Delivery / Service Issues (panel gaps, delivery delays / issues / Service problems etc)

[TBrownTX]

Reading this thread makes me a bit uncertain about my order.. I will have around 2-3 hour ride to my closest SC.

Suspect this is the minority of Tesla owners. 30 pages of issues, versus 2,389 pages across waiting room topics for the three model 3 variants. Mine had a couple of very minor issues no normal person would have ever noticed, and I'm a certified national car show judge with the Mustang Club of America.

While there are certainly cars that come out with issues, many pictured here, the vast majority are well built or have minor issues no one would notice without knowing to look for them. I think much of it can be chalked up to urban legend at this point, no matter how good Tesla gets and panel gaps and paint, people will forever be hyper-analyzing and pointing out issues because of past performance.

I think if Tesla could up the QC check game at the Service Centers to be on-par with traditional dealership delivery prep, things would be good. I do think the rush to manufacture does result in legit QC issues as they are unnderstaffed when it comes to Service Centers and delivery.

When you car arrives, give it the same quality check as you would any other new car you have ever purchased, no more, no less. Walk around, check the paint, look for damage, look it over. If you have never shown up with a 30 page checklist when picking up a car, don't start now.

TIm

 

[byteme]

Suspect this is the minority of Tesla owners. 30 pages of issues, versus 2,389 pages across waiting room topics for the three model 3 variants. Mine had a couple of very minor issues no normal person would have ever noticed, and I'm a certified national car show judge with the Mustang Club of America.

While there are certainly cars that come out with issues, many pictured here, the vast majority are well built or have minor issues no one would notice without knowing to look for them. I think much of it can be chalked up to urban legend at this point, no matter how good Tesla gets and panel gaps and paint, people will forever be hyper-analyzing and pointing out issues because of past performance.

I think if Tesla could up the QC check game at the Service Centers to be on-par with traditional dealership delivery prep, things would be good. I do think the rush to manufacture does result in legit QC issues as they are unnderstaffed when it comes to Service Centers and delivery.

When you car arrives, give it the same quality check as you would any other new car you have ever purchased, no more, no less. Walk around, check the paint, look for damage, look it over. If you have never shown up with a 30 page checklist when picking up a car, don't start now.

TIm

That is true. Thank you for the eye-opener. I think I overthink as it is a big purchase for me. I am very pedant, however I don't wanna obsess over this stuff too much.

 

[Syphher]

Welp, thought I was in the clear but after having taken delivery of my car in June, having a full PPF wrap done and only having drove 2700km I noticed today at the car wash that the rear passenger bumper seam has paint that is flaking away in the gap. The PPF seems to be holding the rest of it in place. I've scheduled a service appointment so we will see what Tesla says but I am worried that they will give me issues since I have PPF installed (which would be BS anyways).

I have heard that this is a somewhat common problem specifically with the rear right bumper seam. Anyone else have this issue?

 

[holeydonut]

Ugh, I wish this forum allowed people to post panel gap/fitment issues in main threads. Because there's no way the following post will be found by anybody who visits this thread in a week or so. Personally I wish the mods would allow a permanent thread to exist to advise people what to check for upon delivery.

But to anyone reading, one new thing to check is the fitment of the black strip at the bottom of the windows. I didn't measure this when I first took delivery of the car, and now it's too late to submit in the 100 mile report. The flushness seems ok at first glance, but the problem is the parts between the front and rear passenger side door actually "kiss" (rub) when the door is opened and closed.

So you can see the marring the doors have done to the trim as they open/close.

Initially, I only measured the gap of the doors themselves, I didn't measure the trim. I screwed up QA'ing this thing even though I had a tool to do it hah. Anyway, now it's 1,000 miles and Tesla says they will take a look in 30 days since their SC is super backed up. But I'm hoping they'll still repair this under warranty as a manufacturing item.

 

[ebwb]

Here's the pics. Rear bumper cover and A-pillar "triangle" trim not fitted properly.

Not driving the car for now to keep it under 100 miles. Earliest service appointment is three weeks from delivery.

The rear doors have large gaps, but not going to complain because I can't imagine them fixing it. Seems like a common issue, unlike the bumper cover and A-pillar trim.

 

[thewishmaster]

Here's the pics. Rear bumper cover and A-pillar "triangle" trim not fitted properly.

Not driving the car for now to keep it under 100 miles. Earliest service appointment is three weeks from delivery.

I don’t think they care much about keeping it under 100 miles at time of repair so much as “reported and scheduled appointment before 100 miles”

My A pillar is mildly better but I read somewhere on here that they’re basically not touching these (just FYI). I only noticed it recently while trying to figure out why one of the window gaskets at the A pillar makes a clicking noise every time the window comes up

 

[Archenemy]

Here's the pics. Rear bumper cover and A-pillar "triangle" trim not fitted properly.

Not driving the car for now to keep it under 100 miles. Earliest service appointment is three weeks from delivery.

The rear doors have large gaps, but not going to complain because I can't imagine them fixing it. Seems like a common issue, unlike the bumper cover and A-pillar trim.

I don’t think they care much about keeping it under 100 miles at time of repair so much as “reported and scheduled appointment before 100 miles”

My A pillar is mildly better but I read somewhere on here that they’re basically not touching these (just FYI). I only noticed it recently while trying to figure out why one of the window gaskets at the A pillar makes a clicking noise every time the window comes up

Yup. They refused to fix my black mirror “triangle” trim because they stated it’s normal. Sure enough to prove his point, the service advisor went down the lot and all the Teslas had the exact same issue of that trim not being properly seated despite the other side flush. I asked him why and he didnt really have a good answer for me.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Here's the pics. Rear bumper cover and A-pillar "triangle" trim not fitted properly.

Not driving the car for now to keep it under 100 miles. Earliest service appointment is three weeks from delivery.

The rear doors have large gaps, but not going to complain because I can't imagine them fixing it. Seems like a common issue, unlike the bumper cover and A-pillar trim.

As others mentioned, they don't really care if it's over 100 miles by the time you get it there. As long as you clearly documented in the app before 100 miles and scheduled the appointment. Make sure you take screen shots too of your appointment details as a backup in case your appointment gets deleted.

Of course if it's not an inconvenience to wait until then you can do that too. I personally did that for my first appointment, as I still had my original car back then. By the time for the second appointment (they didn't have parts yet for some of the items mentioned in first one), they obviously didn't care I had much more than 100 miles given they see the things mentioned already in my history.

 

[bro1999]

I asked him why and he didnt really have a good answer for me.

"Tesla quality". Lol

Approaching 5k miles in my SR+ 3 and the only "defects" so far are annoying rattles that come and go in the front dash area and above the passenger side window area. Not sure if it's worth reporting to the service center as I don't want them jacking up other stuff trying to fix the rattles.

 

[B401]

Here's the pics. Rear bumper cover and A-pillar "triangle" trim not fitted properly.

Not driving the car for now to keep it under 100 miles. Earliest service appointment is three weeks from delivery.

The rear doors have large gaps, but not going to complain because I can't imagine them fixing it. Seems like a common issue, unlike the bumper cover and A-pillar trim.

My bumper is just like that on both sides SC told me within "Spec"

 

[2021pandabear]

Found a scratch and smudge that won't come off on the back of the driver side. Should I bring this up now or together with any other issues I may find in the next couple days? Also would this be a quick fix? TIA!

 

[B401]

Found a scratch and smudge that won't come off on the back of the driver side. Should I bring this up now or together with any other issues I may find in the next couple days? Also would this be a quick fix? TIA!

SC will roll their eyes like did to me I had a few in the back and they said no one will see it, same with a scratch on my dash and a warped rubber trim on my dash

 

[2021pandabear]

SC will roll their eyes like did to me I had a few in the back and they said no one will see it, same with a scratch on my dash and a warped rubber trim on my dash

Well that is an unfortunate response and a bit frustrating. Did you somehow buff them out yourself then? Thanks for sharing your experrience

 

[techlogik]

Suspect this is the minority of Tesla owners. 30 pages of issues, versus 2,389 pages across waiting room topics for the three model 3 variants. Mine had a couple of very minor issues no normal person would have ever noticed, and I'm a certified national car show judge with the Mustang Club of America.

While there are certainly cars that come out with issues, many pictured here, the vast majority are well built or have minor issues no one would notice without knowing to look for them. I think much of it can be chalked up to urban legend at this point, no matter how good Tesla gets and panel gaps and paint, people will forever be hyper-analyzing and pointing out issues because of past performance.

I think if Tesla could up the QC check game at the Service Centers to be on-par with traditional dealership delivery prep, things would be good. I do think the rush to manufacture does result in legit QC issues as they are unnderstaffed when it comes to Service Centers and delivery.

When you car arrives, give it the same quality check as you would any other new car you have ever purchased, no more, no less. Walk around, check the paint, look for damage, look it over. If you have never shown up with a 30 page checklist when picking up a car, don't start now.

TIm

Some fair points. But you know what any other car forum doesn’t have? A section dedicated to delivery and QC issues. Because it is unheard of and very rare.

 

[B401]

Well that is an unfortunate response and a bit frustrating. Did you somehow buff them out yourself then? Thanks for sharing your experrience

No, I just put some 303 aerospace on it which helped it blend in but still there.

 

[holeydonut]

Some fair points. But you know what any other car forum doesn’t have? A section dedicated to delivery and QC issues. Because it is unheard of and very rare.

IMO, I was posting like 15 times a day in the wait threads since those are fun/upbeat threads and it's all silly stuff.

The posts in this QC thread are more specific non-good events. I don't like the idea of comparing post count as some metric for whether QC is an issue.

But the good news is the frequency and severity of the build problems seems to be getting better. But it's nowhere near where Elon pretends it is having claimed customer measuring tools are wrong if a defect is detected.

Plus Tesla still has the worst/thinnest paint in the business. And people don't even talk about paint any more in this thread since it's just so bad across the board it's not even worth posting about any more.

 

[kasul69]

Anyone ever gotta their tail light fixed by SC? when I first picked up mine, the most obvious problem I saw was that the rear right tail light was sticking out. I already went through the SC. They tried, but they just create another problem… by widening the gap on the C pillar near the lift of the trunk.


i tried to fixed it myself, but no dice…

I took off the tail light myself and I do not see anyway to adjust it.

there doesn’t seem to be a way for me to align the tail light without making a big gap on the trunk.

the only thing I can think of is getting a replacement headlight.

 

[DfwGuy]

Has anyone had any issues with recent deliveries having a build-up of paint under the front bumper?

My white M3P has paint goop build-up along the trim that connects the black bottom skidplate to the white bumper. Probably isn't as noticeable on darker colors, but it sticks out with the light to dark contrast when looking from the front. Location of issue circled below.

 

[thatdude902]

Took delivery on Saturday. So far my only issue is some scratches & a couple of chips on the driver door black trim. Decided it bugged me a bit so I made an appointment for the service center in a couple of weeks.

 

[AxelR]

Some fair points. But you know what any other car forum doesn’t have? A section dedicated to delivery and QC issues. Because it is unheard of and very rare.

Funny you say that. I’m on the Ford Raptor forum, awaiting delivery of a truck that was supposedly built back in August, and there is such a thing.
Issues range from dead batteries to leaking coolant and/or transmission lines, bad paint quality, warped doors, etc…