Had a SR+ for 7 days, returned it!

[NathanielHrnblwr]

I've had my car since September. I can't recall any reboots but think I had one. The other day, the screen went black and rebooted. I'm on 8.5 also. Seems to be a software bug which means the fix should be easily deployed.

I wonder if the cars that are rebooting more frequently have the new AP hardware.

 

[Rich A.]

Tesla showed really poor judgment by denying the possibility of a hardware issue and causing you to legitimately have to write this post. Tesla, wouldn't it have been better for your reputation to swap cars right away so this thread wouldn't have even been necessary? Now potential customers researching your products will read this -- forever. Robert and Blake, how arrogant must you be to believe you're qualified to solve highly complex engineering issues? And Tesla, isn't there a burn-in type diagnostic test that a Service Center can run to identify problems like this?

Our M3 has been fine and I assume most others have been, too, but still ...

 

[Dinoraptor101]

Sounds like something relating to your car, I have a screen reboot issue maybe once a month. I think you made the right call returning it and I would order another one once they refund the first one personally. Sounds like your first one had a hardware problem.

I'm a computer engineer, and agree with the hardware problem assumption here, that dim-display with 100% brightness suggests damage to the display backlight.

While the screen being black at boot up also suggests a BIOS failure.

Almost all black screen issues go away after the Hard-Reset (see Tesla hard Reset).

But the dim display is the serious concern there... I think related to cabin overheat.

 

[super20g]

Kinda sorta related but what is the deal with Tesla usually saying 'software issue, will be fixed in future update' when you bring up an issue like reboot or screen off while driving? That is still a problem the owner is reporting and asking for a solution for yet they don't document and then multiple builds go by and you are still having the same problem. 'Software issue' seems like a catch all and easy way out of documenting customer reported issues.

 

[flygirl]

Sorry for your issues! I think you did the right thing returning it. Glad that you will give it another shot. I have had my M3 over 6 months, and only got my first black screen (while driving) last week. Whenever there is a glitch, I can usually see where a software mod should be able to fix it.

 

[chinnam3]

But to say there is NO cases or possibly of hardware failure that causes M3 screen glitches, going blank or dim- that’s where I would like to discuss/explore, because I don’t think this has been proven, and my M3 maybe in this category.

I don’t want Tesla to figure this out in a month or 3 or 6 months- on my time- and maybe eventually replace my screen or MCU. Thus, return and order again...
.

Agree with you on that. Unless someone really diagnose the problem can show positively it is software issue, we can't assume this is some software issue. To me, based on description of the problem, some kind of connector issue between Screen MCU. Its Tesla responsibility to figure that out and fix it asap.

But unfortunately, it is not just Tesla, I ran into similar issues many manufacturers. Esp with random issues it is more, so I would not just say Tesla is any worst than other manufacturers in this aspect.

Few years ago, one of my friends brand new Suzuki car, suddenly dead at intersections, sometime does not start at all, This is all random. Dealer keeps car for a week, and gives back saying they did not see any problem. He got so frustrated, and prepared for big loss trade-in. I suggested him to leave the car with me for few days during his vacation and I started driving it. Over couple of weeks, I ran into problem and it turns out not a problem with Fuel pump/injectors or ignition coil, it is bad crank angle sensor.( I had some gadgets to check these things). We replaced that crank angle sensor and that car still running like champ after more than decade now.

 

[SantaMonicaBum]

OP here with an update:

No refund yet. The car was returned on 4/26 at MDR location where it was originally delivered per return instructions.
I went back on 5/8 to ask about refund status and they have no idea, told me to call or email or chat with Tesla financial online.

I couldn’t wait anymore so I ordered another/replacement model 3 at the Pasadena store. Hoping to get help from new Tesla advisor to get status on refund, while ordering.

According to phone app, the return model 3 has been sitting in parking lot in Hawthorn for past 2 weeks. Just got done with Tesla chat online, another Robert, he has no idea the car has been returned and asks me to call or go to MDR location.

I don’t consider myself a Tesla fanboy, but maybe an enthusiast?
So when I show my model 3 to friends and family, I don’t want to have to say “sorry, mine has a glitching touchscreen, let me reboot, wait 2 minutes, then we’ll go for a test drive and show you how cool model 3 is, and why you should get one...”

Come on Tesla! Refund me soon, let me move forward with a clean 2nd model 3!

 

[ngogas]

Lemon; get another one.

 

[patrick80132]

Colorado has a lemon law. It could come into play with any Tesla owners in Colorado I suspect.

"When a new vehicle has been purchased with a manufacturer’s warranty and it has a defect that substantially impairs its use and market value within one year of purchase and that defect is not repaired after a “reasonable number of attempts,” the consumer may have recourse under Colorado’s Lemon Law. A court may order the manufacturer to replace the vehicle or refund the purchase price minus a reasonable allowance for use of the vehicle. Under the law, a “reasonable number of attempts” to repair a defect applies when the same defect remains after it has been subject to repair four (4) or more times within the first year after the date of original delivery. It also applies when the vehicle is out of service for repairs for a cumulative total of thirty (30) or more business days during the warranty term or one year after original delivery, whichever comes first."

 

[S2M3]

OP here with an update:

No refund yet. The car was returned on 4/26 at MDR location where it was originally delivered per return instructions.
I went back on 5/8 to ask about refund status and they have no idea, told me to call or email or chat with Tesla financial online.

I couldn’t wait anymore so I ordered another/replacement model 3 at the Pasadena store. Hoping to get help from new Tesla advisor to get status on refund, while ordering.

According to phone app, the return model 3 has been sitting in parking lot in Hawthorn for past 2 weeks. Just got done with Tesla chat online, another Robert, he has no idea the car has been returned and asks me to call or go to MDR location.

I don’t consider myself a Tesla fanboy, but maybe an enthusiast?
So when I show my model 3 to friends and family, I don’t want to have to say “sorry, mine has a glitching touchscreen, let me reboot, wait 2 minutes, then we’ll go for a test drive and show you how cool model 3 is, and why you should get one...”

Come on Tesla! Refund me soon, let me move forward with a clean 2nd model 3!

Did you get your refund!??

 

[SantaMonicaBum]

Did you get your refund!??

Yes I did. Returned on 4/26, received funds back to bank and credit card on 5/30.

Got my 2nd model 3 on same day and now that car is in the service center now!

Tesla Model 3 #2 had 197 miles on it and quit on me on the freeway Sunday, had to get it towed.

WTF! I have the worst luck with Tesla!!

#2 was made/born on 5/25/2019.

So far, service advisor in Burbank said its likely a complete replacement battery pack. Initial diagnosis is that the battery is not communicating with the car. Online search show 2 cases similar error messages/symptoms for model 3s had battery pack replacement.

Sunday 6/2 morning drive, had my girlfriend drive model 3 #2 as she never had the chance to test drive #1 before I returned it. Went up to Angeles crest hwy, CA2, which is a twisty mountain/canyon rode that I like to ride my motorcycle on. She drove it up the road and I drove it back down. Not error messages when girlfriend drove. When I drove it back, I got the following error messages:
Car needs service, can not charge
Car needs service, reduced power, car may not restart. These messages kept popping up for 10-15 minutes. I tried to do soft, and hard reboot. No bueno.
Kept driving to supercharger location to try to confirm if it can charge or not. and on the way there on 210 and 2 freeway interchange, it car said: “car shutting down, pull over safety” which I did not ignore and pulled over.

The car would not go into D or R, after being put in P. Called Tesla roadside, took almost 2 hours for flatbed truck to show up. CHP stopped asked me what’s wrong, why am I stopped, and waited with me till tow truck showed.

Note: during my phone call with roadside assistance, the car did reset or reboot, or something where my seats went into easy entry mode, and I was able to shift and drive the car again. I asked the roadside on phone if I should drive off, they said it was up to me, but those error messages needs to be checkout by service.

Got flatbed towed to Burbank on Sunday, service is actually open! Nick helped me said it’s could be software, which is a 2 day fix, needing me to authorize 50 mile test drive. I’m like, sure, do I have the option to say no? Or complete battery pack replacement at 1.5 to 2 weeks.

I’m ubering on Tesla’s voucher now. $100 max per day, no loaner or rental (was told undergoing Enterprise contact) so only Uber credit available.

Going to call service center this afternoon for update

-the unluckest model 3 owner ever! (So I feel)

 

[jamessmooth007]

I’m ubering on Tesla’s voucher now

Yuck! sorry to hear about this experience man. Just awful... also disappointed to hear you didn't at least get a Tesla loaner. Would hate having to Uber around everywhere.
You gonna keep going with Tesla, or are you done? I could understand if you just called it quits and got a different car.

 

[Uncle Paul]

With Tesla turning out 5,000 cars a week, somebody is going to get a lemon. Nature of mass producing a complicated product like an automobile.

While most owners will have an enjoyable experience, from time to time someone is going to get a problematic delivery.

Horrible when it happens, but it happens with every complicated product ever made.

Hope it sorts out, and sorry you have to be going through an uncomfortable and unsatisfactory experience.

Everyone hopes to be one of the smooth experiences, but everyone also worries they might end up being "that guy"

 

[CarlK]

You could just have Tesla to fix the sreen instead of returning it the first time around. Remember you might not be able to have another shot if Tesla thinks your return is not reasonable of if you are abusing the system. Companies like Costco or Amazon all have very liberal return policy but they will also kick out people who they deem to not be worthy customers. Tesla's return policy is nice for people who found out the car is not for them but still tread the water more carefully for little things you described. I'm pretty sure you will not get another one if you return it one more time. Although I think the best thing for you to do is to return #2 and never buy a Tesla again. You are indeed the unluckiest one as far as a Tesla car is involved.

 

[SantaMonicaBum]

You could just have Tesla to fix the sreen instead of returning it the first time around. Remember you might not be able to have another shot if Tesla thinks your return is not reasonable of if you are abusing the system. Companies like Costco or Amazon all have very liberal return policy but they will also kick out people who they deem to not be worthy customers. Tesla's return policy is nice for people who found out the car is not for them but still tread the water more carefully for little things you described. I'm pretty sure you will not get another one if you return it one more time. Although I think the best thing for you to do is to return #2 and never buy a Tesla again. You are indeed the unluckiest one as far as a Tesla car is involved.

I did try to get Tesla service center to replace or repair my first model 3 with the faulty touchscreen. Detailed in the original posting, day 6 car was supposedly repaired with forced software update at service center. It didn’t fix the problem. I returned to same service center on day 7, telling them it that, they told me it’s STILL a software update issue and REFUSED to consider it a hardware problem, thus resulting me I returning car #1.

I will try to keep this car, model 3 #2, hopefully I’ll get it back within 2 weeks with battery pack replacement and all’s well forever. Called today and they are still investigating with Fremont engineering. If it takes too long, I might loose interest and call it quits on model 3. Or if it needs multiple repairs afterwards, I might get pissed and lemon law the car. Don’t know, not too impressed with Tesla right now.

At this point, I think Tesla owes me ...

abusing return policy? Please... you know what a PITA getting #1 refund was!?

 

[MrBrightside]

You could just have Tesla to fix the sreen instead of returning it the first time around. Remember you might not be able to have another shot if Tesla thinks your return is not reasonable of if you are abusing the system. Companies like Costco or Amazon all have very liberal return policy but they will also kick out people who they deem to not be worthy customers. Tesla's return policy is nice for people who found out the car is not for them but still tread the water more carefully for little things you described. I'm pretty sure you will not get another one if you return it one more time. Although I think the best thing for you to do is to return #2 and never buy a Tesla again. You are indeed the unluckiest one as far as a Tesla car is involved.

LOL...as desperate for sales as Tesla is right now, I don’t think they’ll be turning away any customers. They don’t have that luxury.

 

[CarlK]

LOL...as desperate for sales as Tesla is right now, I don’t think they’ll be turning away any customers. They don’t have that luxury.

Or you mean it's loaded with cash it can afford to lose more money to sell a car? Didn't you people always say it loses money for every car it sells already?

 

[super20g]

I wouldn't keep car #2 if it needed a battery pack replacement right out of the gate (unless they comped you FSD or something substantial), but I know another return is a pita for you.

 

[SantaMonicaBum]

I wouldn't keep car #2 if it needed a battery pack replacement right out of the gate (unless they comped you FSD or something substantial), but I know another return is a pita for you.

Why not?

Is a model 3 with a repacement battery pack not as good as a new one from factory? What do I need to know or watch out for here?

I don’t expect to be comp’d, as a long term TSLA stock owner, I’m not looking to screw over them company.

Just want what I paid for, a functioning Model 3.

Or you mean it's loaded with cash it can afford to lose more money to sell a car? Didn't you people always say it loses money for every car it sells already?

Do you all not see this is Tesla’s own doing? It’s not me the buyer, returning perfectly good cars for fun!

Put out some Quality cars Tesla! I’m at 0/2!

My model 3 #1 would have been lemon law’d, it had 1 unsuccessful (maybe counted as 2 repair request) repair for faulty touchscreen. 3 more unsuccessful firmware/software repair would qualify for lemon law return. #1 was almost certainly going down this path, in someways I didn’t want that for that car or Tesla. Thus, I choose the 7day refund.

I’m almost at the end of my patience with Tesla, and if you read all of my postings this thread, most of you would say I’ve given Tesla more than a fair shot.

For fun, here’s #2 on flat bed. 197 miles on it, at Burbank service center.

 

[super20g]

Replacing the battery pack won't hurt the car or anything, but I wouldn't want to start my ownership experience like that. Them giving you FSD to deal with 2 bad cars isn't hurting the company if you didn't have plans to spend the money on that option... If you don't want anything, then that is perfectly fine. My time is valuable and I expect to be paid for dealing with faulty products. I am also 2 hrs away from service and have taken over a week off work so far in 9 months of ownership and every time they touch it something else is damaged or goes wrong. Best wishes getting it repaired in a timely fashion and having no future issues.