Flooded? Not Flooded?

[MichaelSimo]

Hello, new member here. I want to start by saying I'm very fond of the products Tesla builds, so I am not here to destroy anything, I'm simply looking to understand things how they work within Tesla a bit better.

Quick tldr on the situation: Found water in backseats in Sep.2023, only got a service end of month. Covered the car with waterproof sun sail in the meantime, 2.5 weeks irregularly checking weather forecasts, and only when it rained. Service end of Sep. 2023 found no leaks, returned the car the same day. I stopped covering the car after that.

Then, on Oct 9th, I find a LOT of water in the backseats again, schedule service for the 11th (lucky I guess), and on the 10th, the car dies. 12V warning the night before, car won't start the next morning, tow truck lifts it >>litters coming out of the inverter/motor container behind HV>> after 24h Service center tells us car is dead (literally), asks us to claim insurance. They even sent us a video unplugging the HV's orange cable at the back and water coming out of it... (They said the car had no damage underneath, whatsoever). Cause of damage: “Car was flooded - human error”. We reject this and they do another investigation to find what they say is a “tiny leak” in rear window creating only “dampness” in carpet, that's it.

And now it seems the car can be repaired, and it will be as a good gesture from the SC. They say the sunsail caused evaporation which I never found, ever, from covering the car for 2.5 weeks, irregularly. They are speaking with factory now and seeing if they can sort it out, under warranty "this time".

Now, I would know of I were ever in a flood and I'm not one of those who treats this wonderful land-machine as a boat. To be very clear. We need the ride as we live in a remote location. Where I park doesn't get flooded either (uphill).

Spoke recently with Senior Advisor who nodded while saying "HV is in bad condition".

Long story short, we have serious concerns! The car is 2 years old only, approaching 80,000KM only...

My question lays in understanding how Service Centers, Manufacturer Guidelines and repairs work, and if there is something that could be done to improve them. (I think this situation is an unfortunate case of a giant stepping on the "little guy"). It seems to me the SC team were quick to label the problem as "human error" the first time because they had around 9-10 other cars in the same situation, and kept that "label in mind" while performing the extended investigation for the last 2 weeks or so, solely to prove their initial claims. The reason we have concerns is they told us it would be better to claim the insurance at first, but now they are saying they can fix things. The AC was never checked if we understood correctly, and we park in a slightly steep spot where the frunk rests higher than the trunk.

However, there is a lack of clarity from the SC team in explaining what "repairs" are going to be done exactly. They confirmed the "HV has been in contact with water, originating from the penthouse area (underneath the seat). The technician did not find any water leakage concerning the HV battery or the high-voltage cable harness under the chassis during testing." Does Tesla mean they will replace the battery, does it mean they will simply fix it? ("after discussing the matter with our manager and engineer, we are committed to seeking assistance from the factory and exploring the possibility of covering the necessary repairs under warranty this time.)

What about all the cables, electrical components, etc. ?
We are happy the car seems to have been "resuscitated", however we are worried about the long-term repercussions this could have on the car's performance, value, etc.. All it entails...

I only found a few cases online suffering from the same issue as us. We feel the Formula-1 pit stop speed was detrimental to our situation at the end of September, and we frankly don't know if it makes sense to accept these repairs or not, as the car will probably never be the same again, maybe even a safety risk (?). The car has probably been flagged internally as flooded, and we have no guarantees Tesla will be responsible for any future damage that may related from the issue with are dealing with today (not that we could even prove that anyway..)

I want to make this very clear again, I'm not here to bash anyone but rather try to identify ways in which things could be improved. We all are fans of the products Tesla makes, and we only want for the company to continue improving further.

Please help us understand the ins-and-outs of a situation like this one better, and if we might not just being swallowed by a flaw in the Manufacturer's Guidelines procedures, making us a casualty.

Will gladly answer any questions if you need more information, and will leave you with this:

"Sometimes we love something so much we close our eyes to its imperfections, when having them open would only serve to improve what we love even more, bringing it closer and closer to perfection" - for you, die-hard fans out there who might want to jump-in the replies

 

[father_of_6]

they had around 9-10 other cars in the same situation

Are you saying they had 9 or 10 other cars with major water damage due to window leaks? All at the same service center?

We are happy the car seems to have been "resuscitated"

So the car has already been repaired by the service center? Will you post the invoice so we can see what work they did?

The car has probably been flagged internally as flooded

If this were the case, I suspect it would be salvage title and/or not allowed to use Superchargers. That doesn't seem to be the case, since they've repaired whatever was damaged (waiting on your service invoice).

however we are worried about the long-term repercussions this could have on the car's performance, value, etc.. All it entails...

That's understandable. You could always sell it. It seems like this happened just before your general warranty is up (due to mileage), so I'd say you're lucky that it didn't happen outside of warranty.

There's a good chance this causes zero long-term problems... but I'd hold any opinions until you post the service invoice so we can see exactly what was damaged.

 

[father_of_6]

I'm not here to bash anyone but rather try to identify ways in which things could be improved.

This is tough.

You didn't say which car you have. No car is perfect, but in my opinion the Model 3 is the world's best car. Based on 2023 global vehicle sales, the Model Y is currently the world's best SUV. Can they be improved? Sure... but they're already light-years ahead of most other vehicles.

Regarding service... I've had mostly positive experiences from Tesla service. This is also tough. There are really 2 modes of operation for vehicle service:

1. The first is "for profit" or "service as sales". This is how legacy auto and their dealerships operate, and I hate it. You bring your vehicle to them and they come up with false repairs because the service department has a quota to meet. Each and every time I visit one of those places I cringe, because I know I have to "defend" myself from their attacks.
2. The second is "not for profit" or "service as a necessity". This is how Tesla operates. It has the opposite problem though... Tesla has just enough or even too few service centers. This causes the service centers to play defense if they're overloaded.

In your case though, it sounds like they looked at the car and found water damage. Then they communicated to you that it wasn't covered under warranty because it was flood damage... but you told them it wasn't flood damage - so they investigated and found a leaking window, then covered it under warranty.

Truly, it sounds like everything worked the way it should. I certainly wouldn't expect them to give you a new car, if that's what you were thinking.