Drive unit damaged after driving in heavy rain -- SC won't cover under warranty

[1windy]

I'm trying to convince my wife to sell mine. Don't really drive it anyway.

 

[rkozy]

You've got many months of delay ahead of you to reconsider your purchase. Frankly, given the quality issues they've had, I'd probably hold off 6 months to a year anyway.

I tend to agree. I'm not scheduled to get it until March anyway so hopefully the sitch will improve by then.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

My MS has been at the Service Center for a week now after I had to get it towed when it shut off completely while driving.

It turns out the drive unit had water damage from driving through the rain. The car never went through deep water or was flooded, but the tech at the service center is saying if I went through a puddle at speed it could have pushed it into the drive unit. I drove the car for a week after this rainstorm and had no issues and the car was garaged when not driving.

The service center is not budging at all after I argued that this should be covered under warranty (it's under 8 years old/150k miles).

My main issue here is that a Model S should be able to drive through rain, even heavy rain, and not incur damage like this. If there's an issue with the seals or any of the components that protect the drive unit, which I've heard is an issue in older MS's, shouldn't that be covered under warranty?

I recommend first filing a formal complaint with the NY State Attorney General for Tesla's refusal to honor its warranty. If that doesn't lead to a resolution, take them to small claims court. Blow this up on social media. Basically, you should do anything and everything to make Tesla's life a living hell as high up the corporate chain as possible. That's the only way to make Tesla do right, I'm afraid.

Man, this is making me reconsider my MSP order I placed last month...

I am a P85 owner since 2013. I highly recommend that you cancel your order. I loved Tesla until they decided to be evil by denying valid warranty claims and using software to cover hardware issues to push failures beyond the warranty period (see #chargegate). Tesla makes a sh|t car, I'm sorry to say. The vehicles do not stand up to even the slightest scrutiny when it comes to quality and design.

If you are planning on spending $100k or more on a Tesla, I'd seriously reconsider. A Taycan or the upcoming Mercedes EQS and EQE (AMG performance versions coming also) will make you so much happier when you don't have to deal with uneven floors, improperly fitted headliner, uneven seats, creaks and rattles like an old Ford pickup, and a terribly noisy interior cabin due to poor seals and insulation.

Tesla removed the pano roof in 2016 because it was so incompetent it couldn't figure out how to make a basic pano roof work without leaking and breaking. Tesla simply does not make a quality car and Elon Musk appears to have no desire to do so, considering the same problems continue to manifest themselves after 10 years.

 

[DCEV]

I recommend first filing a formal complaint with the NY State Attorney General for Tesla's refusal to honor its warranty. If that doesn't lead to a resolution, take them to small claims court. Blow this up on social media. Basically, you should do anything and everything to make Tesla's life a living hell as high up the corporate chain as possible. That's the only way to make Tesla do right, I'm afraid.



I am a P85 owner since 2013. I highly recommend that you cancel your order. I loved Tesla until they decided to be evil by denying valid warranty claims and using software to cover hardware issues to push failures beyond the warranty period (see #chargegate). Tesla makes a sh|t car, I'm sorry to say. The vehicles do not stand up to even the slightest scrutiny when it comes to quality and design.

If you are planning on spending $100k or more on a Tesla, I'd seriously reconsider. A Taycan or the upcoming Mercedes EQS and EQE (AMG performance versions coming also) will make you so much happier when you don't have to deal with uneven floors, improperly fitted headliner, uneven seats, creaks and rattles like an old Ford pickup, and a terribly noisy interior cabin due to poor seals and insulation.

Tesla removed the pano roof in 2016 because it was so incompetent it couldn't figure out how to make a basic pano roof work without leaking and breaking. Tesla simply does not make a quality car and Elon Musk appears to have no desire to do so, considering the same problems continue to manifest themselves after 10 years.

I agree with you about the abysmal service policies and this is the reason we likely will not buy another Tesla. I used to be such a HUGE fan of this company.

We will not buy another car that does not offer service loaners or a service center email address/phone number for customer assistance.

The stories of them trying to avoid warranty repairs is scary because you could use some BS excuse to probably avoid any warranty service whatsoever.

$700 BILLION market cap. Worth as much as the rest of the auto industry combined but can't be bothered to hire people to answer the phone at service centers to help customers and cover warranty repairs without excuses and having to jump through hoops.

Used to tell everyone I know to buy a Tesla. I'm so disappointed with where they are headed with not taking care of their customers.

I would love for Rivian to make a sedan. The interior of the R1S and R1T are amazing and I'd love to have that in a sedan the size of the Model S.

 

[MS1994]

I recommend first filing a formal complaint with the NY State Attorney General for Tesla's refusal to honor its warranty. If that doesn't lead to a resolution, take them to small claims court. Blow this up on social media. Basically, you should do anything and everything to make Tesla's life a living hell as high up the corporate chain as possible. That's the only way to make Tesla do right, I'm afraid.



I am a P85 owner since 2013. I highly recommend that you cancel your order. I loved Tesla until they decided to be evil by denying valid warranty claims and using software to cover hardware issues to push failures beyond the warranty period (see #chargegate). Tesla makes a sh|t car, I'm sorry to say. The vehicles do not stand up to even the slightest scrutiny when it comes to quality and design.

If you are planning on spending $100k or more on a Tesla, I'd seriously reconsider. A Taycan or the upcoming Mercedes EQS and EQE (AMG performance versions coming also) will make you so much happier when you don't have to deal with uneven floors, improperly fitted headliner, uneven seats, creaks and rattles like an old Ford pickup, and a terribly noisy interior cabin due to poor seals and insulation.

Tesla removed the pano roof in 2016 because it was so incompetent it couldn't figure out how to make a basic pano roof work without leaking and breaking. Tesla simply does not make a quality car and Elon Musk appears to have no desire to do so, considering the same problems continue to manifest themselves after 10 years.

This is exactly what I'm doing right now -- just filed a complaint with the NY State Attorney General.

 

[rooter]

{tap}{tap}{tap}
Is this thing on?

 

[DrDabbles]

I tend to agree. I'm not scheduled to get it until March anyway so hopefully the sitch will improve by then.

Just for reference, Elon personally promised in 2018 he was addressing the lack of service centers in 3-6 months, and then promised he would personally address the logistics nightmare / lack of parts. Neither have been done. There is no sign of this changing soon near me, since all of the service centers that were "coming soon" haven't budged.

Personally, I've had 3 visits to a service center, and two at-home visits. My nearest SC is over an hour away, one way, so it's a pain in the ass to get there. The service visit I was most happy with was them upgrading my FSD computer. Other than that, I've waited weeks for parts that were never ordered, I've waited weeks after opening a service ticket before they even looked at my case only to tell me they would need parts, I still have an outstanding software bug with absolutely no information allowing me to track progress, and most recently my HVAC system stopped cooling and heating the cabin. That last one, they waited until the day before my original appointment (15 days from opening) to run diagnostics. Then they told me it would be a MONTH to get parts. Meanwhile, my windows fog up when driving in the rain, temperatures at night are in the 40ºF range, daytime temperatures are ranging from mid 60s to 80s, and tough *sugar* if that's a problem for me. I could have already hard parts and service done if they looked at my car's diags within the initial 15 days, but that's apparently too much to ask.

As a car, I've been pretty happy with my 3. As a company, Tesla has done everything they can to prevent me from buying another one. I say that as a long term share holder. They better never open up their US charging network, because the minute that happens where's absolutely no reason to ever buy another one of their cars.

 

[Danielqr79]

My MS has been at the Service Center for a week now after I had to get it towed when it shut off completely while driving.

It turns out the drive unit had water damage from driving through the rain. The car never went through deep water or was flooded, but the tech at the service center is saying if I went through a puddle at speed it could have pushed it into the drive unit. I drove the car for a week after this rainstorm and had no issues and the car was garaged when not driving.

The service center is not budging at all after I argued that this should be covered under warranty (it's under 8 years old/150k miles).

My main issue here is that a Model S should be able to drive through rain, even heavy rain, and not incur damage like this. If there's an issue with the seals or any of the components that protect the drive unit, which I've heard is an issue in older MS's, shouldn't that be covered under warranty?

I had the same thing happened to my model 14 P85d, I drove it in moderate rain about a month ago, and the car lost power, Had it towed to the service center in White Plains NY and I was shocked when they told me the rear drive unit was dead, I have driven my car in much worse conditions before and nothing happened, the only difference is that I they honor the warranty and I got a new drive unit, I still had to pay for other parts like wiring harnesses and other things and my bill was 2600$ labor and parts, now I have to take my car back to the service center on monday, because the front bumper is horribly misaligned, and the rear seems to seat lower than the front, I'm not sure if they took my front bumper out for whatever reason or the tow truck might have done some damage but I'm taking it back to the service center one closer to me in Long island.

 

[Droschke]

"Love my 2013 P85!"

Tesla makes a sh|t car, I'm sorry to say. The vehicles do not stand up to even the slightest scrutiny when it comes to quality and design.

If you are planning on spending $100k or more on a Tesla, I'd seriously reconsider. A Taycan or the upcoming Mercedes EQS and EQE (AMG performance versions coming also) will make you so much happier when you don't have to deal with uneven floors, improperly fitted headliner, uneven seats, creaks and rattles like an old Ford pickup, and a terribly noisy interior cabin due to poor seals and insulation.

Tesla removed the pano roof in 2016 because it was so incompetent it couldn't figure out how to make a basic pano roof work without leaking and breaking. Tesla simply does not make a quality car and Elon Musk appears to have no desire to do so, considering the same problems continue to manifest themselves after 10 years.

These ^^ don't go together, unless I'm missing something!

 

[STE$LAR]

I had the same thing happened to my model 14 P85d, I drove it in moderate rain about a month ago, and the car lost power, Had it towed to the service center in White Plains NY and I was shocked when they told me the rear drive unit was dead, I have driven my car in much worse conditions before and nothing happened, the only difference is that I they honor the warranty and I got a new drive unit, I still had to pay for other parts like wiring harnesses and other things and my bill was 2600$ labor and parts, now I have to take my car back to the service center on monday, because the front bumper is horribly misaligned, and the rear seems to seat lower than the front, I'm not sure if they took my front bumper out for whatever reason or the tow truck might have done some damage but I'm taking it back to the service center one closer to me in Long island.

tesla service still managed to get $2600 from you on something that is still covered under warranty. they get away with this time and time again. you mentioned wiring harness and some other parts how much could a wiring harness cost tesla that is made in Mexico? what other parts added up to $2600? tesla service centers are getting away with price gouging, fraud, straight up ripping people off. it seems to be there motive to get as much as they can out of a customer even if there car is still under warranty, if your car is out of warranty your really f**ked just to diagnose a simple problem 1 hour labor minimum at $220 hr. I just recently had a service appointment for clicking noise in steering rack on my 13 MS the day before the appointment I get a estimate asking me for approval to diagnose steering clicking noise 1 hour labor $220 at same time get text from service rep stating "need to diagnose steering issue 2 hours minimum at $220 hour" my steering issue only happens when the car is parked and at very low speed 1-3 mph I had mentioned that when I made the appointment I messaged the service back and asked so your technician is going to drive my car for over a hour to diagnose the problem?please call me. he called and said some story need to drive the car bring back to shop bench test bla bla. I asked will that $ go towards the repair he said with a pause "yes I can probably put it towards the repair" I was not going to go there in the first place at $220 so he confirmed that even more. Elon Musk just became the world's richest again net worth $200b+ you think he could put just 1% of that into his flagship tesla it would make a world of a difference. the richer he gets the worse the service division gets.

 

[SO16]

Depending on what year your car is, there's a vent hole in the top of the DU which could have been the entry point. Later models (late 2014 and after, if memory serves) have a venting cap which prevents water entry.

Can a cap be put on the older cars to prevent this? Seems like a worthwhile preventative step.

 

[MS1994]

Hi All -- updating this thread to let you all know someone from Tesla's legal department (Cassandra Chaves) reached out to me two weeks ago to review my case. She has completely ghosted my attorney and the phone number in her signature is disconnected, so there's no real way to contact her. If anyone has any contact at Tesla legal they are willing to share with me so I can try to escalate this issue to someone higher up I would be incredibly appreciative.

I filed a complain with the AG, I had a story published in InsideEVs, I tweeted at Elon and Tesla many times and still nothing. Incredibly frustrating to say the least. I've now been without my car for over a month.

 

[dipper]

Local News has reporters that do consumer news. I bet they would love a story about bad Tesla anything.

Can't hurt to try.

 

[MS1994]

Local News has reporters that do consumer news. I bet they would love a story about bad Tesla anything.

Can't hurt to try.

Agreed. I reached out to a couple of different local news stations a while back, but will try again.

 

[raphy3]

still no resolution? yikes. what's the best way to prevent this from happening?

 

[Issaction]

still no resolution? yikes. what's the best way to prevent this from happening?

But a different car

 

[chamshaw]

Just for reference, Elon personally promised in 2018 he was addressing the lack of service centers in 3-6 months, and then promised he would personally address the logistics nightmare / lack of parts. Neither have been done. There is no sign of this changing soon near me, since all of the service centers that were "coming soon" haven't budged.

Personally, I've had 3 visits to a service center, and two at-home visits. My nearest SC is over an hour away, one way, so it's a pain in the ass to get there. The service visit I was most happy with was them upgrading my FSD computer. Other than that, I've waited weeks for parts that were never ordered, I've waited weeks after opening a service ticket before they even looked at my case only to tell me they would need parts, I still have an outstanding software bug with absolutely no information allowing me to track progress, and most recently my HVAC system stopped cooling and heating the cabin. That last one, they waited until the day before my original appointment (15 days from opening) to run diagnostics. Then they told me it would be a MONTH to get parts. Meanwhile, my windows fog up when driving in the rain, temperatures at night are in the 40ºF range, daytime temperatures are ranging from mid 60s to 80s, and tough *sugar* if that's a problem for me. I could have already hard parts and service done if they looked at my car's diags within the initial 15 days, but that's apparently too much to ask.

As a car, I've been pretty happy with my 3. As a company, Tesla has done everything they can to prevent me from buying another one. I say that as a long term share holder. They better never open up their US charging network, because the minute that happens where's absolutely no reason to ever buy another one of their cars.

Para 3; You're a car...? Seriously though, how do you people treat your cars for them to have so many defects? Remember that they are not beach-buggies or puddle-jumpers. 25 mph in torrential rain is -er- silly at best. Tesla have streamlined underbellies for aerodynamic reasons and these require a little care and thought when in use. Salt and sand on roads has always required extra cleaning and care of the vehicle; I suggest it is not only a Tesla problem... Finally, folks who charge in with a Tesla and demand instant obedience from trades-people are likely to not be appreciated. Cool it guys, show patience and humour and we'll all benefit in the long run. We are at the front of the development of a new beast.

 

[BMWM3Man]

Sorry if obvious or redundant question - based on reading this...have these problems happened on older cars or newer ones?
Hard to believe it was just from "driving through heavy rain"

Depending on what year your car is, there's a vent hole in the top of the DU which could have been the entry point. Later models (late 2014 and after, if memory serves) have a venting cap which prevents water entry.

 

[DrDabbles]

how do you people treat your cars for them to have so many defects?

People are complaining about defects from the factory, and defects that should not be showing up. Not from abuse related issues.

25 mph in torrential rain is -er- silly at best

That's not what happened in this thread.

require a little care and thought when in use

You must not realize that Tesla addressed their defective tray design by using real fasteners now. They're bolting the under tray to the car like every other manufacturer using them already did.

We are at the front of the development of a new beast.

No we aren't. Hell, even Tesla has been producing vehicles for a decade now. These are cars at their core, vehicles have existed for long enough that there are right ways to do things. Electric motors have existed for an extremely long time. A damaged seal on a motor that allows water into the housing is a defect, plain and simple. Nothing an operator can do besides crashing or removing the motor should be able to damage the motor seals. Period.

 

[chamshaw]

STE$LAR "...had it towed to the SC..." hopefully not literally. Towing is a nono that will destroy the motor(s) and control system and is strongly warned against by Tesla.
In 2013(?) Consumer Reports scored the Model S at 99 out of 100 and Motor Trend had had good words a little earlier. How bad can they be?
Our lightly used import 3 from Japan is a delight and we look for reasons to drive around in it. Is it possible that the seasonal use and extended storage of vehicles may be at least part of problems in the States?
Finally, what happened to good ole 'Merkin knowhow? Would you rather finance lawyers than achieve home-grown solutions the way Musk and his team are doing on their way to a ICE-free world for our descendants?