Front motor.. dead

[Envchem]

Hi all,

Some of you may remember the post I made three weeks ago about getting stranded with my Model 3 and the non existing support by Tesla roadside assistance.
Finally yesterday I received an update about the car from the SC. Front motor dead, will be fully replaced. 1 year old car with 23k miles. It killed the 12V battery too. Waiting on parts now, should be fixed next 2-3 weeks.
When I queried what could have caused such a significant issue the answer was that the motor will be assessed by technicians in Holland and they will know long after my car is fixed so I will never know what actually happened.
Covered under warranty. This will be an expensive repair outside of it since Tesla doesn't repair, just replace.
I feel more and more uneasy with the quality of these cars. Second issue in first year of ownership and a big one this time.
I was thinking seriously about changing to the id4 but I am worried that these issues could evolve to be industry wide since all the experience the car companies have with ICE engines will probably not matter now. Disappointed at least.

 

[michelerusso88]

Wish Audi replaced the mechatronic unit on my Audi rs5 when it pooped itself. Sadly 12 grand later the car was working again.


Glad to hear they are replacing it

 

[Envchem]

Was the car still under warranty? If yes I would challenge that as much as I could. 12k is a lot of money.

In my case I take it as granted that they are replacing/ fixing it under warranty. Its a new car at the end of the day.

 

[michelerusso88]

Was the car still under warranty? If yes I would challenge that as much as I could. 12k is a lot of money.

it was under warranty. Rs5 and Rs6 have suffered from mechatronic failures. They blame use of the paddle gear shifters and material entering the mech unit. I know many a people on the rs forums who had similar issues. Went all the way to Germany and came back as a no.

I still have the Rs5. Great car. I mean issues can happen and they will happen to some people. Annoying I know

 

[Envchem]

What?? That seriously sucks. Did you looked into legal options?

 

[Durzel]

it was under warranty. Rs5 and Rs6 have suffered from mechatronic failures. They blame use of the paddle gear shifters and material entering the mech unit. I know many a people on the rs forums who had similar issues. Went all the way to Germany and came back as a no.

I still have the Rs5. Great car. I mean issues can happen and they will happen to some people. Annoying I know

Was it remapped? There’s no way I’d be paying £12k on a car that’s inside warranty, unless I’d invalidated the warranty myself by remapping it.

@Envchem I think your problem is quite unique, certainly if it was a systemic problem you’d be able to find plenty of stories about it (e.g. like the Model S/X eMMC failure). Unfortunately new parts sometimes fail prematurely. You’ve been one of the unlucky ones that have had a failed motor, but it doesn’t reflect on the car and there’s no reason to believe that it is symptomatic of anything else.

What matters is how you get treated while it’s being fixed, and it sounds like they’re taking good care of you.

 

[Jason71]

Teslas have their issues but drive unit failures seem pretty rare. You may just have been unlucky

 

[nxsynjs]

If I’m right the drivetrain and battery are warranted for 8 years or 100k+ miles. If drivetrain failures was common they wouldn’t give it such along warranty.

 

[Envchem]

I scoured the forums and I must say that I couldn't find another post for front motor failure so from that aspect it looks like I am in a unique/rare situation.
I found quite a few posts though for rear motors dying. Most of them anywhere between first miles to 25k miles. So I don't think it is that uncommon.

 

[SpareHeadOne]

As someone who's worked in IT for more years than I would care to say, we're all familiar with "the bathtub curve", where failures are mapped against time and with large amounts of equipment of the same type you tend to get high numbers of failures in the first year after installation, then almost none until you get towards end of life.

So if you install 1,000 disks you'll see maybe 50 fail in the first year, then maybe 4 or 5 for the next 7-8 years and then 50-100/year beyond that.

Anything with moving parts is no different and unfortunately if you've been in that first batch of failures then you're finding out that's what the warranty is for. Get the replacement done and forget about it unless it happens again because you'll probably have no more problems while you own the car.