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"...may void your warranty"

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No one in the world is authorized to fix a Tesla drivetrain but a Tesla employee. Arguably no one in the world is able to fix a Tesla but a Tesla employee with the resources of the manual, the engineers in the Bay Area that they send files and batteries to for expert commands on what to do. If you want to fix the car in the way you want at the price you want you have no choice.
A) No one in the world is authorized to fix any drivetrain except an employee of that same company. That's how warranty repairs work. They control manufacturing and repairs, and they only warrant the work that they do. Granted, you could have non-warranty work done on your non-Tesla drivetrain anywhere you like, but if the car is under warranty then why would you elect to pay for repairs in the first place? Yes, manufacturers other than Tesla Motors enjoy a healthy community of third-party service shops, but the fact is that during your warranty you have to go to the OEM dealer service for all warranty work.

B) If you want to do anything the way you want at the price you want then you have no choice. That's a basic fact of economics. The price is set by mutual agreement between the party doing the service and the party paying for the service. There might be market trends for pricing such that you never really have to negotiate, but you're certainly not able to make up any price that you want and force someone to perform a service the way you want at the price you want. Again, I agree that we have no choices outside Tesla Store service, and thus there really is no market competition for non-warranty repairs. But none of this has anything to do with warranty work, despite being a valid topic for complaint.

I fully appreciate the frustrations to which you're hinting. Having owned several rare, exotic vehicles, I have learned the hard way that sometimes nobody in town has the skills necessary for certain repairs. This is particularly bad when even the OEM dealership doesn't have the skills. In these cases, you have to learn how to do the service yourself or locate an expert who can and then be prepared to pay the costs.

We've been spoiled by highly reliable cars with 100,000 mile service intervals and extended warranties, but none of the advancements of the automotive industry can change the fact that cutting-edge technology is expensive to maintain.
 
See screenshot. Conversation I had with the TM Regional Service Manager on the Roadster's warranty and Replacing the stereo head unit.


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See screenshot. Conversation I had with the TM Regional Service Manager on the Roadster's warranty and Replacing the stereo head unit.
Thanks for sharing this clarification. After seeing how the radio wiring harness is shared with the non-radio wiring harness in the cockpit, I think it's quite reasonable for Tesla to protect themselves against damage caused by alterations or aftermarket stereos.

P.S. It's cute how you also posted the warning from Tesla that "Any unauthorized use or distribution of the content of this message is prohibited."
 
With apologies for going a bit off topic, there was an exception to the usual warranty prohibiting anyone but a company employee from working on the warranted item:

TenTec, a company that built ham radios a few decades back, had a warranty that clearly stated that if something went wrong with your radio you were authorized to try to fix it, and that if you made the problem worse or caused other damage in the attempt, they would still fix it under warranty. They'd also help you diagnose and fix problems over the phone if you wanted. But that was an unusual case because most ham radio operators knew how to work on electronic stuff. It was cheaper for them to fix or repair the occasional user-damaged radio since the policy saved them money every time an owner was able to make his own repairs, which was almost all the time. The company eventually went the way of all American consumer electronics companies as the Japanese took over the market.

So few car owners can repair cars that a similar policy in the automotive industry would be a disaster.

I would not want, and would not let anyone but a Tesla employee work on my Roadster.
 
Very interesting discussion here, thanks for all the feedback. It doesn't sound like anyone has actually had a warranty repair refused by TM, and clearly most of the warning we're getting from them are in the CYA line.

To circle back around to the original issue, here's a comment from one of the track directors, basically confirming that the industry is very familiar with this particular issue. I've crossed out the person's name because I did not ask permission to quote the person directly:

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Also I did receive a very reasonable reply from the person I was dealing with at TM:

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Many thanks for the the info. Great thread. On the Petefish's (Chris?) radio post this line struck me.
"The New Limited Vehicle warranty does not cover damage by [3] The installation or use of any replacement part not authorized by Tesla Motors..."
That is a very wide non inclusive net.
 
Thanks for sharing this clarification. After seeing how the radio wiring harness is shared with the non-radio wiring harness in the cockpit, I think it's quite reasonable for Tesla to protect themselves against damage caused by alterations or aftermarket stereos.

P.S. It's cute how you also posted the warning from Tesla that "Any unauthorized use or distribution of the content of this message is prohibited."

It was a quick screen grab.
 
Many thanks for the the info. Great thread. On the Petefish's (Chris?) radio post this line struck me.
"The New Limited Vehicle warranty does not cover damage by [3] The installation or use of any replacement part not authorized by Tesla Motors..."
That is a very wide non inclusive net.
Again, though I am not a lawyer, what I note above is that "damage [caused] by" all that stuff is not covered under the warranty.

Replace anything, do any of the listed stuff, and damage caused by those activities is not covered under the warranty.

Do any of that stuff and if you don't cause any damage, your warranty is still intact.

Just my NON-lawyer opinion.

Again, I am not going to do any of the stuff that's excluded from the warranty. I'm not going to race the car, and I'm not going to have anyone other than Tesla replace anything on the car.
 
I don't think anyone mentioned this:
Will having my cord upgraded void my warranty?
It will not void the warranty on your car. In the US we have the Magnuson-Moss Warranty Act which is a United States federal law, (15 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.). Enacted in 1975, it is the federal statute that governs warranties on consumer products. Among other things, It prevents manufacturers from denying warranty coverage from aftermarket upgrades. The only way they can deny a claim is to unequivocally prove that the upgrade did damage to your car. (see previous question) However, the warranty coverage on the EVSE itself will be voided. However, We stand behind our work and cover the upgrade for a period of 1 year, which offers additional peace-of-mind.

From here: EVSE Upgrade - Products (also not mentioned on TMC that I can recall)
 
Even off duty the Tesla guys are issuing disclaimers... Guys. We get it. :biggrin:

One thing both Nuxoll and Tesla communications head Camille Ricketts were very clear on, several times during the interview, was that typical owners should think twice before taking their car out on a track day--there could be warranty implications, as the extreme conditions cause heat build-up that could shorten the car's life.

From the motorauthority article mentioned in this thread.