence of bubbles but that warranty does not cover interior/exterior issues due to "environmental factors"
-I call service agent and he looks up the invoice and says it must because of exposure to the sun that it is not covered
-LOL, 8k miles on a 8 month old car that is garage kept 22 hours a day (check the logs)
-Manager contacts me and same thing, "we can't confirm how long you kept it in the sun or how much you exposed it to humidity", what?
-After making my points, agrees to replace due to low mileage but warns me of how invasive the procedure is
-I say replace because if I don't do it now in a year when it is worse your going to say too many miles
-never ordered the dash assembly but now they will

So I drove 8 hours today to just get my tires rotated and some stuff sprayed in my hvac (which doesn't appear to have solved the problem and they didn't have any filters in stock)

Not sure what to think here. On one hand I'm glad this will be taken care of and maybe they have changed so no subjective decisions can be made from anyone but the manager. On the other hand it seems like an awful a lot to go thru from a customer service perspective and the explanation/reasoning was just blatantly illogical. Hard to trust when given such crappy reasoning.

 

[spurs10]

Appt follow up from today. Made appt 4 weeks ago so they would have plenty of time to get part. They wanted me to send pics of dash so tech could verify before ordering(i sent multiple pics and a video).

-drive 2 hours to service center (btw, first time seeing dash during sunrise and it looked awful, counted about 15 bubbles)
-drop off car, get loaner, had odd suspicion by how folks were acting that they weren't going to replace the dash
-told me car would be ready by end of day (which I thought was odd) and I told them I would be back tomorrow
-I get about 3/4 of of the way home and I get a text that my car was ready for pickup (1.5 hours after drop off)
-I pull over and look at the invoice and it states that they confirmed the presence of bubbles but that warranty does not cover interior/exterior issues due to "environmental factors"
-I call service agent and he looks up the invoice and says it must because of exposure to the sun that it is not covered
-LOL, 8k miles on a 8 month old car that is garage kept 22 hours a day (check the logs)
-Manager contacts me and same thing, "we can't confirm how long you kept it in the sun or how much you exposed it to humidity", what?
-After making my points, agrees to replace due to low mileage but warns me of how invasive the procedure is
-I say replace because if I don't do it now in a year when it is worse your going to say too many miles
-never ordered the dash assembly but now they will

So I drove 8 hours today to just get my tires rotated and some stuff sprayed in my hvac (which doesn't appear to have solved the problem and they didn't have any filters in stock)

Not sure what to think here. On one hand I'm glad this will be taken care of and maybe they have changed so no subjective decisions can be made from anyone but the manager. On the other hand it seems like an awful a lot to go thru from a customer service perspective and the explanation/reasoning was just blatantly illogical. Hard to trust when given such crappy reasoning.

Same happened to me, asked for replacement back in March and they agreed but I did have the time
Went back in Jul, they changed their tone and asked me to pay for it. Luckily they waived it in the end
Probably a crack down from head office, but yea the miscommunication is all over the place.
Also They give out rental loaner equivalent to a cororlla.

 

[Jeffers0n]

I had my original dashboard replaced due to bubbles and dimpling. The new one has two bumps as well (symmetrically, one on each side of the screen). I assume there are screw holes under there since they are so perfectly symmetric. I'm pretty OCD but this doesn't bother me since it's symmetric. Sadly, they screwed up the vent on the driver's side when installing the dash board (the black grill plastic isn't straight and I can see glue or silicon if you look inside the vent). I really don't want to take it back in for another cosmetic issue and lose my car for a week.

 

[Cintoman]

Similar issue with my 08/2018 build car. My wife, who rarely notices any issues found the bubbles on the dashboard. I made an appointment with my SC (Dedham, MA), and the manager there requested some pictures. Inititally, he said this could be done by Mobile Service at my home, but then later told me that it's much more difficult to do on the 3 than on the S/X, and that it would have to be brought in. Seeing the Reddit picture is making me think twice about doing the work, but it is really noticeable sitting in the front passenger seat. I'm going ahead and having it replaced, crossing my fingers that nothing gets scratched up and damaged when they put it all back together again. Also hoping no rattles or squeaks as a result of disassembling the whole front of the interior of the car.

It'll be going under the knife on 8/23. I'll report my results when I get the car back.

Here's pics of my bubbles...

--Cintoman

 

[RandomJohnny]

Spurs, thanks for letting me know that. I agree that someone is coming down on these guys to avoid these timely cosmetic repairs but it also seems (based on this thread) it is manager judgment specific. No car should be bubbling like this. It is just embarrassing. Being basically first year production guinea pigs I expect (and am fine with a few) quality control issues but I also expect them to fix them and not make lousy excuses.

Cintoman, best wishes and definitely report back. Looks like a lot of stuff but I think the way the dash is built and the modularity of everything should prevent issues putting things back together (fingers crossed).

 

[Jeffers0n]

It took them 4 days to replace my dashboard. A couple of things:
1. The durability and longevity of the dash were crap (at least from 2018). I've never heard of a car having dashboard issues and their excuse regarding heat is terrible.
2. It's crazy how much effort it is to replace the dashboard. They definitely didn't design it to be easily replaced (they have to rip apart a ton of stuff). This for some reason reminds me of how hard it is to install the air filters.

 

[WilliamG]

Was there a change in that dash material at some stage? A friend of mine has an October 2018 3P+ and his dash material feels completely different to my late April 2019 3P+.

 

[Jeffers0n]

Was there a change in that dash material at some stage? A friend of mine has an October 2018 3P+ and his dash material feels completely different to my late April 2019 3P+.

There were rumors that they were changing out the material in early 2019 (at least from people talking to service centers). I held off until April 2019 to get mine replaced in case it was a better material. So far so good.

 

[pscarroll]

I had a service appointment scheduled for the 20th to have mine replaced, then they canceled my appointment and are now ignoring my texts about my bubbled dashboard. I think they are waiting until my warranty runs out (which is soon, I drive too much) so they can say it's not covered under warranty.

 

[Jeffers0n]

I had a service appointment scheduled for the 20th to have mine replaced, then they canceled my appointment and are now ignoring my texts about my bubbled dashboard. I think they are waiting until my warranty runs out (which is soon, I drive too much) so they can say it's not covered under warranty.

Wow you are close to 50k miles?

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I had a service appointment scheduled for the 20th to have mine replaced, then they canceled my appointment and are now ignoring my texts about my bubbled dashboard. I think they are waiting until my warranty runs out (which is soon, I drive too much) so they can say it's not covered under warranty.

Take pictures/video to document it while the car's still at < 50k miles. What matters is when you document/report the defect, not when a repair is attempted. The service center can try to BS their way out of it, but as long as you report it before the warranty is up you should be OK.

 

[pscarroll]

I sent pictures to Tesla, they looked at the pictures, initially said they'd order the part then then summarily canceled my service appointment and are ignoring emails, phone calls, and text messages regarding the issue. I bet they are hoping I'll ignore the issue as I'm approaching 50k miles.

 

[RandomJohnny]

pscarroll,

what is the location of your service center?

 

[Cintoman]

So I finally got my car back today. I took a look at the car and honestly, it doesn't even look like they did anything.....in a good sense. Meaning everything looked perfect and in order. The A-pillar covers were mounted fine, central screen, center console, and everything looked just as it was. Just now the dashboard top had no more bubbles! Despite all of the work involved, these guys put the car back together in perfect order. I didn't get a chance to take any pics, but I definitely don't see any bubbles in any of the dash top area on this new dash pad. So I'm really crossing my fingers that it stays that way.

Comparing the dash top material of the new one to the old one, it looks and feels the same. I didn't notice any texture difference at all. It took the Dedham, MA SC 1 week to do this work (along with a few other minor things: horn on the left side of the airbag cover not working, 2 rubber door grommets missing on each of the left doors, and some new push pins needed to keep the trunk trim fastened to the trunk by the right side grab handle). I've been very pleased with all of the work Dedham has done...always came out perfectly.

--Cintoman

 

[RandomJohnny]

Update:
- Dropped off my car Oct 1st for the dash assembly replacement - model X loaner with following day pickup
- 2 hours later get a call - new dash assembly has bubbles straight from the factory have to reorder, car is taken apart so keep Model X for 7-10 days until new part arrives
-Model X gets screw in front tire as soon as I get back home from SC (2 hours away). Bring to Discount Tire next day and it is not repairable because the inside tread of tire is bald.
-Drive X back to SC to pickup another model X loaner
-Get back home and realize that this model X has a rear tire with 0 mm tread wear on 3/4 of tire (didn't check at SC bc I figured there was no way it would happen twice)(PSA- make sure you check your loaner tires before leaving)
-Didn't want to go back and forth or bother SC again so just kept the X and drove carefully
-10 days later new part arrive and I go to pick up

Everything looked good except the glovebox which had a 1/4 inch gap the entire way across. They took it back and fixed it. Other than that so far so good and seems rock solid. No rattles. The wood trim vent piece is actually on more solid than before. It felt very "puffy" before when they put insulation in it on a previous visit. Now that piece feels like it is cemented in. So other than driving 16 hours and initially being told they wouldn't replace it ----it seemed to go rather smoothly.

Overall, I don't think it took them more than 3 hours of actual work time. Tech told me it really isn't a big of a process as it looks. So to anyone who will be getting this done it seems like a relatively fool proof replacement (based on mine and others experience). Thanks to all those who responded to my inquiries while going thru this process.

 

[voip-ninja]

I had a service appointment scheduled for the 20th to have mine replaced, then they canceled my appointment and are now ignoring my texts about my bubbled dashboard. I think they are waiting until my warranty runs out (which is soon, I drive too much) so they can say it's not covered under warranty.

Take them to small claims court. Tweet the problem and tag Tesla, Musk and Model 3. Tesla should not get off the hook so easily when they expect customers to put up with shoddy quality.

If Tesla designed the dash on the Model 3 to be extremely difficult to replace requiring many hours of technician labor, that's their problem, not ours. We bought a product that has to meet certain fit/finish expectations and if it's not meeting those then let a judge decide if Tesla is free of responsibility to rectify it.

//aside. EU has much stricter consumer protection laws than the USA does and this crap won't fly there, they will have to replace this type of issues in countries like Germany or the UK.

 

[voip-ninja]

Update:
- Dropped off my car Oct 1st for the dash assembly replacement - model X loaner with following day pickup
- 2 hours later get a call - new dash assembly has bubbles straight from the factory have to reorder, car is taken apart so keep Model X for 7-10 days until new part arrives
-Model X gets screw in front tire as soon as I get back home from SC (2 hours away). Bring to Discount Tire next day and it is not repairable because the inside tread of tire is bald.
-Drive X back to SC to pickup another model X loaner
-Get back home and realize that this model X has a rear tire with 0 mm tread wear on 3/4 of tire (didn't check at SC bc I figured there was no way it would happen twice)(PSA- make sure you check your loaner tires before leaving)
-Didn't want to go back and forth or bother SC again so just kept the X and drove carefully
-10 days later new part arrive and I go to pick up

Everything looked good except the glovebox which had a 1/4 inch gap the entire way across. They took it back and fixed it. Other than that so far so good and seems rock solid. No rattles. The wood trim vent piece is actually on more solid than before. It felt very "puffy" before when they put insulation in it on a previous visit. Now that piece feels like it is cemented in. So other than driving 16 hours and initially being told they wouldn't replace it ----it seemed to go rather smoothly.

Overall, I don't think it took them more than 3 hours of actual work time. Tech told me it really isn't a big of a process as it looks. So to anyone who will be getting this done it seems like a relatively fool proof replacement (based on mine and others experience). Thanks to all those who responded to my inquiries while going thru this process.

Thanks for the first hand account. I had everything OTHER than the dash removed and reinstalled with insulation due to excessive rattling in the dash. The lead tech at my local SC was doing everything he could to avoid replacing the dash as he indicated it is difficult to replace, has many connection points, and that "I might fix one problem and introduce two new ones". Not very reassuring.