Got a loaner Tesla, put it on auto drive , went thru a pot hole had 2 flats...

[kort677]

Be careful with that - if the County hears that you were letting the car drive in Autopilot mode, they may say "you could have avoided it if you were paying attention".

I don't know why you are trying to trivialize the fact that you must always be aware and able to assume control.
sadly the op was inexperienced and was not well versed in the way the AP functions which I assume caused his problems.
in addition he was probably not familiar with the 21 in wheel/tire concerns that are well known.
I am not putting down the OP but he certainly was culpable for the issues he encountered.

 

[skitch23]

A judge might have to really think through the right ruling if it went through small claims court but would side with Tesla

In my scenario, it happened in my ICE... so no AP. The city that I worked for would just process everything on their own and didn't go thru small claims court. Sure, since my claim was denied I could have taken them in, but it wasn't worth my time for a $200 tire... I might have considered it tho for $900.

 

[ArtRando]

Thanks everyone. Lesson learned. Next time my wife says anything about me not doing enough for her.

It's:

"Honey, I spent $900 to pick you up from the airport " "Show me one man who's done that"

 

[bob_p]

This raises a very interesting point.

AP/EAP are done under driver control, so the driver is supposed to be monitoring the driving, and ready to take control if the software is not properly handling the driving conditions (like monitoring a student driver). So if something happens while the car is under AP/EAP control, it is still the driver's responsibility.

HOWEVER, what about when the car is operating in FSD mode. Tesla is planning to provide their own network to allow cars to be operated without any driver control - and drive unattended or with only passengers. With the FSD software be able to detect debris in the road (like a trailer hitch or tree) or damaged roads (major potholes), and avoid the obstacles?

And if it doesn't, who is responsible? Tesla (and the other manufacturers) may want the owner to have responsibility, but is that reasonable, since once the car is under FSD control - it's Tesla that is effectively providing the driver.

This might be important enough to raise this as an issue - and see if Tesla can comment on the ability of AP 2.0 sensors in FSD mode to detect potential problems in the roadway - and avoid them.

 

[CuriousG]

Even at Tesla, you never know what tire pressures loaner vehicles are set to (higher tire pressures reduce the chances of pothole damage), so always treat any loaner as if it had low tire pressures.

I had a P85+ loaner once and within 10 miles of leaving the store, the tire pressure warning light came on. I called them back and person I spoke to said it may be due to change in weather and to just inflate the tires. Well I checked all 4 tires at they were all at least 10lbs under pressure. I think it was closer to 12lbs.

 

[ArtRando]

This raises a very interesting point.

AP/EAP are done under driver control, so the driver is supposed to be monitoring the driving, and ready to take control if the software is not properly handling the driving conditions (like monitoring a student driver). So if something happens while the car is under AP/EAP control, it is still the driver's responsibility.

HOWEVER, what about when the car is operating in FSD mode. Tesla is planning to provide their own network to allow cars to be operated without any driver control - and drive unattended or with only passengers. With the FSD software be able to detect debris in the road (like a trailer hitch or tree) or damaged roads (major potholes), and avoid the obstacles?

And if it doesn't, who is responsible? Tesla (and the other manufacturers) may want the owner to have responsibility, but is that reasonable, since once the car is under FSD control - it's Tesla that is effectively providing the driver.

This might be important enough to raise this as an issue - and see if Tesla can comment on the ability of AP 2.0 sensors in FSD mode to detect potential problems in the roadway - and avoid them.

Great Points Bob. Would love to send it to someone in Tesla to get an answer. My local Tesla service woman here was just awful. Overly patronizing telling me I should be glad the damage wasn't $10,000 but only $900. Would love to pass it on to someone other than her. Any suggestions.

The irony is I was so excited about the auto drive since I had missed the 2014 auto drive launch by one week when I had bought my 85, that I turned it on as soon as I picked my wife up just to show it off. Within a few minutes this happened. I was all excited about upgrading to version one of the auto drive but this certainly has put a damper. I was keeping an eye on the road, nervous about the auto drive, and boom, it happened so quickly. It would never have happened if I wasn't on auto drive. But as I said lesson learned. I would have expected Tesla to at least pro-rate the wear of the other tires and give me $100-$200 off my $900. No disputing the fact that I borrowed a car and damaged it and need to pay up. The car had 17000 miles and with those speed rated low profile tires, the tires probably didn't have too much life left anyway. A fair expectation of a company I've loved for the last few years.

 

[TexLaw]

I don't know, man. It's neither unfair nor unreasonable to seek replacement cost when you blew the tires out. However, they ought to have asked for their cost, not retail. Everyone's clean at that point.

And, yes, that "you should be glad it wasn't x" crap goes about as far with me as . . . well . . . a flat tire. They ought to know better than that.

 

[Skione65]

I'm a huge Tesla fan. Own a Model S , for 2 years now.

I recently had to take a loaner since my door handle wasn't working and within 30 min of getting it , I wanted to try the auto drive, since my car doesn't have one. Set the auto drive and within a few minutes the car went thru a pot hole on the highway and I had two flats.

Long story short, waited for the tow truck, got towed. Got a new loaner.

Now being billed for $900.

Any suggestions.

@ArtRando,

Were they 21's? Any rim damage or just rubber?

Ski

 

[AudubonB]

The "quiz" when I called my insurance agent seemed to hinge on whether the bucket was still in the air when it hit me vs on the road. I said it had bounced up into me and they filed the claim as comprehensive vs collision.

I'm a bit slow on days like today - ones that end in "y" - so could someone walk me through all sides of this logic...please?

 

[gavine]

Two pages and no one mentioned that he's calling it auto-drive. You people didn't bring your A-game today.

 

[Max*]

Two pages and no one mentioned that he's calling it auto-drive. You people didn't bring your A-game today.

*cough* reading comprehension fail *cough*

Ah, I see the problem....


Tesla doesn't have Auto Drive!

 

[gavine]

*cough* reading comprehension fail *cough*

Looks like I'M the one who didn't bring their A-game.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I'm going to see if I can go after the county for the huge pot hole . Went back there today with my other loaner and the pot hole was filled up and repaired.

Ditto to everyone saying this is a good idea. My city does pay for pothole damage, but it's never the full claimed amount, although hey settle for a substantial portion. Just need documentation of the costs of repair and also make sure you have the timeline correct. That the pothole was filled means that they should have record of when it was not fixed yet.

 

[Ddowns2050]

I agree with the OP. They should have prorated those tires. If they were the original tires and were performance tires they were shot.

 

[Out4aDuck]

Looking forward, the good news is that Full Self Drive will avoid this kind of road hazard situation. Coming soon.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

Two pages and no one mentioned that he's calling it auto-drive. You people didn't bring your A-game today.

Who cares? You know what he meant.

 

[M0DEL³]

I'm a huge Tesla fan. Own a Model S , for 2 years now.

I recently had to take a loaner since my door handle wasn't working and within 30 min of getting it , I wanted to try the auto drive, since my car doesn't have one. Set the auto drive and within a few minutes the car went thru a pot hole on the highway and I had two flats.

Long story short, waited for the tow truck, got towed. Got a new loaner.

Now being billed for $900.

Any suggestions.

Sorry to hear about your situation - that sucks...

As so many others have pointed out here, AP isn't designed to avoid potholes, so the fact that you were on AP is irrelevant to the situation. How you proceed from here depends in large part on how much you value your time. If your time isn't very valuable to you there are many paths available for attempting to mitigate the financial damages, but for the amount of money involved, and the fact that you own a Tesla, I'm guessing your time is worth more than the $900.

I'd suggest you simply consider it a somewhat expensive lesson on AP limitations.