Dropping $973.36 for a new charge port tomorrow.

[eye.surgeon]

The OP is complaining about a part that failed after nearly 100,000 miles? Why is that so unexpected? I’ve needed major service with every car I’ve ever owned long before 100,000 miles.

You don't drive on your charge port. Who here has had a defective gas cap on an ICE car that rendered the car undriveable? Probably nobody. It's a failure that serves to undermine the oft-promoted myth that Teslas will be more reliable than ICE vehicles, which I presume was meant to be true after the warranty runs out as well.

The charge port, like many Tesla components, is overly complicated and much more prone to failure than it's ICE counterpart. A lesson that Tesla seems to be learning painfully. Other notable examples include retractable door handles, falcon wing doors, and powered doors in general. These all look cool in the showrooms but will all prove to be after-warranty nightmares.

 

[gimmi80]

Exactly most problems people with German luxury sedans have are not 'bad engine' ...its the little electrical things like Sunroof, windows, seals, seat heaters etc. Not usually the big stuff.

Weirdly tesla wants something like $500/year to service this 'simple car with few moving parts. That makes no sense to me.

But I still love the car.

They have goodwilled several “big” repairs even if my warranty expired 45k miles ago.

I can not complain. I might get a new model in a couple of years.

 

[mspohr]

See this is kind of tricky. His car has almost 100k miles on it, and the failure of this part renders his car almost undriveable (at least after the battery runs out of juice). On an ICE car, what will fail at 100k that will render your car undriveable? Should the charge port have a maintenance interval?

My Land Rover had the Bosch ABS fail, airbag sensors fail (twice), leaking radiator, plus 15 trips for "routine maintenance" all before 100,000 miles. More since then.
Tesla, not so much.
ICE cars have so much more to go wrong and so much more routine maintenance.

 

[jrreno]

The charge port on my S-85 with almost 100k miles stopped working this week. Went to charge it Sunday night and the door pops open but the latch doesn't unlock. Sends our family into transportation crisis for 24 hours.

Tesla said they would send a tech but couldn't send one for 3 days. Luckily we had 50 miles of battery left to drive to the local shop. Service tech was extremely rude when I tried to address the issue as either a design flaw or a faulty charge port. He insisted since we were out of warranty that Tesla had no responsibility and it was normal wear and tear. So I asked, "Will I need to replace my charge port every 4 years and should I carry a spare one around so I don't get stuck somewhere?"

Even if it was used every day (it hasn't been) the charge port (actually just the latching mechanism) broke after less than 1500 uses. Forget the warranty for a second, I'm trying to figure out if I'm being unreasonable expecting Tesla to step up from a reputation standpoint and fix something that seems to be happening to a number of folks on the forums.

In addition to the charge port problem, this car has had a recent string of problems including needing a new motor, two new door handles and now the tire air gauges are causing a new set of alarms.

Curious to hear an opinion other than my own:

1. Was the 2013 just not ready to be released and I should expect more first year car problems?
2. I got a lemon and others have had better experiences with their 2013's.
3. The wheels start coming off these things at 100k miles and I should just align my expectations to the German cost/frequency of repairs?

Feeling bitter at Tesla for marketing a car that was supposed to require less maintenance than their gas equivalents. And "no" the 15% discount off $1,114.25 doesn't make me feel better. By comparison my Acura MDX purchased new the same year hasn't had a single problem other than my mother-in-law scratching the fender. :-/

For what it is worth I also had TPMS issues on my S recently. Spent around $650 to replace all four sensors and the receiver module which resulted in the tire pressure display with individual tire pressures, a feature I never had. I just considered it an upgrade.

 

[nomeus]

It just boggles my mind sometimes.. People are buying used (or new) $100k cars and then complain that part replacements cost more than $25k cars. Did you know that same exact part for Audi A8 costs much more as for Audi A4? And they do share a lot of parts.

Also, you can't buy early Gen1 car from a company that has never manufactured cars and expect it to be flawless or compare it to well established brands. Come on! Research before buy and don't put all your lives saving into a car. That seems to be the case for a lot of new Tesla owners.

 

[Brass Guy]

It just boggles my mind sometimes.. People are buying used (or new) $100k cars and then complain that part replacements cost more than $25k cars. Did you know that same exact part for Audi A8 costs much more as for Audi A4? And they do share a lot of parts.

Also, you can't buy early Gen1 car from a company that has never manufactured cars and expect it to be flawless or compare it to well established brands. Come on! Research before buy and don't put all your lives saving into a car. That seems to be the case for a lot of new Tesla owners.

Well some of us bought before there were any cars out of warranty, and there were no published prices for parts. And now that my car is a little older, I find out that a single half-shaft is $1,240.00. I do not consider that reasonable for a street car.

 

[nomeus]

Well some of us bought before there were any cars out of warranty, and there were no published prices for parts. And now that my car is a little older, I find out that a single half-shaft is $1,240.00. I do not consider that reasonable for a street car.

Not sure if that is exact same job, but for Mercedes S-Class it costs $1256 at dealer for 2012 model and $2764 for 2017 model. Screenshot

As I said before, $100k car will have $100k car service costs no matter what brand it is.

 

[nomeus]

Well some of us bought before there were any cars out of warranty, and there were no published prices for parts. And now that my car is a little older, I find out that a single half-shaft is $1,240.00. I do not consider that reasonable for a street car.

Can't edit posts yet, but here is another one: Screenshot
The average cost for an Audi S8 Axle/Half Shaft Replacement - Rear is between $1775 and $2590. Labor costs are estimated between $475 and $600 while parts are priced between $1300 and $1990. Estimate does not include taxes and fees.

At the end of the day, are Tesla repairs expensive? Yes, for sure. But so is (almost) every luxury $100k car repairs.

 

[Brass Guy]

BTW, my car was not 100k. And it was never described by Tesla as "luxury", but "premium" which essentially means more expensive. Also apparently for parts.

I guess someone can disagree that I don't find the costs reasonable, but it is a fact that I don't consider it reasonable.

 

[wk057]

IMO, the Model S isn't comparable to traditional "luxury" cars. It may have the luxury car price point, especially the higher performance variants, but it doesn't fit into those categories at all. You're mainly just paying for the high margin needed to help keep Tesla alive, not for any kind of luxury, really.

I mean really, the Model S didn't even have a center console for years... virtually no general storage, door pockets, lighted mirrors, coat hooks, etc. It's lacked that majority of creature comforts available on comparably priced vehicles which make them a luxury car. Personally, I think the Model 3 is far more luxurious than the Model S in that sense. (Pretty awesome center console, fold down rear console, door pockets, lighted mirrors, coat hooks, etc etc)

The prices Tesla charges for some parts is definitely ridiculously high. But on some other parts, they're ridiculously low. It's hit or miss. Big margin items like wheels have something like a 10,000% markup, and easily 50% on tires vs other outlets. Things like the charge port seem to have something like a 25-50% markup. Some body-related parts are so inexpensive compared to other brands that I'd guess they actually take a loss on many of them (speculation: likely to slightly offset high labor costs when the cars need repair, in the eyes of insurance companies).

 

[jaguar36]

I mean really, the Model S didn't even have a center console for years...

Us fans of the bowling alley call those the good ole years!

 

[AMPd]

You don't drive on your charge port. Who here has had a defective gas cap on an ICE car that rendered the car undriveable? Probably nobody. It's a failure that serves to undermine the oft-promoted myth that Teslas will be more reliable than ICE vehicles, which I presume was meant to be true after the warranty runs out as well.

The charge port, like many Tesla components, is overly complicated and much more prone to failure than it's ICE counterpart. A lesson that Tesla seems to be learning painfully. Other notable examples include retractable door handles, falcon wing doors, and powered doors in general. These all look cool in the showrooms but will all prove to be after-warranty nightmares.

I did, car wouldn’t pass smog test in California, turned out to be the gas cap.

 

[nomeus]

But it is a fact that I don't consider it reasonable.

Yeah, I find most of the service costs for cars unreasonable even for cheap modern cars. Model 3 key card replacement costs like $5 I think. Do you know how much costs key fobs for other brands? They can be anywhere from $200-600. For a damn key fob!! And not just keyless keyfobs. It costs close to nothing to make. Only thing we can do is not buy a car from a brand we think has unreasonable service costs. Or sell the car once it's out of warranty. Or continue driving it and deal with the costs.

 

[Qbenjamin]

The OP is complaining about a part that failed after nearly 100,000 miles? Why is that so unexpected? I’ve needed major service with every car I’ve ever owned long before 100,000 miles.

I recently sold my 2014 S and it had the same exact issue as the new owner was driving it back home. I never had a problem with it, but it happened right after he used the Supercharger. It's one thing to understand that maintenance costs on a luxury vehicle around 100K miles will creep up, but it's another issue when it's a part that commonly fails. Oh, btw, my car only had 26K miles on it and they had to replace the entire charging system along with the electric motor.

 

[SamT]

Not sure at what mileage, but somewhere along the way...

Fuel pump.
What ever type of ignition control module it has.
Timing belt.
Starter.
Water pump.

What did I miss?

Alternator, battery failed, shifter stuck on park, just to name a few.

 

[mspohr]

Alternator, battery failed, shifter stuck on park, just to name a few.

Flywheel sensor failed. Car wouldn't start.

 

[brkaus]

Fuel pump went out in my Dodge truck. Turns out Dodge re-engineered it the following model year due to failures (moved from in-line to in-tank). They refused to help out on the cost of repair.

The repair cost was significant because it had to be converted to the new style pump. Didn’t even sell the old style anymore.