Disappointment at 1 week in

[Drlev]

While I love the way my new MS75D drives, I’ve already had multiple issues with my car since delivery.

First, the car has suffered body damage already when the car’s air suspension somehow ended up in Jack Mode and would not let me shift out of it after it settled down with the front lip of the car over a high curb. When I pulled back, the underside of the front spoiler and a little bit of the front itself of it got severely scraped up. As the car was in jack mode, the front radar never indicated how close I was to the curb (and I’ve since replicated/confirmed this issue). Also, now the car makes popping noises when the suspension lowers.

Secondly, on my 7th full day of ownership today, the front drivers side door handle won’t present. I can hear the motors in the door whirring away but no movement. I’ve read about a lot of issues with these handles but I never expected to be headed to the service center (which for me is >60 miles away) within a week for repairs.

Lastly, Slacker radio is damn near useless. Constantly buffering, experiencing loading errors and skipping songs partway through. Anyone else experiencing this? I know it shouldn’t be my LTE connection. I have at least two bars at all times.

I’m just more annoyed than anything that the idiosyncrasies of the car itself have led to not only body damage but alson mechanical issues and it’s only been a week!

 

[purplewalt]

Welcome Drlev.
Happy Holidays!

In case someone has not told you, the Model S is a long...
And low vehicle.

Shortly after getting my MS, I also encountered a parking guard with rebar extended slightly above the top.
And then I backed up, hearing some scrapping.
Eventually, the car's nose (original design) came off and a major portion of the front soft lower body work detached itself from the front of the car.
LUCKILY, I called the local service center, I drove it over, and they were able to get my car significantly back together.
Not a road hazard, a parking hazard.

Best thing to remember, concrete and steel is not forgiving and is a lot stronger than the underside of your car's body.
And your local Service Center has a lot of very qualified and committed staff to making it right.

Probably not what you wanted to hear, but my way of thinking (and personal experience), the body damage is probably your responsibility, not a manufacturing defect of the car.
Parking lots have lots of potential problem areas for incidents with any car. Lower and longer cars are just more prone to some of those incidents.
Again, my personal experience: at a State Park in Arkansas later in 2013, I also tore a portion of the lower rear faring, fins on a wood parking guard/wheel bumper. It was my fault, so I paid to have a new piece ordered and replaced.


Sorry to hear about the door handle issue.
I am pretty sure this defect will be covered by your car's warranty at the Service Center.


I cannot comment on the Slacker lack of performance.
It might need to a bit of programming TLC at the Service Center while the door handle issue is rectified. My Slacker has not been flawless, but over 90% of the time I ask riders to name a song by a certain artist, it nails it. NO Beatle songs tho..., so maybe 2018 eventually.

Best of luck moving forward into 2018!

 

[jjh1234]

I'm sorry to hear that you have had trouble so soon. Unfortunately, you learned the hard way to never park with the nose over a parking curb. And also, the parking sensors are very poor at detecting said curbs. Usually when you approach one, you will have some indication, then it will go away. I've learned to stop as soon as detection goes away. I even have used summon to back up the car after getting out. Others have had their air suspension fixed under warranty for sinking like that, so maybe you can argue the air suspension caused the damage. The door handles will be fixed under warranty. Slacker has been problematic for the entire fleet for over a month. They will figure it out eventually. Make an appointment with your SC and make sure to have them reserve a Tesla loaner for you. Good Luck!

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Rangers can take care of the door handle. its about a 90 minute job, they will even come to your office to do it.

Recommend relearning the distances on these cars -- long and low is an understatement. Longest and lowest car I have ever owned. I have caught both the front an the back on multiple occasions. I turn off those stupid sensors and just use Kentucky windage now.

 

[Drlev]

I think I’m most upset about the fact that the car cleared the curb no problem upon initially parking but when trying to back out was when it scraped. I should be able to expect the car to be at the same height when I leave as it was when I first arrived, right?

 

[jjh1234]

I don't have the air suspension, so I don't have first hand knowledge of how much it usually drops over time. One would think not much, especially if only parked for a short while. I've read some have had leaks causing the whole car to lean to one side. I would have it checked out for leaks. I still would not risk parking with the nose anywhere near the curbs on any low performance vehicle. I had the same problem with my Corvette.

 

[Red_DS]

I found my car putting itself into jack mode or waking up with "Air Suspension Temporarily Unavailable" several times. Every time I was able to get it out of jack mode or re-enable without issues. After the 4th time it happened, I called my local service center. They remotely diagnosed it as a leaking right rear strut.

They ordered the part, asked me to come in when they received the part (2 days from when they ordered it) and replaced the strut. No issues since.

I'm sorry you're already having issues. Call your service center and find out if there is something happening with your suspension. In the mean time, try not to park the car somewhere where you need the air suspension to clear the the front bumper.

 

[tezzla]

I think I’m most upset about the fact that the car cleared the curb no problem upon initially parking but when trying to back out was when it scraped. I should be able to expect the car to be at the same height when I leave as it was when I first arrived, right?

My Mercedes S550 does the same thing (lowers after parking), you have to be careful when you have air suspension.

 

[hacer]

I think I’m most upset about the fact that the car cleared the curb no problem upon initially parking but when trying to back out was when it scraped. I should be able to expect the car to be at the same height when I leave as it was when I first arrived, right?

My guess is that it didn't clear the curb initially but it actually road up on it due to the angle of the nose (like a fish-hook easy going in, hard coming out). This causes the nose to be slightly lifted and when the car detects this, it goes into jack mode.

 

[SMAlset]

The suspension issues do not sound normal. Especially the popping sound you described and the messages. Definitely a service issue. Maybe they will repair any damage to the car after looking at the logs and determine why it happened. As an owner I would want an answer as to why/how it happened to avoid it in the future. The front cameras/sensors do not really see below a certain range I believe, and are more forward looking from the bumper so as to avoid a wall, another car, etc. We always try to be mindful of pulling in to a spot with those bumpers (we have SAS and recently during have on occasion found ourselves with Air suspension temporarily disabled after sitting a few days in the driveway--geofenced to raise approaching our angled driveway but no bumper incidents) and will take the extra step to check the position of them in relation to our undercarriage and pull back if we need to. Curious did you have the car raised in high suspension when you parked?

Cool handles but have seen a number of people with issues. Another thing for service. Maybe just a loose connection and probably a quick fix.

Our slacker has been okay for a while but this summer when we were driving down the coast in mountainous terrain we had all kinds of issues with it, gave up and turned it off. Lots of others were experience issues at that time too. Hard to say if it was the connection or lack of connection or what. Do miss AM radio at times and we'll plan to have some playlists on our phone or USB drive we can pop in for those other times we aren't getting good reception.

It seems like cars are either great out of the door or need a few adjustments. We had a charging port door issue when driving ours home. After it was fixed been good to go which seems to be the case for the vast majority of others. Congrats on your 75D and hope your grin is back on soon. Let us know how you make out of the service issue with the suspension issue.

 

[tallypwner]

My Tesla streaming music also has lots of errors mid-song. Often at 15 second mark it'll freeze and say error then either go onto the next song or just stay stuck until I switch to regular radio or something. Service center said they didn't know of a fix.

 

[EV-lutioin]

Tesla will take care of you, fantastic service.

 

[Snerruc]

I guess you guys who think a S is long never drove an Electra 225 Buick. It is 30 inches longer than a S and 7 inches wider. Still that isn’t as long as a crew cab pickup.

 

[zambono]

Slacker has been having major issues for the past 2 months. Not sure if update related but I had to switch to FM.

While I love the way my new MS75D drives, I’ve already had multiple issues with my car since delivery.

First, the car has suffered body damage already when the car’s air suspension somehow ended up in Jack Mode and would not let me shift out of it after it settled down with the front lip of the car over a high curb. When I pulled back, the underside of the front spoiler and a little bit of the front itself of it got severely scraped up. As the car was in jack mode, the front radar never indicated how close I was to the curb (and I’ve since replicated/confirmed this issue). Also, now the car makes popping noises when the suspension lowers.

Secondly, on my 7th full day of ownership today, the front drivers side door handle won’t present. I can hear the motors in the door whirring away but no movement. I’ve read about a lot of issues with these handles but I never expected to be headed to the service center (which for me is >60 miles away) within a week for repairs.

Lastly, Slacker radio is damn near useless. Constantly buffering, experiencing loading errors and skipping songs partway through. Anyone else experiencing this? I know it shouldn’t be my LTE connection. I have at least two bars at all times.

I’m just more annoyed than anything that the idiosyncrasies of the car itself have led to not only body damage but alson mechanical issues and it’s only been a week!

 

[Xenoilphobe]

i dont even use it anymore, I bluetooth connect Spotify because it got so bad...

 

[Big Earl]

My Mercedes S550 does the same thing (lowers after parking), you have to be careful when you have air suspension.

Yep. My VW Touareg V10 TDI with air suspension will also adjust its position when parked... sometimes more than once.

 

[Tiger]

@Drlev I believe the suspension lowering onto a curb is Tesla's fault unless it has been warned against in the user manual. Also, scouting the forum discussions, it seems to occur inconsistently to different users, which means it might thus be a bug that bothers only some users: Does air suspension lower after parking? | Tesla

The expected behavior would be that the suspension stays on the height it is at at the time of parking (or else a warning should be issued).

 

[AnxietyRanger]

I think I’m most upset about the fact that the car cleared the curb no problem upon initially parking but when trying to back out was when it scraped. I should be able to expect the car to be at the same height when I leave as it was when I first arrived, right?

Unfortunately in my experiences Teslas do not level very reliably. They seem to wish to revert to low and do not necessarily pump themselves back up even when location-based level is selected, after parking. In tough situations, the best bet is to manually re-select the air suspension level when needed and confirm visually if possible.

As for the Jack mode, my Model X also once went into Jack mode by itself. The problem has not replicated itself.

 

[AnxietyRanger]

My Mercedes S550 does the same thing (lowers after parking), you have to be careful when you have air suspension.

Yep. My VW Touareg V10 TDI with air suspension will also adjust its position when parked... sometimes more than once.

All air suspension manuals usually warn of this possibility, at least, during parking when the car is not on. This is understandable. Once you get going, you have to give it time to pump the level back.

What is curious is that Tesla's don't seem to relibaly re-set the level once you get back into the car. Not even considering they have Location based leveling. In general too they seem much more eager to go low than my other air suspension cars have...

One of those software oddities one learns to live with Teslas, though made a bit more tricky by the constant changes through software updates...

 

[davidc18]

I learned to always back into parking spots.