Defective windshield on new P100D

[flashflood]

I'm trying to resolve this with Tesla, but in the interim, was curious whether anyone else has had a similar issue.

There is something wrong with the windshield on my new P100D. It’s got a sparkly haze on about 3/4 of the surface — see photo below. I thought it was just dirty, but tried cleaning both the inside and outside with no effect. It’s looks like the defect is inside the glass, maybe at the interface between the glass and plastic layers. It’s a serious visibility / safety issue, especially when the sun is near the horizon.

The P100D loaner they gave me while this was being built had the same problem, so I'm wondering if they've got a whole batch of defective glass...

 

[sbtz]

Could it be paint overspray?

 

[flashflood]

Could it be paint overspray?

I can't feel any roughness on the surface, so I doubt it. But I don't want to start applying serious solvents like MEK to my $156,000 baby until Tesla has a chance to look at it.

 

[silentsnow31802]

Could it be paint overspray?

The cars are painted before the front glass gets installed.

 

[Vitaman]

Mine was fine. Was it an obvious thing that you saw during delivery or a more subtle one that you noticed only when the sun hit it at a certain angle?

 

[flashflood]

Mine was fine. Was it an obvious thing that you saw during delivery or a more subtle one that you noticed only when the sun hit it at a certain angle?

It depends on the angle. Can't see it at all mid day, and can't see it at night with oncoming headlights. It's only a problem for about two hours in the morning and two hours in the evening. Also known as rush hour, naturally...

 

[Hugh Mannity]

Weird, you would think the windshield is the same regardless of the model of umm model S, we think this issue is only on the 100D?

 

[flashflood]

Weird, you would think the windshield is the same regardless of the model of umm model S, we think this issue is only on the 100D?

I agree, most likely common to all Model S and unrelated to the variant. The only two vehicles for which I have first-hand observations just happen to both be the P100D variant.

 

[jiggy]

My recently-delivered 60 has it. Did you get it resolved?

 

[jiggy]

Definitely difficult to get a great pic of it, but in mine the bits are a more linear than droplet. I've got a service appt next Tuesday and I'll let you know what they say.

 

[one5n1neSDoo]

Some aerosol InvisibleGlass and newspaper should do the job.

 

[flashflood]

Some aerosol InvisibleGlass and newspaper should do the job.

It didn't. When I sent it back to the factory, they did a clay bar cleaning of all the glass. This got most of it, but not all, and it made the panoramic roof hazy. This was the second P100D that had no end of problems, so I just told them I wanted a refund and to get my old car back. I get my trusty old P85 back on Friday. I'm not going to order again until they get their QA sorted out -- and until the dust settles with the new AP hardware, which I know many people are excited about, but which I personally don't wish to debug.

 

[one5n1neSDoo]

It didn't. When I sent it back to the factory, they did a clay bar cleaning of all the glass. This got most of it, but not all, and it made the panoramic roof hazy. This was the second P100D that had no end of problems, so I just told them I wanted a refund and to get my old car back. I get my trusty old P85 back on Friday. I'm not going to order again until they get their QA sorted out -- and until the dust settles with the new AP hardware, which I know many people are excited about, but which I personally don't wish to debug.

Oh wow. That's a bad experience. I'm surprised that they gave your P85 back. Did you trade it in and they still were in the process of re-conditioning it?

 

[outie]

It's that easy to get a refund?

 

[flashflood]

Oh wow. That's a bad experience. I'm surprised that they gave your P85 back. Did you trade it in and they still were in the process of re-conditioning it?

Yep. The whole situation got escalated all the way up, and they've handled it pleasantly enough given the circumstances.

I don't understand their account management though -- I've been on the phone or email with a different person for almost every step of the process. It's over a dozen at last count. It seems like rather than binding a customer to a rep, they model it more like this: any customer interaction consists a series of discrete steps, and any employee can handle any of those steps in isolation. So they have a pile of tasks, and whoever is free takes the next task. There's a certain logic to it, but it tends to lead to the ball being dropped because humans aren't perfect communicators. It feels like the kind of scheme Elon would come up with -- modeling customer service like an operating system time-slicing processes because it should be more efficient, but lacking the human touch.

 

[one5n1neSDoo]

Yep. The whole situation got escalated all the way up, and they've handled it pleasantly enough given the circumstances.

I don't understand their account management though -- I've been on the phone or email with a different person for almost every step of the process. It's over a dozen at last count. It seems like rather than binding a customer to a rep, they model it more like this: any customer interaction consists a series of discrete steps, and any employee can handle any of those steps in isolation. So they have a pile of tasks, and whoever is free takes the next task. There's a certain logic to it, but it tends to lead to the ball being dropped because humans aren't perfect communicators. It feels like the kind of scheme Elon would come up with -- modeling customer service like an operating system time-slicing processes because it should be more efficient, but lacking the human touch.

That's good. I think they just think it's more efficient to have multiple handle your case and that is usually seamless if notes are taken well and email conversations are saved in their customer management tool. Sounds like either the notes are bad, statuses are not updated, or the attention to detail of the representatives are not up to par.

 

[Kandiru]

It could be clearcoat overspray. Go to a hair supply store and get pure acetone nail polish remover. Make sure you do it on a windy day. TIP: use 100% cotton old undershirt and soak well, acetone is highly volatile, also be upwind from the action.

 

[MP3Mike]

It could be clearcoat overspray.

If that is the case then something on the car was repainted which is a very bad sign.

 

[flashflood]

If that is the case then something on the car was repainted which is a very bad sign.

Exactly. That's why I'm going to keep my powder dry until quality improves. I had none of these problems two years ago when I bought a new P85. That car is better made than either of the P100Ds I tried. Scaling is hard.

 

[Gig103]

I'm surprised they didn't just drop a new windshield in there! My BMW had a replacement windshield (OEM) installed that had fisheyes in certain locations, and as soon as I showed them they wrote it up as a warranty issue and put new glass in.