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

[DrChaos]

San Francisco's minimum wage is $16.99. I'm in a relatively low cost of living location and Walmart is paying people $18 an hour straight out of h.s.Tesla should be ashamed.

Quality Inspector - Fremont (Day Shift) | Tesla Careers

Apply for the Quality Inspector - Fremont (Day Shift) position in Fremont, California.

www.tesla.com

$19/hour and no education experience. This is partly due to why Tesla's QC sucks

I've always thought that one issue for Tesla quality is the high cost of living in California Bay Area. If you pay bottom of the market for the region you will get bottom people.

The relative wages for Shanghai plant vs the area median is probably much higher, and will also be so in Austin (though less so given the exploding housing market), and that will get better people.

 

[Gulfcoaster]

I've always thought that one issue for Tesla quality is the high cost of living in California Bay Area. If you pay bottom of the market for the region you will get bottom people.

The relative wages for Shanghai plant vs the area median is probably much higher, and will also be so in Austin (though less so given the exploding housing market), and that will get better people.

Hi DrChaos,

Valid assessment. That, and I've heard the Fremont plant is a dated decrepit dump with antiquated machinery. I personally know of NO other cars manufactured today in the US or elsewhere that exhibit such poor fit & finish.

 

[heavyD]

What's funny is that I have heard a lot of owners on their 2nd Teslas that claim build quality has improved. If that's the case I shudder to think about the build quality of earlier cars. They must have been really, really bad.

 

[Brou]

I've always thought that one issue for Tesla quality is the high cost of living in California Bay Area. If you pay bottom of the market for the region you will get bottom people.

The relative wages for Shanghai plant vs the area median is probably much higher, and will also be so in Austin (though less so given the exploding housing market), and that will get better people.

I can't even imagine how someone can live on less than $40k a year in an area where the average house price is $1.5 million. The QC inspectors probably struggle to focus on work while they are busy trying to figure out how not to be homeless.

 

[Frank Langella]

What's the success rate on getting Tesla to fix factory paint problems? Mine has some dirt in the (red) paint on the hood and scratches and uneven paint on the bumper cover (can't tell whether it's not enough paint, or too much of one of the multicoat layers).

Stings a little bit to pay an extra $2000 for paint and get a pretty shoddy paint job.

 

[Gulfcoaster]

What's the success rate on getting Tesla to fix factory paint problems? Mine has some dirt in the (red) paint on the hood and scratches and uneven paint on the bumper cover (can't tell whether it's not enough paint, or too much of one of the multicoat layers).

Stings a little bit to pay an extra $2000 for paint and get a pretty shoddy paint job.

Hi Frank,

We rejected our red 2022 M3P a week and a half ago. Still no clue what's next.... crickets as usual from Tesla. The paint was heinous to say the least. Almost zero clear coat on the trunk hatch. Runs in the paint on the passenger side rear door. Drivers side doors almost hitting each other in the closed position. Front bumper not attached properly...list goes on. We walked!!

 

[BigNick]

Hi Frank,

We rejected our red 2022 M3P a week and a half ago. Still no clue what's next.... crickets as usual from Tesla. The paint was heinous to say the least. Almost zero clear coat on the trunk hatch. Runs in the paint on the passenger side rear door. Drivers side doors almost hitting each other in the closed position. Front bumper not attached properly...list goes on. We walked!!

Explains why they went with unpainted stainless for the CyberTruck, except for the doors almost hitting each other. But they'd be a few thousandths further apart without paint, LOL.

Tesla will probably just pawn your reject off on someone else. Rejects should be added to a demo/loaner fleet instead.

 

[Brou]

Hi Frank,

We rejected our red 2022 M3P a week and a half ago. Still no clue what's next.... crickets as usual from Tesla. The paint was heinous to say the least. Almost zero clear coat on the trunk hatch. Runs in the paint on the passenger side rear door. Drivers side doors almost hitting each other in the closed position. Front bumper not attached properly...list goes on. We walked!!

Good God, who the hell do they employ at their factories?!

 

[Gulfcoaster]

Explains why they went with unpainted stainless for the CyberTruck, except for the doors almost hitting each other. But they'd be a few thousandths further apart without paint, LOL.

Tesla will probably just pawn your reject off on someone else. Rejects should be added to a demo/loaner fleet instead.

They probably will pawn it to some poor 8astard....But you'd have to be 90%+ blind to not see the blatant issues with it.

 

[Gulfcoaster]

Good God, who the hell do they employ at their factories?!

$19 an hour high school dropouts that could care less about producing a quality product. Sure an occasional few cars leave the factory where all the stars aligned and the car is acceptable. But I have been to 3 delivery centers in the past 2 months and looked closely at countless Tesla's including 3's, S's, X and Y's. I saw one Y that I would have taken if I wanted a Y, I don't. The rest of the cars all had paint and assembly issues, including every single Plaid!!!!

 

[SanCarlosJeff]

$19 an hour high school dropouts that could care less about producing a quality product. Sure an occasional few cars leave the factory where all the stars aligned and the car is acceptable. But I have been to 3 delivery centers in the past 2 months and looked closely at countless Tesla's including 3's, S's, X and Y's. I saw one Y that I would have taken if I wanted a Y, I don't. The rest of the cars all had paint and assembly issues, including every single Plaid!!!!

Elon claims he wants to improve the Service organization. Step 1 should be improving outgoing quality since a huge part of the load on Service is repairing new vehicles. Many years ago I was taught an acronym when my company at the time was trying to make shipment quotas for the quarter. SSAR, Stands for Ship S**t And Retrofit. Unfortunately, Tesla has been in SSAR mode for years now.

 

[Gulfcoaster]

You are absolutely correct SanCarlosJeff,

Its crystal clear that there is no final inspection upon Tesla's leaving the factory. Tesla corporate has overwhelmed their own service centers with field repairs to cars that haven't even been accepted for delivery yet. Its no secret that the automotive world knows all about Tesla's terrible fit & finish. A simple google search of "Tesla quality control" proves this. BUT.......in the end, those on this forum are a small small percentage of total Tesla owners, and I'm betting that a high percentage of Tesla (and other brands) don't even know what a car forum is.

I don't think Tesla's business model of SSAR is changing, ever.

 

[bro1999]

Did this guy get laid off?

Meet the Tesla employee who gets paid to test drive cars around a race track all day

Jeff Hickethier is a Tesla quality inspector whose team drives vehicles that come off the assembly line.

www.businessinsider.com

 

[DrChaos]

Hi DrChaos,

Valid assessment. That, and I've heard the Fremont plant is a dated decrepit dump with antiquated machinery. I personally know of NO other cars manufactured today in the US or elsewhere that exhibit such poor fit & finish.

One datum: I just picked up my car this weekend, M3LR. I didn't find anything other than the rear trunk stamping doesn't appear to be perfectly shaped. I think this is a machinery/stamping problem, not an assembly labor problem.

 

[Gulfcoaster]

One datum: I just picked up my car this weekend, M3LR. I didn't find anything other than the rear trunk stamping doesn't appear to be perfectly shaped. I think this is a machinery/stamping problem, not an assembly labor problem.

Yeah, some trunk stampings mirror the curvature of the C pillar rear qtrs fine, others are way off either on both sides or one side.

Having said that, this should have been addressed at the factory, if the consumers have spotted this, surely someone in the factory has, they just don't give a ****

 

[DrChaos]

Yeah, some trunk stampings mirror the curvature of the C pillar rear qtrs fine, others are way off either on both sides or one side.

Having said that, this should have been addressed at the factory, if the consumers have spotted this, surely someone in the factory has, they just don't give a ****

Agree, but fixing that is difficult and expensive. I was looking at rears of other cars, and none have the 'wings' going out on the trunk stamping, i.e. the part of the trunk which goes "out" and ends in a triangular point. I suspect it's a design/manufacturing defect. The more bends from a flat sheet of steel the more difficult to keep dimensions and more wear on the die & tools. Other cars would have the boundary go straight back from window frame to trunk, without the turned 'wings' on the side being connected to the trunk/hatch piece. Compare specifically to the rear on the BMW i4.

It was probably done for aesthetics or aerodynamics, but I suspect it makes the piece difficult to form well, particularly after the stamping die has been used so many times. There have to be two separate creases at least, one to turn down the trunk itself, and then to turn back up the 'wings'. Maybe that just doesn't work right. Apparently wear of the stamping forms is a big deal in the auto industry and the tesla line has a huge volume compared to most. Remanufacturing and installing the dies would be very expensive and have significant downtime, and might not fix the issue which is that this sort of piece can't be stamped accurately.

I'm not an expert in this subject so I'd appreciate any insight from someone who is. But it did strike me as suspicious as every small misalignment I saw on my new car could be explained by one thing: the rear trunk stamped metal shape.

 

[Gulfcoaster]

Agree, but fixing that is difficult and expensive. I was looking at rears of other cars, and none have the 'wings' going out on the trunk stamping, i.e. the part of the trunk which goes "out" and ends in a triangular point. I suspect it's a design/manufacturing defect. The more bends from a flat sheet of steel the more difficult to keep dimensions and more wear on the die & tools. Other cars would have the boundary go straight back from window frame to trunk, without the turned 'wings' on the side being connected to the trunk/hatch piece. Compare specifically to the rear on the BMW i4.

It was probably done for aesthetics or aerodynamics, but I suspect it makes the piece difficult to form well, particularly after the stamping die has been used so many times. There have to be two separate creases at least, one to turn down the trunk itself, and then to turn back up the 'wings'. Maybe that just doesn't work right. Apparently wear of the stamping forms is a big deal in the auto industry and the tesla line has a huge volume compared to most. Remanufacturing and installing the dies would be very expensive and have significant downtime, and might not fix the issue which is that this sort of piece can't be stamped accurately.

I'm not an expert in this subject so I'd appreciate any insight from someone who is. But it did strike me as suspicious as every small misalignment I saw on my new car could be explained by one thing: the rear trunk stamped metal shape.

Send some pics when possible. Where Tesla is looking like fools is that no other manufacturer today that I'm aware of is having or exhibiting fit and finish issues like Tesla is, hell even Jeeps, F150's, Kia, etc...are ALL producing a beautifully assembled car.

 

[CreoUCLA]

Where Tesla is looking like fools is that no other manufacturer today that I'm aware of is having or exhibiting fit and finish issues like Tesla is, hell even Jeeps, F150's, Kia, etc...are ALL producing a beautifully assembled car.

Legacy auto makers have issues these days, too. This is a comparison of the a-pillars on my 2021 Toyota Tacoma, which also came with a slightly misaligned tailgate/trailer hitch...

 

[Gulfcoaster]

Legacy auto makers have issues these days, too. This is a comparison of the a-pillars on my 2021 Toyota Tacoma, which also came with a slightly misaligned tailgate/trailer hitch...

That's highly unusual for a Toyota, at least from what I've seen. I owned a 4Runner, Tacoma, and not quite a year ago bought a few Corollas for delivery vehicles. All were perfect.

 

[dnstommy]

That's highly unusual for a Toyota, at least from what I've seen. I owned a 4Runner, Tacoma, and not quite a year ago bought a few Corollas for delivery vehicles. All were perfect.

Prius. 2 Highlanders and a Tacoma, those cars are so well built. Loved those things. Picking up my model Y broke my heart.