Death of a center screen / touch screen after warranty

[measton]

51k miles and center screen went black after a reset.
Tesla called and said the center screen was dead.
Cost 4300 for screen around 4900 after labor and taxes.

After some Tums I swallowed that, but the following issues were worse.

1. I requested that the broken screen to be returned to me. Tesla initially said it had to go back to the factory. After reviewing consumer protection laws with them they decided to give it to me. The back and forth delayed the return of my car by 2 days.
2. Due to this I asked if the installed screen was a new unit or rebuilt. It was rebuilt. I pointed out that this was likely illegal as they did not disclose this to me in the estimate.
3. Warranty is 1 year and I think 12k miles, ie 8 months of driving for me.

My guess is that the electrical shorts seen in early models are likely confined to a chip or circuit board that can be replaced for 100's of dollars and Tesla is reselling these screens without disclosing this for 1000's of dollars. If true this blows a rather large hole in Elon's statement that repair services would not be a profit center for Tesla. It also raises the question of the monopoly they have on repairs and the their ability to create business for themselves via their wireless connection to the car. I certainly don't think they are doing this as they are trying to build a company, but eventually they will be run by the same type of management that runs the cable companies. I fully support Tesla's right to sell cars without a dealership but the monopoly on repairs is a concern. The fact that they may be using it as a significant profit center amplifies this concern.

Any disgruntled Tesla employee's out there who want to let me know how to fix my old centerscreen?

 

[HillCountryFun]

Wow, damn scary. What year model is your S?

 

[measton]

Wow, damn scary. What year model is your S?

2013

 

[NoEggs]

Wow, $5K for a used console display with a 1 yr warranty??? Yea.. pretty sure that's not mentioned in the "lower maintenance costs" discussions.

It's policies like this that will definitely have to change before I'd consider converting my M3 deposit into an order. Fortunately it looks like many other mainstream manufacturers are bringing ev models into the marketplace soon.

Thanks for sharing.

 

[measton]

Wow, $5K for a used console display with a 1 yr warranty??? Yea.. pretty sure that's not mentioned in the "lower maintenance costs" discussions.

It's policies like this that will definitely have to change before I'd consider converting my M3 deposit into an order. Fortunately it looks like many other mainstream manufacturers are bringing ev models into the marketplace soon.

Thanks for sharing.

Just as an FYI up to this point I have been very happy with Tesla service.
My guess is this started when they were replacing screens under warranty which is fine, but they carried it over to those early adopters who have had the misfortune of loosing a center screen out of warranty. They need to make some changes.

 

[SageBrush]

This is a sore spot for me too, but all I want from Tesla is access to the technical manuals so that a secondary market for the electronics can develop. I'll keep an eye on this before I exercise my Model 3 reservation.

 

[Boatguy]

That sounds like more than a screen. No flat panel of that size costs any where near $4,300. $4,300 buys a top of the line 27" iMac which has more compute power, memory and storage than the CID. Not only does this sound like the complete CID, it sounds like one that is premium priced.

What exactly did they return to you? Is it just a flat panel? If so, something is wrong.

Is there a state consumer protection bureau in Wisconsin?

 

[Matias]

This is outrageous. I tweeted Elon about this, but as he propable gets about thousand tweets a day, he does not necessarily notice it. I encourage others to tweet him also about this. This can't be right.

 

[SageBrush]

That sounds like more than a screen.

I remember similar stories and prices when Prius was only a couple years old and screens blinked out after the warranty. Owners were lucky that a Prius owning MIT genius figured out the defect on the circuit board and offered inexpensive repairs. Later Toyota came up with a (relatively) inexpensive swap program.

 

[habanero69]

A huge reason I wont take any car, especially a car of this cost and complexity, out of warranty. Just not worth these type of issues... Should NOT have to be this way, but historically that's what I've personally learned.

 

[measton]

That sounds like more than a screen. No flat panel of that size costs any where near $4,300. $4,300 buys a top of the line 27" iMac which has more compute power, memory and storage than the CID. Not only does this sound like the complete CID, it sounds like one that is premium priced.

What exactly did they return to you? Is it just a flat panel? If so, something is wrong.

Is there a state consumer protection bureau in Wisconsin?

It's more than a screen but I agree. My top of the line 17 inch lap top cost less and I bought it new not refurbished.
I thought I had more pics but this is what the back side looks like. I'll try to post some more over the weekend.

 

[apacheguy]

@Ingineer has pointed out that the sys logging wears the flash out pretty quick on these units. I wonder if that's what led to this failure.

 

[Galve2000]

makes the extended warrantee a pretty goo value in my mind.

 

[Boatguy]

@Ingineer has pointed out that the sys logging wears the flash out pretty quick on these units. I wonder if that's what led to this failure.

From the photo the CID is clearly the whole computer, not just the display. The display may well be fine and it's some piece of the computer that failed. With many components, one weak (or poorly cooled) component can certainly fail, but $5,000 is outrageous.

I personally always stay within the factory warranty and this is an obvious message to everyone else that going outside the warranty could be risky.

 

[BeardedBro]

I personally always stay within the factory warranty and this is an obvious message to everyone else that going outside the warranty could be risky.

+1.

I think this goes more so with a Tesla, which to me is a supercomputer plus peripheral on wheels, subject to extremes of heat and cold.

 

[B8BB8B]

For $4900 why not just buy the warranty at $4000? Your still within your 4 years....no?

 

[182RG]

This is a sore spot for me too, but all I want from Tesla is access to the technical manuals so that a secondary market for the electronics can develop. I'll keep an eye on this before I exercise my Model 3 reservation.

^ This ^ in spades.

 

[MP3Mike]

For $4900 why not just buy the warranty at $4000? Your still within your 4 years....no?

I think you have to buy it before 4 years or 50k miles. (You can't buy it after your factory warranty is expired.)

You also can't buy it unless you are the original owner.

 

[apacheguy]

From the photo the CID is clearly the whole computer, not just the display. The display may well be fine and it's some piece of the computer that failed. With many components, one weak (or poorly cooled) component can certainly fail, but $5,000 is outrageous.

I personally always stay within the factory warranty and this is an obvious message to everyone else that going outside the warranty could be risky.

Yes, the CID is the computer including the gateway. It is possible to only replace the display but most often Tesla will replace the entire unit (MCU). Bad flash could easily have been the cause of the failure. And the cause of that is likely verbose logging that performs a high cycle of read/writes.

 

[sandpiper]

Two points:

1. Go buy a similar component for a high end Mercedes or BMW, and let me know what that set you back. It won't be cheaper.

2. It's about volume. Tesla sold, what, 10 or 15K cars in 2013? That screen will cost a lot more in such relatively low volumes than if they were making a million of them. So, 4K might not be that far out of line. Go buy a factory part for a small aircraft. A bloody alternator will cost 4k.