Car died 1200 miles from home... ugh

[TMThree]

This is true but it seems like Tesla is definitely one of the most unreliable brands as evidenced by the posts here and the recent bottom of the barrel ratings on reliability. I’ve owned many many new cars and the only other time I’ve had a major failure like this so soon was when a Chevy Volt required a new transmission during the first year. Might have to go back to gas after this as I no longer have faith in Tesla for road trips. At least I just leased it so I can be done in 10 more months.

Anecdotal. And useless to the discussion. My model 3 is 2 years old and never had any failure. Should that mean they're all without flaws?

 

[jjrandorin]

Not understanding this.... you're expecting a diagnosis from the tow truck driver to initialize sending a mechanic (off hours carrying any spare parts that may solve the problem on the side of the road - as diagnosed by the tow truck driver). And then, if the tow driver was wrong in his diagnosis - take your car to a service center that's not currently open, but should have a ready 24 hour staff? What brand of car did you previously own that had that kind of service?

When people are stuck and angry, they are many times, not reasonable. Although expecting a battery to be available for mobile install is reasonable, troubleshooting that on the side of the road isnt really that reasonable.

Also, expecting some car dealer / manufacturer to somehow pay for extra hotel days, food, etc because of a trip interruption isnt reasonable. As mentioned up thread, many credit cards have trip interruption coverage as part of the feature set, so OP should look into that if they paid for their trip by credit card.

Tesla isnt (and shouldnt) be covering that.

EDIT:.. re reading this post, it looks like I am piling on or attempting to, and I am not. Inconvenience is annoying, so I get that. Just saying that when people are upset about a situation, many times, that feeling colors expectations for other interactions with whatever caused them to be upset in the first place.

 

[nwdiver]

This is true but it seems like Tesla is definitely one of the most unreliable brands as evidenced by the posts here and the recent bottom of the barrel ratings on reliability. I’ve owned many many new cars and the only other time I’ve had a major failure like this so soon was when a Chevy Volt required a new transmission during the first year. Might have to go back to gas after this as I no longer have faith in Tesla for road trips. At least I just leased it so I can be done in 10 more months.

I'm close to ~175,000 miles on my ~8 year old Model S. So ~50% of the miles I've driven in my life have now been electric. They have BY FAR been the most trouble free miles compared to the fools fueled POSs I drove previously. Between glow plug failures, ERG valves, EGR coolers, clutches, Oxygen sensors, bad gasoline.... no thanks. Only morons and monsters use fools fuel where alternatives exist.

No car is perfect but electric is ~an order of magnitude better than fools fuel. That's just physics.

 

[MrFusion]

Not understanding this.... you're expecting a diagnosis from the tow truck driver to initialize sending a mechanic (off hours carrying any spare parts that may solve the problem on the side of the road - as diagnosed by the tow truck driver). And then, if the tow driver was wrong in his diagnosis - take your car to a service center that's not currently open, but should have a ready 24 hour staff? What brand of car did you previously own that had that kind of service?

No, I’m expecting the Tesla remote diagnostics to identify this and then Tesla to send out somebody with a new battery if that is truly the issue. If this was an ICE car a battery issue could be identified by pretty much anybody, even the kid working at Autozone and I would buy a battery, install it in 10 minutes and be on my way. Instead I have to wait 2 days for the service center in another state to open and travel to the service center. This is why I’m hoping it actually isn’t a battery issue because it could have been solved in 1 hour instead of 2 days if so.

 

[MrFusion]

When people are stuck and angry, they are many times, not reasonable. Although expecting a battery to be available for mobile install is reasonable, troubleshooting that on the side of the road isnt really that reasonable.

Also, expecting some car dealer / manufacturer to somehow pay for extra hotel days, food, etc because of a trip interruption isnt reasonable. As mentioned up thread, many credit cards have trip interruption coverage as part of the feature set, so OP should look into that if they paid for their trip by credit card.

Tesla isnt (and shouldnt) be covering that.

EDIT:.. re reading this post, it looks like I am piling on or attempting to, and I am not. Inconvenience is annoying, so I get that. Just saying that when people are upset about a situation, many times, that feeling colors expectations for other interactions with whatever caused them to be upset in the first place.

How would I pay for a road trip by credit card?

I am paying Tesla for reliable transportation. If I wanted to risk a car stranding me I would have just kept my last car and not have bought a brand new car with a warranty.

I don’t think expecting them to pay isn’t reasonable. We’ll see what happens.

 

[skidmarc]

For all of the ICE Tesla haters out there...go back and research the number of times people were stranded when electronic fuel injection started or electronic transmissions...people were stranded for days, far from home. Same, same. ICE cars are getting inherently more difficult to troubleshoot and the weekend mechanic is not remotely capable of diagnosing most ECU problems. And they do leave people stranded.

 

[dmurphy]

How would I pay for a road trip by credit card?

I am paying Tesla for reliable transportation. If I wanted to risk a car stranding me I would have just kept my last car and not have bought a brand new car with a warranty.

I don’t think expecting them to pay isn’t reasonable. We’ll see what happens.

Do you have a hotel booked? Any kind of lodging? If your credit card has trip interruption insurance, check their policies that define a “trip”.

That said - yes, it’s unreasonable to have them cover your expenses other than the repair. That’s not something other manufacturers do either. It’s not part of your warranty coverage.

I feel bad for you - that’s a lousy situation to be in, but let’s be real. Stuff happens.

Look, I’ve had a flat tire and not been able to get a replacement anywhere locally. Had to wait for it to be shipped in, because it was an odd size. It sucks but you can always rent a car if you need to get somewhere right quick and in a hurry.

 

[XLR82XS]

My BMW's fuel pump failed one cold rainy day on a busy interstate. That was no fun.

Reminds me of a few years ago when my E60 BMW 535 left me stranded on the side of busy highway during Friday afternoon rush. Electric water pump failure - ECU would not allow engine start. This is to protect the head gasket.

 

[jjrandorin]

How would I pay for a road trip by credit card?

I am paying Tesla for reliable transportation. If I wanted to risk a car stranding me I would have just kept my last car and not have bought a brand new car with a warranty.

I don’t think expecting them to pay isn’t reasonable. We’ll see what happens.

"how would you pay for a road trip by credit card?" I am not sure I understand this question. You put any supercharging charges, food charges, and travel charges such as hotel stays, airplane, train, bus, etc on a credit card. Its unlikely you are traveling by train, bus, etc, but if you are staying a hotel, put that on a credit card.

On the "I bought a new car so should never get stuck in it, so the new car manufacturer should pay for my hotel stay because I got stuck".... I would like to see you contact BMW or Mercedes or Porsche, or Lexus or Audi or Caddillac if you bought one of their cars new and say the same thing, and expect them to pay it.

 

[adrianp89]

Tesla should pay for food/lodging until a loaner is provided, which in case of a complete failure... should be within hours (and thus they don't need to pay anything).

 

[Evoforce]

How would I pay for a road trip by credit card?

I am paying Tesla for reliable transportation. If I wanted to risk a car stranding me I would have just kept my last car and not have bought a brand new car with a warranty.

I don’t think expecting them to pay isn’t reasonable. We’ll see what happens.

No reason for a warranty if there were zero chance of breakdowns...

Anyway, I have been stranded for days on a road trip with a bad tire because no one in the area stocked the tire that I needed...

 

[TheRFMan]

While I understand that new cars do break down, my concern is with the lack of service centres in some parts of North America. On the Trans-Canada route, there is no service centre between Ottawa and Calgary (about 1800 miles). If the car has a catastrophic failure in Winnipeg, what do I do? Have it towed to Minneapolis?

 

[KenC]

So, I've read most of these potential 12V battery failures, and have wondered: could you use a 2nd 12V battery in the frunk, and remove the cover, connect the two batteries, close your hood, assuming the cables had enough room, and if that fixed the errors, drive around until Tesla's Mobile Ranger came to replace your 12V? Or you could drive yourself to the SC, instead of being towed? Presuming you packed the 12V battery in the frunk so it wouldn't move.

 

[RayK]

Only if the car's 12V battery was low on a charge and didn't have an internal short / sulfated cell(s). Better to replace the bad 12V battery than to parallel another one with it.

 

[Austindude]

Exactly. I’ve owned almost every sports car you can think of and I’ve never seen this many issues even on cars that are decades old. Price we pay for bleeding edge tech I suppose.

My 2004 $86,000 (and I'm sure that would be more in 2020 dollars) Porsche 911 stranded me with less than 7500 miles on it after only a handful of months of ownership - had to be towed. My top of the line 1990 (it think I remember the model year correctly) Acura Legend LS failed so many times in so many ways, probably one of the worst cars I ever owned, but Honda has fantastic reliability. Sorry but early mechanical or electrical failure is not uncommon in even the most reliable brands of vehicles. Had a wonderful (until I could no longer suffer with it any longer) brand new Toyota Corona (not Corolla) back in 1976 (?). The car had an undiagnosable and ultimately unfixable intermittent electrical problem which caused it to suddenly die, had to be towed way too many times! Is Toyota unreliable as a brand, hell no! And to my final point, my 2018 Model 3 has been completely reliable, best car I've ever owned. Can something go wrong with my Tesla in the future? The answer to that question is of course, YES.

 

[Austindude]

My 2004 $86,000 (and I'm sure that would be more in 2020 dollars) Porsche 911 stranded me with less than 7500 miles on it after only a handful of months of ownership - had to be towed. My top of the line 1990 (it think I remember the model year correctly) Acura Legend LS failed so many times in so many ways, probably one of the worst cars I ever owned, but Honda has fantastic reliability. Sorry but early mechanical or electrical failure is not uncommon in even the most reliable brands of vehicles. Had a wonderful (until I could no longer suffer with it any longer) brand new Toyota Corona (not Corolla) back in 1976 (?). The car had an undiagnosable and ultimately unfixable intermittent electrical problem which caused it to suddenly die, had to be towed way too many times! Is Toyota unreliable as a brand, hell no! And to my final point, my 2018 Model 3 has been completely reliable, best car I've ever owned. Can something go wrong with my Tesla in the future? The answer to that question is of course, YES.

Sorry, correction, meant to say, Is Toyota a reliable brand, hell YES (not no)!

 

[ThomasD]

It appears that Ford will reimburse for hotels if you car breaks down while under warranty
https://www.ford.ca/owners/packages/roadside-assistance/claims-procedures/

 

[Akikiki]

Was heading home tonight from a cross country trip. Car started giving “Vehicle may not restart - Service is required” and “Electrical system power is reduced - Vehicle may shutdown unexpectedly” warnings. Got to a supercharger and car won’t charge, won’t go back into drive. Basically dead. Tesla did remote diagnostics and said it needs to go to the service center so they sent a tow truck to take it about 100 miles to the closest service center but of course they won’t be able to look at it until Monday morning. Car is 14 months old with 8500 miles on it. Pretty bummed out and it’s making me rethink the brand. This is going to cost me 3 days minimum in time so I hope Tesla can make things right with all the extra hotel, rental car, etc. expenses I’m going to incur.

I see your point. This kind of car simply stopping from working while you are on a trip would never happen to a gas powered car. Nothing could go wrong with any regular car, right? Get rid of it as soon as you can.

 

[Casmium]

It happens with any type of car from any brand, for any number of reasons, had a vw that had the crankshaft position sensor fail on a Sunday, no shop that was open would even look at it, had to have it towed to a the dealer. What you will find is the average Tesla owner is far more likely to go on a forum then the average Toyota owner.

 

[MrFusion]

The Tesla apologists on here are pretty funny. Fact of the matter is this has never happened to any of my previous cars so I guess I’ve just been lucky, but it has definitely soured the brand for me because of the lack of service centers in large parts of the country. If I had a Toyota break in the first 10,000 miles (which is highly unlikely compared to Tesla) then it could be fixed in almost any town in the country. For Tesla the car has to get towed 100 miles to a service center that might not even be on your route.

The end result is that the wiring harness on the AC compressor had frayed and shorted out. So the AC that I’m not even using in the winter disabled the whole car. The service center tech said this is a known, common issue that she has seen strand people many times. I’m pretty sure if the AC compressor goes out on any other brand of car the whole car doesn’t just stop working. Say what you will but the bleeding edge tech in Tesla is just not nearly as reliable as a well established brand.