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bubbles on touchscreen

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This just showed up on my Jan 2013 car. I'm getting the feeling we are about to hit critical mass.

On the positive side, as you guys have seen with the 12v battery. I'm more than willing to work on my car and can produce a how-to video on the repair. That being said, I'll probably let this one go for a little while until it starts to cause me issues. It is cosmetic right now and a $2900 bill for something cosmetic is a little hard to digest.
 

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Thing I don't understand is why they have to replace the entire unit and not just the screen.
I suspect like most auto mfgrs these days, Tesla has a tendency to replace "units" or "assemblies" vs individual components as on average it leads to faster turnaround and better quality for the customer, is less expensive across the broader view, and easier for Tesla to train a growing number of field personnel around the world, vs keep someone in every SvC knowledgeable how to take complex assemblies apart, troubleshoot and rebuild them as need be at every SvC -- all the while, keeping the customer without their original vehicle.

As illogical as it may seem to some, from my days in computer repair (PC to Mainframe), we started with onsite PC repair back in the day when they were introduced to the world (ala 1981). It was expensive (and we charged a lot) sending field techs to training on PCs and maintaining field documentation as if a PC were a multi-million dollar Mainframe. You would be amazed at the stories, cost, time and customer inconvenience involved because techs would occasionally loose a certain screw in the bowels of the PC during disassembly or accidentally do harm to another component that was working until they touched it... We created a Depot service which allowed more cost-conscious customers to "send their PC in" where we had specialized teams of techs that sat at a bench and all they did was fix the same sort of PCs over-and-over for 8 hours every day, and where we had onsite parts for most every little component of the assembly if it was required. Even that became cost-prohibitive as time went on, so when a PC now fails, we sent a factory-spec refurbished one to the customer (unless they paid extra to always get a brand new one, or have a contract where we preload a customer set of software back to it), had the old PC sent back to that Depot where we have a triage team of specialists who still do initial PD analysis on each unit if our cost-to-repair (labor + parts) would cost more than the unit was of value to us, then either go ahead with the repair as a refurb unit, or put it through scrapping (where we'd go through the metals, environment, etc recovery processes). There is a lot more to it than that, but that's the gist for this long explanation.

All that to say, IMHO a MCU is no different than a PC. It's complex, got a lot of little parts, and would take a different sort of technician than most SvC likely have to repair something within it, vs do a swap of the whole thing like a SvC does with a Battery, Drive Unit, etc. Some folks here may love to tinker and have the time to do it, but that isn't what Tesla has determined is best to get the original vehicle back to the customer in the shortest and most affordable way, with the highest confidence their problem will really be solved.​
 
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Tesla has determined is best to get the original vehicle back to the customer in the shortest and most affordable way, with the highest confidence their problem will really be solved.

I think they need to go back and evaluate the design or make the sub components available. The quote I received today is more than 10 times what it should be. Very poor justification for a part that could be repaired at most cell phone repair stores.
 
I'm not supporting Tesla's decisions, simply suggesting reasoning as to why what is, is. ;). To your latest comment, I would also suggest though that while the MCU and touchscreen are the subject of this thread, Tesla really has not devoted a lot of time and energy to any self customer items... e.g. No service manuals except where law mandates it; parts availability seems sparse at best (reports of long lead times even through the limited authorized body shops), insurance for MS/MX isnt exactly cheap IMHO because cost-to-repair most anything is outta sight... you get the picture I'm sure.

IMHO the MCU is just one part of a bigger set of topics related to developing more cost-effective post-warranty support Tesla will need to address one day as they grow and want to expand into the automotive mass market. OTOH, and this makes me almost cringe to say it, remember that Elon has stated he does not believe in Service as a profit center. As such, the only way for Tesla to make money is to sell new vehicles, so, why would Tesla want to spend the time and money so people keep old vehicles longer and not buy new ones? (Sorry, I'm being a bit facetious, but there may be at least a little something to that train of thought, don't you think?). Regardless, I do believe Tesla has work to do in these areas if for nothing more than customer satisfaction and how that subjectively effects future new product sales. It may not have been as big of a deal in the early years, but it will be as growth and time increases.
 
A comparison to the iPhone here is warranted. In the 4/5 days, the screen was a combined unit with the glass as a component. Careful extraction of the two was possible to replace just the glass, but Apple typically just replaced the screen + glass combined component. In the iPhone 6 days, they turned the glass and the screen into two separate components (or reasonably serviceable subcomponents), so replacing a broken glass could reuse the existing screen. That reduced repair costs (and waste) considerably.

BTW, an iPhone 6+ can go about 8 miles down I-95's Express Lane in Broward Country at interstate speeds before sliding off the roof and crashing into the side of the road, destroying its case and leaving pieces about 50 feet apart, but still only need a replacement glass and have no other damage. Don't ask me how I know ;)
 
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I wonder if this is Elon's way of circumventing this issue??..
Perhaps, but also maybe Tesla has determined keeping the cabin within some temp range actually assists with Battery temperature mgmt in some way (even though it has its own cooling.). IDK, but given other real requirements from real and prospective owners, I would hope Elon didn't prioritize creating this function only for the more obscure "pets and children safety" issue he seems excited about, when there is so much more that could have been done first.
 
Auto venting has existed for a while now. I've come back to my car to hear the cabin fans running on a few hot days. How is this feature different?
Agree. Can't find it now, so don't remember if it was a tweet, from the press, or just a comment by someone, but I picked up the impression earlier this evening that what is new is the owner's ability to set the min/max temp and/or more easily keep the HVAC ON when exiting vs it being completely controlled by Tesla firmware as it is now. Hopefully new firmware AND new owners manual to match will be available soon so we can get out of speculation mode.
 
Agree. Can't find it now, so don't remember if it was a tweet, from the press, or just a comment by someone, but I picked up the impression earlier this evening that what is new is the owner's ability to set the min/max temp and/or more easily keep the HVAC ON when exiting vs it being completely controlled by Tesla firmware as it is now. Hopefully new firmware AND new owners manual to match will be available soon so we can get out of speculation mode.
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Has it been determined (triangulated upon?) that HEAT is the culprit that increases risk or actuality of screen bubbling?

I live in Canada, no bubbles here.

But I've notice tiny little icicles under the glass around the edges on coldest of days... minus 40.. Brrrr..

They go away when the cabin heats up.










..just kidding!
 
Just a follow up. I've contacted TPK the manufacture of the 17" screen. They are unable to sell direct to end users. I'm still trying to gather information about the cause of this issue. Once we get a little closer to my repair time I'll pull the screen and see if I can figure out what the cause of the issue is. I'm currently assuming there is a seal that has given out. It is fair to assume that heat causes expansion and possible breach in the seal. We'll need to see the damaged seal to know for sure.
 
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