Consumer Reports reliability of Model S - worse than average

[ar4c]

Ive had more problems with my Tesla then any BMW, Mercedes, GM, Ford, etc car I have ever owned.

I had to schedule an appointment to fix a bunch of rattles (ANOTHER round of them in my 11K miles on my P85D) - and get this, the soonest they can address it is 6.5 WEEKS

My door handle has broken, glue in windows failed, several rattles, suspension shock broke, hub assembly broke, footwell lights broke, glove department wouldn't open, moisture in tail lights, scroll wheel on steering wheel broke. Drive unit making funny sound sometimes. My friend is on his 3rd motor in 27K miles.

Tesla reliability sucks but I do really like the car. Their service has gone downhill BIG TIME and now the Model X is coming out, it isn going to get any better! Oh yeah, and my car wouldn't start once for 30 mins ! Finally did and then worked- but left me stranded for a half hour. Now I am always wondering if I will be stuck somewhere.

 

[Max*]

Ive had more problems with my Tesla then any BMW, Mercedes, GM, Ford, etc car I have ever owned.

I had to schedule an appointment to fix a bunch of rattles (ANOTHER round of them in my 11K miles on my P85D) - and get this, the soonest they can address it is 6.5 WEEKS

My door handle has broken, glue in windows failed, several rattles, suspension shock broke, hub assembly broke, footwell lights broke, glove department wouldn't open, moisture in tail lights, scroll wheel on steering wheel broke. Drive unit making funny sound sometimes. My friend is on his 3rd motor in 27K miles.

Tesla reliability sucks but I do really like the car. Their service has gone downhill BIG TIME and now the Model X is coming out, it isn going to get any better! Oh yeah, and my car wouldn't start once for 30 mins ! Finally did and then worked- but left me stranded for a half hour. Now I am always wondering if I will be stuck somewhere.

Sounds like your car has had all the problems listed on the first 5 pages of TMC.

 

[roblab]

View attachment 98592

I bet it is the Body Integrity / Body Hardware area that is ruining Tesla's scores. Those categories include squeaks creaks and rattles. Every Tesla I've driven, except for one loaner with <10k miles, has had lots of squeaks and rattles, which seems to match CR's "Poor" rating for 2012, 2013 cars.

Personally, they have been the reason of nearly all my service work. I've had service attempt to fix my pano roof squeak 5 or 6 times now. It always comes back within a day, so I drive off happy, with a fixed roof, and then the next day it squeaks again! I've had squeaks in the headliner, pano roof bow, door panels, dash, speaker covers, and rear hatch plastic trim.

My service man put a piece of felt sprayed with silicone under that squeaky spot and tightened the bolts. Squeak is gone. Maybe you ought to tell your folk how to do it.

Just tightening the bolts stops it for about 5 minutes.

Of course, that means that your car is only average, while mine is excellent.

 

[Super_Popular]

I don't want to stay that Tesla's service has gone down hill, but it has and I think it's because there a lot of Model S's on the road and the staff cannot keep up. Last year was a 2 to 3 week wait to get a car fixed. I am hoping with the growth of Tesla they will build more service centers and more staff. In Oregon we only have 1 SC. That is not enough and overwhelms the staff.

 

[omarsultan]

I am not going to go all fanboi on CR, but the engineer in me does not quite understand the logic of the rating:

(source: Consumer Reports, http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tesla-model-s-reliability.htm)

If I look at the categories, 11 remain the same, 3 trend down (to "good"), and 2 trend up, with the lowest rating being "fair", I am not seeing how the overall rating goes from "good" last year to "poor" this year. On a side note, as much as folks keep calling out the drive system, it has trended up from "fair" to "excellent".

 

[electracity]

I have my MS for 10 months now with 30K miles. So far, the only issue I had is the drive unit and Tesla replaced the DU for free. ........

Replace that with " I have my S550 for 10 months now with 30K miles. So far, the only issue I had was the transmission and Mercedes replaced it for free".

You would wonder about Mercedes quality. You would not be surprised with CR giving a low rating. CR has to hold Tesla to the same standard. But I do think with a totally new car like the MS the owner is more accepting or repairs as long as it is done quickly and without hassle.

 

[Jool]

I love my car, but hate its lack of reliability so far. The service center is working their butts off at least, but I would really prefer to just have the car work properly in the first place. I suspect the quality of service is what keeps most Tesla owners from going nuts!

As for rattles/squeaks/creaking, I never had any issues with that in my 90D, but the P85D loaner with a VIN around 55000 feels a bit less solid. Some squeaking in the interior, plus creaking when entering driveways. Looks like Tesla has come a long way, but they still have more work to do in the quality control department.

 

[dsm363]

I am not going to go all fanboi on CR, but the engineer in me does not quite understand the logic of the rating:

View attachment 98595
(source: Consumer Reports, http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tesla-model-s-reliability.htm)

If I look at the categories, 11 remain the same, 3 trend down (to "good"), and 2 trend up, with the lowest rating being "fair", I am not seeing how the overall rating goes from "good" last year to "poor" this year. On a side note, as much as folks keep calling out the drive system, it has trended up from "fair" to "excellent".

Yeah. How does that become poor? The drive unit even went to excellent.

 

[omarsultan]

Replace that with " I have my S550 for 10 months now with 30K miles. So far, the only issue I had was the transmission and Mercedes replaced it for free".

You would wonder about Mercedes quality. You would not be surprised with CR giving a low rating. CR has to hold Tesla to the same standard. But I do think with a totally new car like the MS the owner is more accepting or repairs as long as it is done quickly and without hassle.

False equivalency, the two manufacturers have completely different service strategies. With its hundreds of moving parts, a typical ICE is designed to be diagnosed and repaired in situ, which is more cost effective for the manufacturer but tends to cost the customer time. With its much simpler drivetrain, its more cost effective to Tesla to swap out the drive unit, get the customer back on the road, and fix the drive unit back at the factory.

 

[efusco]

Please go to the original thread for any follow up comments: Consumer Reports: Mdoel S

 

[wayner]

Their service has gone downhill BIG TIME and now the Model X is coming out, it isn going to get any better!

I worry about what happens when the Model 3 comes out. Will Model 3 owners get the same level of service as Model S and Model X owners? I used to own a Lexus and the service model for Lexus is very different than for Toyota. I hope Tesla continues to provide a premium level of service to those of us who paid $70k+ for their car.

 

[AnOutsider]

Sounds about right. All the "Teslas are so reliable and require less maintenance than an ICE" crap has always annoyed me. Glad it's being brought to light. It's also amusing that some are discounting CR on this negative story, and were likely whooping when it was rated 103/100.


In any case... *buys more shares*

 

[Thorbjorn]

For me the problem is not certain issues, but the wait time at service centers. In Bergen (Norway's second largest city) the wait time for an appointment for none critical issues is 5 months... March 2016...

 

[TexasEV]

How do they come up with a poor rating overall, when no category was rated poor and only 1 category was rated as low as fair? That category is the body integrity (squeaks and rattles), which I agree is a problem that recurs, but it certainly wouldn't stop me from buying another Tesla.

At least the exhaust system was rated excellent!

 

[JustinA1]

Yeah. How does that become poor? The drive unit even went to excellent.

A lot of people seem to be missing the '2016' column, in which they state that they expect these ratings to drop substantially compared to 2015 based on a survey of drivers they completed. I wonder how much of this is a result of changes to their production line to increase output.

 

[McHoffa]

2.5 yrs ownership, 89k miles. on my 4th drive unit. this one making milling sound already, so will need a 5th drive unit. also had a 'car needs service' error yesterday so who knows what that is yet. i've had all of the common issues (and there are LOTS of them, so many its just too long of a list to keep reiterating but is the same issues talked about all over the forums). out of warranty so far about $1400 total for new TPMS sensors, lug nuts, and upper control links. That doesn't include about $3k on tires and $2k on annual services. is CR right in pulling it due to reliability concerns? due to my own experience and pretty much every Tesla owner I know and all of our multiple drive unit replacements, I'd say yes CR is correct in saying that it is below average in reliability. i'm not concerned with all the little issues, but these drive unit replacements are killing them (and a major annoyance to us owners). so between drive units, bad/struck contactors, excessively worn bearings on upper control links, door handle issues, and now the bubble issues people are seeing in the main center console screen, yes all of those should not occur and I'd say the car isn't really that great in reliability. i'd say its reliable if none of those issues occurred but those are all kind of big and expensive repairs. fortunately the drive unit and battery related ones are covered under the 8yr/unlimited mile warranty. if it wasn't for that warranty, I would have sold my car since I would not be able to afford the repairs.

regardless, still love my car and not having to pay for gas

Wow... that's pretty terrible. If that's "normal" I'm not so sure I look forward to driving a Tesla. Even if it's covered under warranty (which it won't be after 8 years) that's a MAJOR nuisance to have to get a repair done that often. That's an average of 2 drive units every year for you.

 

[trils0n]

Yeah. How does that become poor? The drive unit even went to excellent.

Looks like they revised earlier years ratings as well. Not just taking into account latest year improvements.
(see post here for earlier ratings)

For example, for 2013 cars Drive System went from Very Good down to Fair. So it looks like older years were revised down in certain areas (for 2013 Power Equip and Audio were both excellent, now Good and Fair respectively).

Looks like newer cars are more reliable, but older cars aren't aging well, as their ratings are lowered.

 

[Merrill]

I am not going to go all fanboi on CR, but the engineer in me does not quite understand the logic of the rating:

View attachment 98595
(source: Consumer Reports, http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/tesla-model-s-reliability.htm)

If I look at the categories, 11 remain the same, 3 trend down (to "good"), and 2 trend up, with the lowest rating being "fair", I am not seeing how the overall rating goes from "good" last year to "poor" this year. On a side note, as much as folks keep calling out the drive system, it has trended up from "fair" to "excellent".

Someone is going to have to explain to me how it can have an overall poor rating with out even one category rated poor.

 

[dsm363]

Someone is going to have to explain to me how it can have an overall poor rating with out even one category rated poor.

I missed it as well. As pointed out above they are giving a early rating for 2016 (no 2016 models of course) from current survey results.

 

[Spidy]

We have had our Model S for about 6 months now. Simply the best car we have ever had. Thing is since we spent close to $100K we have nitpicked and keep a list of little things that warranty will cover. Similiar to things on our other cars in the past (Mercedes, BM, Lexus included) we have lived with and frankly the dealers would push back on. None of the issue would be reliability problems. Things like the arm rest on the driver side had a screw loose that I couldnt get to to tighten, things like one of the key fobs was faulty. Nothing to rush in for service for, but once we have enough items we will drop the car off for a quick service.

Screw could be considered BODY HARDWARE. Key fobs would certainly fall under POWER EQUIPMENT AND ACCESSORIES.

Car Reliability FAQ | Answers to Reliability Questions - Consumer Reports