How Many Owners Would Buy Again, Given the latest fire information?

[qwk]

Honestly, I bought my car at the very beginning(old pricing), and after the test drive thought to myself "this car is way too cheap for what you get". I would have paid twice what I did. Of course, Tesla figured this out fairly quickly.

I would suspect that once somebody has driven a Model S for a few months, it would be extremely difficult to go back to any other car.

The recent fires don't bother me a bit, in fact I see it as plenty of used parts becoming available for when my car is out of warranty(I work on all my own stuff).

 

[loganss]

I'd buy again in a heart beat. If the battery on the underside is a "design flaw" that has allowed all drivers in the car to escape all accidents reported so far, sign me up for some more "design flaws". With all that stored energy a fire with any transportation vehicle is bound to happen. So far Tesla has the most controlled fires of vehicles I can think of thanks to the great engineering. Sure they could shield the underside some more but you can't engineer out everything just most.

 

[davecolene0606]

We hit this the other night, bout 45mph, 2 flats on pax side, called Tesla roadside, they had flatbeded to Dania. Car inspected, tires replaced and car returned next day. $$ for,the tires, that's it!
(60kw STD suspension 21" wheels)

We have a Sig and this one. Tesla has been flawless in execution and the safety of the vehicle just keeps being reinforced IMHO.

+1 on you couldn't pry them our cold dead hands!

Cheers!

Dave & Colene

 

[Krugerrand]

We hit this the other night, bout 45mph, 2 flats on pax side, called Tesla roadside, they had flatbeded to Dania. Car inspected, tires replaced and car returned next day. $$ for,the tires, that's it!
(60kw STD suspension 21" wheels)

We have a Sig and this one. Tesla has been flawless in execution and the safety of the vehicle just keeps being reinforced IMHO.

+1 on you couldn't pry them our cold dead hands!

Cheers!

Dave & Colene

Clearly, you lack serious skills at driving over debris if all that happened was needing some new tires after driving over that. :biggrin:

 

[100thMonkey]

I would have no reservations about buying again. that said, Tesla needs to react very differently this time around. rather than trying to explain this away as a statical anomaly, they need to be proactive, suggest that real world use has, despite all the extensive testing and amazing test scores, revealed a vulnerability to the battery pack. They need to find a way to reinforce the underside of the vehicle, or in some other way drastically reduce the likelihood of armor puncture leading to battery fire. a retrofit is likely in order, that will apply to all cars, essentially, I hate to say it, a recall. This is not to make the fans like me happy, it is what will be required by the nervous nanny public to keep selling the product.

Also, IMHO, they should make the back door handles mechanical, like the front, so that exit during an emergency is more intuitive... a pull tab is rather difficult to get to when it's the parent trying to reach a child in a car seat... says the father of a 2.5 and 4.5 year old.

 

[epley]

For the record, you couldn't pry my car out of my cold, dead hands!

Ditto.

 

[neroden]

I think it goes beyond just being electric - it's a chance to take Tesla down off its high pedestal of glowing reviews, NHTSA rating, and rapidly appreciated stock price, like Broder tried to do. The daggers are more out for Tesla than Leaf or Volt.

If it gives me a chance to buy more TSLA stock at a cheap price, I won't complain.

 

[glhs272]

To those who voted "No", care to share why?

 

[tomas]

I would have no reservations about buying again. that said, Tesla needs to react very differently this time around. rather than trying to explain this away as a statical anomaly, they need to be proactive, suggest that real world use has, despite all the extensive testing and amazing test scores, revealed a vulnerability to the battery pack. They need to find a way to reinforce the underside of the vehicle, or in some other way drastically reduce the likelihood of armor puncture leading to battery fire. a retrofit is likely in order, that will apply to all cars, essentially, I hate to say it, a recall. This is not to make the fans like me happy, it is what will be required by the nervous nanny public to keep selling the product.

Also, IMHO, they should make the back door handles mechanical, like the front, so that exit during an emergency is more intuitive... a pull tab is rather difficult to get to when it's the parent trying to reach a child in a car seat... says the father of a 2.5 and 4.5 year old.

Respectfully, I would modify your admonition to Tesla. They should look into reinforcing in order to reduce the probability of road debris causing a total loss of car. Be that from fire, or otherwise damaged battery and other components. I'm just tired of the obsession with fire. It should be about safety of the passenger first and second, and repairability of the car third. Fire is a four letter word that just isn't in the equation for me.

 

[lolachampcar]

I'm a yes.

I sent Ownership an email asking for some ammunition. Specifically, I asked them to generate some high end ICE (MB, BMW, Audi,,) fire data per mile compared to our current experience with MS. I'm increasingly getting questions about fires and it would be helpful to have properly referenced data to compare the two. I would think everyone on the customer interface side for Tesla could use this as well.

In the interim, I'll continue to explain that all occupants were given ample warning of an issue and were able to exit before there was a fire. I'll also point out that, unlike ICE, the MS' in question were all relatively undamaged and all passenger compartments were intact. Most ICE are reduced to smoldering piles of trash and in very short order.

 

[mep]

For me the question is not so much how many Tesla's burst into flames and whether Elon then claims that the car is less likely to catch fire than an ICE. The real issue is not how many cars are on the road and catch fire in an accident but how many cars that are involved in a car crash go up in flames. I do not have the exact number just an estimate: There are about 11 million car accidents in the US per year (http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2012/tables/12s1103.pdf). I am not sure how many of them actually involve a crash, let's say half of them. That is 5.5 million. We heard that there are about 150,000 car fires a year. That translates into one car fire for every 37 crashes. So the real question is how many Model S have crashed and how many times did they catch fire. If more than 100 of the 19,000 Model S out there have been involved in a crash than the Model S would be as likely to catch fire in a crash as an ICE. No big deal. That would certainly not affect my decision to buy a Model S again. If more than 500 MS were in an accident then Elon would be right that the MS is 5 times less likely than an ICE to catch fire. Without these numbers I can actually see people right now being hesitant. So if Elon wanted to really put out a meaningful number this is what Tesla should do assuming that total crash numbers are available. I assume that they have these numbers since they should have the means to monitor every single MS ever made.

Oh, I forgot to give my vote. Yes, I would buy one again. Love it and I feel safe but Tesla could do a little more to address these fire cases (see above).

 

[Todd Burch]

To those who voted "No", care to share why?

Since only one voted no...we can't use "those" .

 

[AWDtsla]

Somehow my X5 driving friend made fun of the Tesla fires. Even though his engine is leaking oil and power steering fluid all over the place and the BMW dealer quoted him at $6000 to fix. That thing could go up in flames any minute... He's been seen driving down the road with a trail of smoke behind him.

Can't rationalize with the irrational.

 

[neroden]

Having had a gas tank damaged by a collision with nothing more than a hunk of ice, requiring a total replacement (costs ~$5000 IIRC), I really think the Model S holds up better than that ICE. It takes a *much worse* collision with a piece of *metal* debris to penetrate the battery pack, it seems.

 

[Andrew]

I would absolutely without hesitation buy again.

This was an ACCIDENT. All these incidents were the result of an accident. Not some spontaneous combustion event.

In any accident situation, results are unpredictable depending on the nature of the accident. But in all of these fire-relates accident it still comes down to a BAD driver running over road debris or not paying attention and crashing.

Regardless of those BAD drivers, in every single Tesla accident, fires and no fires, and regardless if whose fault the accident even was, not a single Tesla occupant has died or been significantly injured in any way.

This fire doesn't change anything. This still remains the safest car in the world. It is still innovative and many many ways and unbelievably awesome to drive.

I love my S. And I can't wait to add an X to my garage some day too.

Yes, yes, yes!

 

[Merrill]

Personally this whole subject of Tesla fires have been over blown in a big way. Anything can happen when you are driving on the highway in a car going 60 miles an hour with 4500 lbs of metal. Cars crash and burn everyday, why is it that Tesla gets so much bad press when a few of its cars drive over some heavy metal. To me it is more of the media looking for a story that they can peddle to the general public. This does not in anyway change my view of the car and the people that will not buy this car because of this media hype should probably not own a car like this. Let's move on to something more important like do not drink Merlot, you must drink Pinot Noir!!!!!

 

[Wenche]

No second thoughts, I love my Model S 85+, have a reservation for Model X, and hope I will get reservation #01 of Model E for Europe:smile:

 

[STxTesla]

I question my purchase of the Model S ... not due to the news on the fires but because of my personal experience with the tire wear on the inside tread of my rear tires. I could have easily gone without replacing the tires and ended up in a blowout at high speed but I was lucky. A couple in a parking lot pointed out that my right rear tire looked low and that I should have it checked out. Had that not occurred....I may have had a bad experience. I had received warnings about my tire pressures that was initially false...so I did not trust subsequent warnings about low tire pressure, so I know now that I need to check tire pressures at least every other week for safety's sake. This tire safety factor and the fact that I had to replace my rear tires at ~ 8000 miles had me thinking about replacing my Model S with a BMW 5 series diesel. I have definitely had thoughts of selling my Signature Series Model S because of the tire safety issue. (PMs with offers may be considered).

 

[Shumdit]

To those who voted "No", care to share why?

I hope that person will have the nerve to post his/her feelings as to why it's a no for them and I hope we as a group can refrain from attacking them for their viewpoint. Then again, it could just be BillHamp or another non-owner trolling around.

 

[Duckjybe]

First, how many times have I run over debris that could cause significant damage to my car? Not once in 31 years. The probability of this happening is close to nil. Second, I know I will be fine. Third, no one should criticize the safety of Model S until they have watched all the NHTSA crash test videos. I have seen them all and the Model S fairs unbelievably well in all of them. Is it invincible? No. But I feel very safe driving my family in it. This issue is way overblown.