Does anyone know when the 2015 Drive Unit warranty expires?

[BrettS]

So I have a 2015 Model S 60 that was built in March of 2015. The car failed on Sunday and I had it towed to the service center. They just got back to me today and said that the drive unit has failed and gave me a quote of just over $7000 to replace it.

They said that the drive unit warranty expired at 127,794 miles. I believe that this was originally a demo car and the original owner bought it from tesla at 2,794 miles, so they are saying it has a 125,000 mile drive unit warranty, but it started when the original owner bought it at 2,794 miles. Unfortunately the car now has 131,138 miles, so I am 3334 miles past the warranty expiration. I’ve asked Tesla to cover this under warranty since it is just barely over, but so far it’s not looking hopeful.

However, I’ve been doing some research tonight and from what I can see it looks like this car should have an 8 year, unlimited mile drive unit warranty. I found this post from Elon from August of 2014 that says that the Model S drive unit warranty was increased to unlimited miles:

Infinite Mile Warranty | Tesla

www.tesla.com

I have a hard time believing that they would make that announcement in August of 2014 and then backpedal and change it by March of 2015 when my car was built, but then again, this is Elon we are talking about.

I also found this page on onlyusedtesla.com and that says that the drive unit warranty for the model S is 8 years, unlimited miles (with the exception of the original 60 kWh battery manufactured before 2015, which is covered for a period of 8 years or 125,000 miles.).

The Complete Guide to Tesla’s Warranty | Only Used Tesla

Every new Tesla comes with a “New Vehicle Limited Warranty,” which is essentially bumper-to-bumper coverage that covers the repair or…

blog.onlyusedtesla.com

Mine is a 60, but it was not manufactured before 2015, so it seems like they think it should be unlimited miles as well.

Unfortunately I am not the original owner of this car… I bought it in 2017, so I don’t have any of the original paperwork. Does anyone know have any definitive information or links that show what the drive unit warranty would have been for my 2015 Model S 60?

 

[David.85D]

They have changed the duration over the years with the entry level cars sometimes getting a little less. The best I can suggest is a concerted effort with the internet archive to find the proper 2015 warranty document.

Remember as you search that Tesla started as Tesla Motors.

Someone was talking about posting the old versions in a sticky thread but I haven’t seen it.

 

[David.85D]

I just found a version of the “Vehicle Warranty” that I saved as a PDF in 2019. It says “The Battery and Drive Unit in your vehicle are covered for a period of: Model S and Model X - 8 years (with the exception of the original 60 kWh battery manufactured before 2015, which is covered for a period of 8 years or 125,000 miles, whichever comes first).”

 

[BrettS]

They have changed the duration over the years with the entry level cars sometimes getting a little less. The best I can suggest is a concerted effort with the internet archive to find the proper 2015 warranty document.

Remember as you search that Tesla started as Tesla Motors.

Someone was talking about posting the old versions in a sticky thread but I haven’t seen it.

Thanks for the suggestion... I hadn’t considered that option at all. I was able to find this on the teslamotors.com archinve from 3/30/2015 at archive.org:

Unfortunately it’s not at all what I was wanting to see, but at least it is pretty definitive.

Re-reading the post from Elon it says that they are increasing the drive unit warranty to match the battery warranty and the example he gave was the S85, which had an 8 year, infinite mile battery warranty, so the drive unit would get that as well. But it looks like the S60 only had an 8 year 125K mile battery warranty, so the drive unit warranty matches that, but unfortunately it’s 3000 miles short for me.

 

[ucmndd]

It’s my understanding that ALL original 60kwh cars have the mileage limited drive unit and battery warranty. This was a key differentiator between the 60 and 85.

 

[BrettS]

I just found a version of the “Vehicle Warranty” that I saved as a PDF in 2019. It says “The Battery and Drive Unit in your vehicle are covered for a period of: Model S and Model X - 8 years (with the exception of the original 60 kWh battery manufactured before 2015, which is covered for a period of 8 years or 125,000 miles, whichever comes first).”

What is the source of that? Is it an official Tesla document? The wording is almost identical to the onlyusedtesla.com page that I posted above. If it’s a third party source, then it probably doesn’t mean much, but if it’s an official Tesla document then it seems to say that my car should be unlimited, since it was not manufactured before 2015.

 

[ucmndd]

The original 60 was discontinued in early April 2015 - the “before 2015” language would seem to just be a lazy inaccuracy added in later versions of the warranty doc to differentiate between the later “60” cars introduced in 2016 that were actually 70/75 batteries.

 

[BrettS]

The original 60 was discontinued in early April 2015 - the “before 2015” language would seem to just be a lazy inaccuracy.

Yeah, I think that’s probably the case for the onlyusedtesla.com site. However if @David.85D has an official document from Tesla that says “before 2015” then I might have something to argue with.

 

[ucmndd]

Here’s an early version of the Model S warranty doc, which is unfortunately not dated but close to the appropriate vintage. It clearly states the warranty terms for the 60kwh battery as 8 years / 125k without any reference to production year.

https://www.tesla.com/sites/default/files/blog_attachments/ms_vehicle_warranty.pdf

 

[David.85D]

Use the internet archive to track the evolution of this web page. I had saved a PDF of that webpage which is official ….

Vehicle Warranty | Tesla Support

Find and view warranties for Tesla vehicles including New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Used Vehicle Limited Warranty and more.

www.tesla.com

 

[OrbiterTI4]

Yeah, I think that’s probably the case for the onlyusedtesla.com site. However if @David.85D has an official document from Tesla that says “before 2015” then I might have something to argue with.

I have a local saved copy that I believe is the same as @David.85D downloaded to my PC in 2019 that covers MS, MX and M3 but no mention of MY. The word "original" is also bolded in my copy about the 60 kWh batteries manufactured before 2015.

 

[BrettS]

Use the internet archive to track the evolution of this web page. I had saved a PDF of that webpage which is official ….

Vehicle Warranty | Tesla Support

Find and view warranties for Tesla vehicles including New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Used Vehicle Limited Warranty and more.

www.tesla.com

Thanks, I was able to find that. I couldn’t find a matching page on teslamotors.com, but the first archived copy of that page on tesla.com was from February of 2017 and that clearly has the “before 2015” wording.

 

[ucmndd]

Thanks, I was able to find that. I couldn’t find a matching page on teslamotors.com, but the first archived copy of that page on tesla.com was from February of 2017 and that clearly has the “before 2015” wording.

The “before 2015” wording isn’t going to appear on anything before 2016. It was added then to differentiate between the original “real” 60kwh car and the software locked “60” car introduced in 2016 that still carried the full infinite mile warranty.

 

[oldpueblo]

This is an interesting coincidence. My drive unit just failed out of the blue on Thursday, minutes after I left my house. In my 2015 S85, manufactured in Mar 2015. Luckily mine was still covered (I'm only around 87k miles), but he also told me my drivetrain warranty remaining is till 3/11/23 or 150k miles. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but could it be an update bug or something?

 

[teacher]

So I have a 2015 Model S 60 that was built in March of 2015. The car failed on Sunday and I had it towed to the service center. They just got back to me today and said that the drive unit has failed and gave me a quote of just over $7000 to replace it.

They said that the drive unit warranty expired at 127,794 miles. I believe that this was originally a demo car and the original owner bought it from tesla at 2,794 miles, so they are saying it has a 125,000 mile drive unit warranty, but it started when the original owner bought it at 2,794 miles. Unfortunately the car now has 131,138 miles, so I am 3334 miles past the warranty expiration. I’ve asked Tesla to cover this under warranty since it is just barely over, but so far it’s not looking hopeful.

However, I’ve been doing some research tonight and from what I can see it looks like this car should have an 8 year, unlimited mile drive unit warranty. I found this post from Elon from August of 2014 that says that the Model S drive unit warranty was increased to unlimited miles:

Infinite Mile Warranty | Tesla

www.tesla.com

I have a hard time believing that they would make that announcement in August of 2014 and then backpedal and change it by March of 2015 when my car was built, but then again, this is Elon we are talking about.

I also found this page on onlyusedtesla.com and that says that the drive unit warranty for the model S is 8 years, unlimited miles (with the exception of the original 60 kWh battery manufactured before 2015, which is covered for a period of 8 years or 125,000 miles.).

The Complete Guide to Tesla’s Warranty | Only Used Tesla

Every new Tesla comes with a “New Vehicle Limited Warranty,” which is essentially bumper-to-bumper coverage that covers the repair or…

blog.onlyusedtesla.com

Mine is a 60, but it was not manufactured before 2015, so it seems like they think it should be unlimited miles as well.

Unfortunately I am not the original owner of this car… I bought it in 2017, so I don’t have any of the original paperwork. Does anyone know have any definitive information or links that show what the drive unit warranty would have been for my 2015 Model S 60?

I would pursue legal actions against Tesla ( Elon Musk) just based on that statement he made on August 15 2014 he clearly, legally states: "There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period" "the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced" Is there any documents stating Elon Musk backed out of that very crucial statement? Reading into that statement you would think the warranty period would be increased like 10-12 years infinite miles. I strongly encourage anyone with a Model S in a situation like yours to take tesla to court. they use arbitrators for all legal issues I don't see how they could argue against. Elon Musk is worth $300b it seems the wealthier he gets the worse Tesla warranties and service gets.

 

[ucmndd]

I would pursue legal actions against Tesla ( Elon Musk) just based on that statement he made on August 15 2014 he clearly, legally states: "There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period" "the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced" Is there any documents stating Elon Musk backed out of that very crucial statement? Reading into that statement you would think the warranty period would be increased like 10-12 years infinite miles. I strongly encourage anyone with a Model S in a situation like yours to take tesla to court. they use arbitrators for all legal issues I don't see how they could argue against. Elon Musk is worth $300b it seems the wealthier he gets the worse Tesla warranties and service gets.

I mean, you could do that except it would be stupid and you would lose because the warranty terms for the original 60kwh cars have been plain as day since the very beginning. They have ALWAYS been excluded from the “infinite mile” portion of the 8 year battery and drive unit warranty.

Ignorance might be grounds to file a suit, but it’s not going to be enough to win one.

Read the post from 2014 very carefully:

The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.

Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced.

Meaning, the S60s drive unit warranty was retroactively extended to match that of the battery: specifically, 8 years or 125,000 miles.

 

[teacher]

I mean, you could do that except it would be stupid and you would lose because the warranty terms for the original 60kwh cars have been plain as day since the very beginning. They have ALWAYS been excluded from the “infinite mile” portion of the 8 year battery and drive unit warranty.

Ignorance might be grounds to file a suit, but it’s not going to be enough to win one.

Read the post from 2014 very carefully:



Meaning, the S60s drive unit warranty was retroactively extended to match that of the battery: specifically, 8 years or 125,000 miles.

yes its pretty clear English to me: key words INFINITE, ALL MODEL S "the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced" am I missing something?

 

[teacher]

This is an interesting coincidence. My drive unit just failed out of the blue on Thursday, minutes after I left my house. In my 2015 S85, manufactured in Mar 2015. Luckily mine was still covered (I'm only around 87k miles), but he also told me my drivetrain warranty remaining is till 3/11/23 or 150k miles. I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but could it be an update bug or something?

you have unlimited mile warranty. on your tesla home page account dashboard manage car then click details it should tell you the warranty periods

 

[ucmndd]

yes its pretty clear English to me: key words INFINITE, ALL MODEL S "the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced" am I missing something?

Obviously, yes. Let's try again.

Early Model S cars were produced and delivered with a separate and specific warranty for the just the high voltage battery:

• 8 years, infinite miles for 85kwh batteries
• 8 years or 125,000 miles, whichever comes first, for 60kwh batteries

On August 15, 2014, Tesla extended those same warranty terms to the drive unit as well. The very first sentence in the blog post is illustrative: "The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack."

Meaning, specifically:

• Cars with 85kwh batteries now have 8 year, infinite mile warranties on both the battery pack and the drive unit
• Cars with 60kwh batteries now have 8 year or 125,000 miles, whichever comes first, warranties on both the battery pack and the drive unit.

The second sentence in the blog post further illustrates this by specifically referencing only the 85kwh battery: "That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit.

This warranty extension on the drive unit was indeed applied retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced - again, matching the terms that were originally applied to just the battery pack, which are different by model.

 

[BrettS]

yes its pretty clear English to me: key words INFINITE, ALL MODEL S "the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced" am I missing something?

I thought the same thing at first, but read it again:

The Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. That means the 85 kWh Model S, our most popular model by far, now has an 8 year, infinite mile warranty on both the battery pack and drive unit. There is also no limit on the number of owners during the warranty period.

Moreover, the warranty extension will apply retroactively to all Model S vehicles ever produced.

It says that the Tesla Model S drive unit warranty has been increased to match that of the battery pack. My Model S60 has an 8 year/125,000 mile warranty on the battery pack, so the drive unit warranty on my car was increased to match that. It also goes on to say that the Model S85 has an 8 year, infinite mile battery (and thus drive unit) warranty, but my car is not an S85.