Failed Rear Lower Control Arm / Service Bulletin SB-19-31-001

[DGates]

@DGates, Thanks for posting this -- really good to see that someone had these parts repaired under warranty. Would you be kind enough to let me know which Service Center did the work for you and when that occurred?

The work was done at the Vancouver, BC Service Centre sometime over the last few days.

I should add - I took the car in for a different issue - a faulty on board charger. They replaced the control arms without even telling me. I only found out about it when they sent me the invoice, which prompted me to search up this part and then found this thread.

 

[airsailor]

The work was done at the Vancouver, BC Service Centre sometime over the last few days.

I should add - I took the car in for a different issue - a faulty on board charger. They replaced the control arms without even telling me. I only found out about it when they sent me the invoice, which prompted me to search up this part and then found this thread.

Thanks very much -- that is really interesting and good to know. I'll mention this to the Paramus SC when I get my bill, as it seems there may be an inconsistent way of dealing with this from one service center to the next. Anyway, very good that you have the new arms in place and don't have to worry about failure now!

 

[brkaus]

I’ve had similar issues with a German car company. Electronics and a frame member covered by a TSB were not covered after warranty. Sadly, it’s pretty common from what I’ve read.

 

[Zuikkis]

One last note: these original arms are PN: 1021416-00A and the SC replaced them with PN: 1027459-99-A, which I am hoping is the latest revision.

Big thanks for these part numbers! My 2013 P85+ has 1027459-99-A, so they must be already changed.

 

[trayloader]

Sorry If I didn´t spot it- which are the affected VINs?

 

[hpartsch]

Sorry If I didn´t spot it- which are the affected VINs?

Only Tesla knows and doesn't share...

 

[Hrtme]

Two shots of the failed control arm removed from the car by the SC. Interestingly, no one at the SC made any noise about this being impact-related damage -- it's clear to them that this thing just cracked like the Service Bulletin says it might. The crack farthest away from the arm is oxidized, suggesting that it occurred some time ago and the part held together until the other two cracks nearest the arm occurred and the part failed completely. I am struck by how lightweight the material is -- the two broken parts of the circular boss weigh almost nothing. My non-engineer impression is that the material simply doesn't seem strong enough to deal with the huge amount of load it has to carry. In this particular case it wasn't. One last note: these original arms are PN: 1021416-00A and the SC replaced them with PN: 1027459-99-A, which I am hoping is the latest revision.

View attachment 591912 View attachment 591914

Omg look at that grain structure. Thats a horrible casting job. Material doesn't even look homogeneous.

I wonder if the newer arm is thicker or they fixed their casting process. I heard new ones were drop forged now but haven't found confirmation.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Omg look at that grain structure. Thats a horrible casting job. Material doesn't even look homogeneous.

I wonder if the newer arm is thicker or they fixed their casting process. I heard new ones were drop forged now but haven't found confirmation.

Are there are any structural or materials engineers on this thread?

I ask if they might, perhaps, use their professional expertise to analyze some of the far too many failed control arms and report back?

Since Elon is an engineer, he should just look at the facts and demand a recall, even if Tesla is not, necessarily, required to do so by NHTSA or other organizations. It just seems like a prudent course of action, and the cost would be borne by the supplier since I doubt Tesla was making these internally back in 2012-2014.

This falls into the "no-brainer" category of things Tesla needs to do. Yesterday.

While it MIGHT have just been pure coincidence, sending out what is certainly (despite embarrassing language to the opposite) a safety-related, safety-critical, TSB after the affected cars were out of warranty is just wrong. Ethically, morally, and totally WRONG.

Elon: FIX THIS!

(This is such a glaring example of an otherwise brilliant company, filled with many smart people, doing a remarkably stupid thing. Tesla: NOT wait until someone is hurt of killed. If you wait wait long enough, that's probably going to happen. I can only imagine what the publicity, and settlement cost, would look like. We can all pity the attorney trying to defend that utter BS language in the TSB in front of a judge or jury . . . . )

 

[‘Merica]

Interesting:

My June 2013 built car has the old control arm part numbers. I asked Tesla to verify if my VIN was affected by this particular TSB, and if so, would happily pay for a preemptive replacement. They came back and said I was in the clear. Saved a few bucks by checking first

 

[hpartsch]

Interesting:

My June 2013 built car has the old control arm part numbers. I asked Tesla to verify if my VIN was affected by this particular TSB, and if so, would happily pay for a preemptive replacement. They came back and said I was in the clear. Saved a few bucks by checking first

Yeah, I was told the same.... I'm not sure I believe that I'm not affected...

 

[No CO2]

@'Merica,

In my opinion, it is a part number that is defective, not a VIN. The service bulletin says "Replace part X with part Y because part X may fail".

Up to you, but I'd disregard your VIN, and ask yourself if you own the defective part number, and you said yes.

I own the old part number too, and I have sourced one used arm of the new part number, and a second arm was lost by UPS in transit. Bummer.

 

[Hrtme]

Are there are any structural or materials engineers on this thread?

I ask if they might, perhaps, use their professional expertise to analyze some of the far too many failed control arms and report back?

Since Elon is an engineer, he should just look at the facts and demand a recall, even if Tesla is not, necessarily, required to do so by NHTSA or other organizations. It just seems like a prudent course of action, and the cost would be borne by the supplier since I doubt Tesla was making these internally back in 2012-2014.

This falls into the "no-brainer" category of things Tesla needs to do. Yesterday.

While it MIGHT have just been pure coincidence, sending out what is certainly (despite embarrassing language to the opposite) a safety-related, safety-critical, TSB after the affected cars were out of warranty is just wrong. Ethically, morally, and totally WRONG.

Elon: FIX THIS!

(This is such a glaring example of an otherwise brilliant company, filled with many smart people, doing a remarkably stupid thing. Tesla: NOT wait until someone is hurt of killed. If you wait wait long enough, that's probably going to happen. I can only imagine what the publicity, and settlement cost, would look like. We can all pity the attorney trying to defend that utter BS language in the TSB in front of a judge or jury . . . . )

See this is the problem, he isn't an engineer. He's got a physics degree. I'm not one either. My degree is in material science and daily I work with steels and titanium alloys. I don't know alot about aluminum casting except that voids are easy to get and you get a big grain structure like that from cooling too rapidly. This happens in the narrower portion of the mold since it's smaller cross section.

Point being I know they replaced it with a better part that is supposed to be forged instead of cast but I can't find confirmation just rumors on Twitter. Did they not want to have an official statement on this since it woudl cost to much to replace all those out there?

 

[cduzz]

See this is the problem, he isn't an engineer. He's got a physics degree. I'm not one either. My degree is in material science and daily I work with steels and titanium alloys. I don't know alot about aluminum casting except that voids are easy to get and you get a big grain structure like that from cooling too rapidly. This happens in the narrower portion of the mold since it's smaller cross section.

Point being I know they replaced it with a better part that is supposed to be forged instead of cast but I can't find confirmation just rumors on Twitter. Did they not want to have an official statement on this since it woudl cost to much to replace all those out there?

In auto sports there's the saying that the perfect race car falls apart as it crosses the finish line in first place; anything more than that and the car was over built.

I suspect that there's the same mentality among some in the engineering discipline for production road cars; the car must survive the entire duration of the warranty (or extended warranty if the company is expecting that most cars are leased then resold with a "CPO" warranty). As soon as the warranty is over, the car must start falling apart to start feeding the dealership networks "maintenance" revenue streams.

Obviously a car should have the *bushings* fall apart so the car clunks and grinds and destroys tires and fails safety inspections without actually killing anyone or causing a real accident....

I'm sure tesla will eventually figure this out too...

 

[‘Merica]

@'Merica,

In my opinion, it is a part number that is defective, not a VIN. The service bulletin says "Replace part X with part Y because part X may fail".

Up to you, but I'd disregard your VIN, and ask yourself if you own the defective part number, and you said yes.

I own the old part number too, and I have sourced one used arm of the new part number, and a second arm was lost by UPS in transit. Bummer.

Could it also be the case that there was a bad batch of a particular part number, and they know which cars that particular run went into?

 

[Chaserr]

It's possible. www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/business/kobe-steel-japan.amp.html

Steel rather than aluminum but you can see how suppliers might not be reliable. If there were questionable suppliers for a part, the part number isn't the issue and even VIN is just a way to check a rough date for whether that suppliers raw materials might have been used.

 

[‘Merica]

That’s what I’m thinking. If their supply chain is efficient enough, the parts arrive just in time to build the cars so they aren’t sitting on huge stockpiles of parts and the associated storage issues. In that case it would be Fairly easy to identify the exact cars affected by a known bad lot of parts.

 

[hpartsch]

That’s what I’m thinking. If their supply chain is efficient enough, the parts arrive just in time to build the cars so they aren’t sitting on huge stockpiles of parts and the associated storage issues. In that case it would be Fairly easy to identify the exact cars affected by a known bad lot of parts.

If it was bad manufacturing batches, why the change in part number?

 

[mongo]

If it was bad manufacturing batches, why the change in part number?

In general: Traceability.

However, given the TSB timing, the part number change may have occurred before the problem with a part lot was discovered.

 

[No CO2]

I got two control arms off eBay, one for $190, one for $200.
My local shop put them in for $220 labor for both sides, so my total cost was $610.

Reading the very first post in the thread, where a failure costs $4,000 per side, $610 is worth my piece of mind driving down the road for the life of the car. I kept the receipts in case of a future recall.

 

[airsailor]

Just paid Tesla $3985.86 for repairs resulting from the failed control arm. Meanwhile, the letter I FedEx'd to the HQ Service Dispute department on September 2 (post #32) hasn't even been acknowledged. I really can't believe how unresponsive Tesla is! If I ran my business this way I wouldn't have a business to run!