Late 2016 / Early 2017 S Owners: How Are Your Daytime Running Lights Holding Up?

[Bill_75D]

"Any Parts repaired or replaced under the Tesla New Vehicle Limited Warranty, Tesla Used Vehicle Limited Warranty, or an active Tesla Service Plan is covered for the duration of that applicable warranty or plan, and does not extend beyond that duration."

Crazy. I've never heard of any other auto manufacturer with a policy like that.

Tesla does everything they can to be unlike a traditional auto manufacturer. Even if it screws the customer.

 

[jfoxny]

I know forums are biased towards people complaining about issues, but, it feels to me that Tesla might have a real issue on their hands with these headlights. I got into a front-end collision a couple of months ago and the replacement headlight the Tesla-certified body shop got from Tesla arrived with a faulty DRL. Luckily the body shop caught it before returning the car to me, but, they had to wait for another one which delayed the repair slightly. So, that now makes three faulty DRLs for me (my original two headlights and now this replacement). I will say that they've taken care of me each time the DRL failed, but, it's still kind of a pain. I wonder at what point do they recall them?

 

[ucmndd]

I wonder at what point do they recall them?

Recalls are for safety issues, not visual defects.

You might be able to contort DRLs into a safety issue if you twist hard enough, but I don't think that argument is going to hold much water.

 

[ahkahn]

I think they all burn out around 40-50k miles. Both model s owners I know have their eyebrows out and replaced. I wonder if the new units are any more durable.

They're not. I had both burn out at 50k on the nose and both were replaced under warranty early this year. 4 months later I just had one of those fail... and just replaced a few weeks ago under warranty again.

 

[Snowstorm]

They're not. I had both burn out at 50k on the nose and both were replaced under warranty early this year. 4 months later I just had one of those fail... and just replaced a few weeks ago under warranty again.

How did you get warranty work done after 50k, did you buy extended warranty? Or was it good will due to the part failing so soon after?

 

[Bill_75D]

Recalls are for safety issues, not visual defects.

You might be able to contort DRLs into a safety issue if you twist hard enough, but I don't think that argument is going to hold much water.

It might hold water in countries where DRLs are required by law.

 

[_jal_]

It might hold water in countries where DRLs are required by law.

And it’d be nice if you could turn them off in countries that don’t.

 

[_jal_]

Electrically it isn’t just the drl strip/LED/CFL whatever. The last one of mine that went out affected the turn signal too eventually. If the drl was on (either cuz the headlights were on or range mode off), my turn signal would flake out and “double click” intermittently. So I wouldn’t have an indication if the signal on the outside was actually blinking or not. And no AP functions that need a turn signal would work.

Something is jacked up w the design and I wish they’d fix it. This is definitely in my “cons” column of getting another MS in my big chart of “should I get a another MS or a new M3”

 

[ucmndd]

And it’d be nice if you could turn them off in countries that don’t.

Turn on range mode.

 

[_jal_]

Turn on range mode.

That only works until the headlights turn on, and it’s certainly just a workaround. It would be nice if you could just turn them off like the fog lights

 

[buzescu]

My June 18 MS is in service today for the right one...

 

[ahkahn]

How did you get warranty work done after 50k, did you buy extended warranty? Or was it good will due to the part failing so soon after?

The latter. It was because the part failed so soon after replacement.

 

[Rhyder]

June 2016 MS. Passenger side DRL went out within 1 month of delivery and was replaced under warranty. Driver side went out February 2018 and was replaced with customer pay $1203. Tech said it was due to a known supplier issue, but he was replacing with an upgraded unit and I shouldn't have any more problems. However, driver side just went out again...

 

[OrbiterTI4]

Interesting to note that all of the reported DRL failures seem to be associated with the new LED headlights.
Did the DRL technology change ... the original style HID headlights with DRL seem to be bulletproof with no reported failures.

Sorry to dig up an old quote, but as a May 2015 owner with the old style who just suffered a failure on the drivers side DRL, wanted to say you new owners are not alone in your suffering.

 

[Cheburashka]

My other side started going out. So basically now both sides failed around 35K..

 

[cruiserlarry]

I had my driver side replaced about 10k miles ago, and now with 49k, I just noticed the passenger side is starting to fail...so I'm going to set up an appointment to have it replaced before replacement before the warranty runs out...

 

[nomis_nehc]

I am going to be on my 4th set. The car just turned 1 years old. This is seriously unacceptable.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

I am going to be on my 4th set. The car just turned 1 years old. This is seriously unacceptable.

That’s crazy. How come they can’t fix this? Tesla should have a few reps on the forum to answer simple questions like this. Like is Tesla planning on supporting their older fleet? Because right now it doesn’t look like they are planning on it, but if they are, maybe they could speak up and let us know when and how they are planning on it. Or are they just going to continue to take away range and functionality without any explanation? Sorry about your headlights.

 

[g1000x]

I’ve had both DRL’s replaced in 1 year of ownership. And, my driver side just yellowed out again near the bottom corner, same spot as last time. This will be the second replacement for that DRL.

 

[jjanov79]

My car will be in tomorrow for it’s 3rd replacement. 2017 with 42k miles.