Model 3 Gripes 2 Months later

[TikiNiki]

I’ve now owned my model 3 for over 2 months and while I overall am happy with the car I wanted to summarize issues/problems I’ve experienced that may go under the radar in most reviews I've seen. Some of them are small gripes so I tried to put them in order of importance to me.

1. Without a doubt and by far my #1 issue is the Bluetooth connection to unlock/lock car. Essentially I was told over the phone the technology needs to “catch up” and other signals my phone projects (GPS, 4G, etc) shadow the bluetooth signal so the car doesn’t sense Bluetooth. No clue when this will be fixed but the workaround is putting phone in airplane mode with only Bluetooth on (or could remotely unlock in the app but then you also have to remotely turn car on which requires typing in your password). I have an android phone but the tech person said they are mostly seeing the issue in Iphone 10 users. Having difficulty unlocking your car in rain, when hands full etc is not something I would expect to have to deal with for a car that cost this much. Also I’ve lost a cell phone as a result of me trying to unlock my car in the pouring rain.
   
   1. Somewhat related, in a software update they turned off car unlocking when you approach it and it won’t do so until you touch the door handle. This should be an option of which you want as obviously it could work either way and might be a personal preference. Especially when I have no clue if my car is sensing my Bluetooth it was helpful not having to touch the door handle to figure this out (again not ideal when hands are full).
      
      
   2. Cannot remove the charger without unlocking a door or opening trunk. People have mentioned this but the problem is further compounded when it’s difficult to unlock the car.
      
2. Poor Customer Service. While Tesla may have been known for excellent customer service my experience has been otherwise. I used a loved one’s reservation and it’s been over 2 months and they still have not moved the car to my account. From day 1 the car was always in my name and mine only. I have been told several times “2 weeks away from fixing this”. They admitted to messing up finally and only putting in request for me to have phone access. Despite acknowledging the mistake was on their end they refuse to do anything to go out of their way to make the issue right again other than the standard process they use (which has not worked). Their customer service people are short, rude and answers vary widely depending on who you talk to. The loved one has recently filled a 2nd reservation their spouse had and has their own model 3 now. Their phone app now shows both model 3’s and it’s a safety concern they might accidently mess with controls on my car by accident while I’m driving it. Never mind the confusing mess of who charged what in supercharging that it creates.
   
   
3. Interior upholstery on the door seems cheap. I had a printer in a box sitting in passenger seat and made a left/right turn not very hard. It created a dent/smudge on the passenger door. I was shocked the material was so sensitive.
   
   
4. Slow software updates. 2 things: Enhanced autopilot features arriving….? I paid $5,000 extra for features that are coming at an undisclosed time. My manual mentions things like the summon feature, and also was told it would pull on to and off the freeway with autopilot. Also I’m somewhat annoyed that heated rear seats suddenly became available after the cold winter had passed. The technology to provide this given the hardware was already present should not be that tough for a tech company to figure out. It makes me wonder/wish a heated steering wheel update is in the works but I have no idea if the hardware is there or not which would make this happen.
   
   
5. Floor Mats are like magnets to dirt and are hard to keep clean. I’ve replaced them as a result of this
   
   
6. Airbag needs service. I noticed at first when I stayed at a lady friend’s house and my car was in her driveway on the cold Ohio mornings in Feb/March I would get an airbag needs service request. I contacted them and they just said lets monitor it. Month or so later now the warning comes up 100% of the time. I cannot open my trunk from inside the car because the warning is over this. They need to move the warnings so they don’t decrease additional functionality on the car. I am bringing the car in today to be serviced.
   
   
7. Car charging via android/iphone should be wireless. These mounted chargers are very impractical as they won’t work if your phone has a case on it
   
   
8. Various small bugs. Several times screen hasn’t come on. I’ve had screen also look like a broken monitor (pixels running in vertical lines) which others have reported having happen. Several times when making a phone call it sounds like I’m listening to an encrypted deceptacon talking.
   
   
9. Ambiguous functionality of autopilot. I’ve found it very hard to get any real details on what the autopilot is supposed to do. Why can’t it tell me that it will only lane change on the freeway or when I have my turn signal on and just have to wonder if it will move or not, give an indicator message such as “cannot change lanes”
   
   
10. Auto-park icon rarely shows up if I wanted to use it. However, given how auto-park works I would avoid this as it likes to adjust the steering wheel while the car is stopped. This cannot be good for the life of the tires.
    
    
11. Not an issue for me but I have ethical issues with the fact they are allowing people to pay $3000 for full autonomous mode when it may never come to pass, or at least certainly not for many years from now.
    

 

[jsmay311]

Thanks for the feedback.

I have an android phone but the tech person said they are mostly seeing the issue in Iphone 10 users.

LOL. That's literally the opposite of the results in this poll. It shows iPhones performing much better than Android, and iPhone Xs in particular appear more reliable than other iPhones based on every comment (6 of them) that mentions them specifically. Somehow I doubt that the Tesla tech knows what they're talking about here.

Floor Mats are like magnets to dirt and are hard to keep clean. I’ve replaced them as a result of this.

How in the f'ing world are the all-weather mats still not available in the Tesla Shop??? We're 9 months into production now. And it's not like Tesla would have to dedicate engineering resources to this. You get a supplier to do it. Totally baffling. (I know this company has some for sale, but they're pretty cheap looking. The Turo car I rented had them installed, and I wouldn't want them for a permanent solution.)

Car charging via android/iphone should be wireless. These mounted chargers are very impractical as they won’t work if your phone has a case on it.

Another design failure that's so painfully obvious that it's hard to fathom how an engineering team could screw it up so badly. Sigh. And the dock tray is also too far away from the driver and aims the phone mostly up at the ceiling instead of toward the driver.

If I get a Model 3, I'm going to end up mounting a swivel phone mount onto the dock tray itself so I can (1) charge it with a case on (2) aim the screen towards me, and (3) move it a bit closer.

 

[israndy]

I have an android phone but the tech person said they are mostly seeing the issue in Iphone 10 users.

Yeah, that's funny. I have had no issues with the car and an "iPhone X" as Apple calls it. I was reading a thread about issues unlocking with a phone and way more than 90% of the respondents were on Android.

Also this poll shows majority iPhone owners with 0-1% of the time having issues, while Android owners have issues the majority of the time.

-Randy

 

[israndy]

Dang, took too long to post.

-Randy

 

[RyanDe]

Most of these are more issues with your car and not necessarily with all models 3s, right? The phone not unlocking would drive me crazy though, enough that I'd probably try and buy a new phone if it worked better.

 

[Az_Rael]

Cannot remove the charger without unlocking a door or opening trunk. People have mentioned this but the problem is further compounded when it’s difficult to unlock the car.

Yeah, I hope they add the charger button as a trigger if your phone is in range. Right now what I do is "tickle" the back door lever (push it just enough to trigger the unlock, but not enough to open the door). That allows me to then pull the charger handle out

 

[sreams]

I’ve now owned my model 3 for over 2 months and while I overall am happy with the car I wanted to summarize issues/problems I’ve experienced that may go under the radar in most reviews I've seen. Some of them are small gripes so I tried to put them in order of importance to me.

1. Without a doubt and by far my #1 issue is the Bluetooth connection to unlock/lock car. Essentially I was told over the phone the technology needs to “catch up” and other signals my phone projects (GPS, 4G, etc) shadow the bluetooth signal so the car doesn’t sense Bluetooth. No clue when this will be fixed but the workaround is putting phone in airplane mode with only Bluetooth on (or could remotely unlock in the app but then you also have to remotely turn car on which requires typing in your password). I have an android phone but the tech person said they are mostly seeing the issue in Iphone 10 users. Having difficulty unlocking your car in rain, when hands full etc is not something I would expect to have to deal with for a car that cost this much. Also I’ve lost a cell phone as a result of me trying to unlock my car in the pouring rain.
   1. Somewhat related, in a software update they turned off car unlocking when you approach it and it won’t do so until you touch the door handle. This should be an option of which you want as obviously it could work either way and might be a personal preference. Especially when I have no clue if my car is sensing my Bluetooth it was helpful not having to touch the door handle to figure this out (again not ideal when hands are full).
      
      
   2. Cannot remove the charger without unlocking a door or opening trunk. People have mentioned this but the problem is further compounded when it’s difficult to unlock the car.
2. Poor Customer Service. While Tesla may have been known for excellent customer service my experience has been otherwise. I used a loved one’s reservation and it’s been over 2 months and they still have not moved the car to my account. From day 1 the car was always in my name and mine only. I have been told several times “2 weeks away from fixing this”. They admitted to messing up finally and only putting in request for me to have phone access. Despite acknowledging the mistake was on their end they refuse to do anything to go out of their way to make the issue right again other than the standard process they use (which has not worked). Their customer service people are short, rude and answers vary widely depending on who you talk to. The loved one has recently filled a 2nd reservation their spouse had and has their own model 3 now. Their phone app now shows both model 3’s and it’s a safety concern they might accidently mess with controls on my car by accident while I’m driving it. Never mind the confusing mess of who charged what in supercharging that it creates.
   
   
3. Interior upholstery on the door seems cheap. I had a printer in a box sitting in passenger seat and made a left/right turn not very hard. It created a dent/smudge on the passenger door. I was shocked the material was so sensitive.
   
   
4. Slow software updates. 2 things: Enhanced autopilot features arriving….? I paid $5,000 extra for features that are coming at an undisclosed time. My manual mentions things like the summon feature, and also was told it would pull on to and off the freeway with autopilot. Also I’m somewhat annoyed that heated rear seats suddenly became available after the cold winter had passed. The technology to provide this given the hardware was already present should not be that tough for a tech company to figure out. It makes me wonder/wish a heated steering wheel update is in the works but I have no idea if the hardware is there or not which would make this happen.
   
   
5. Floor Mats are like magnets to dirt and are hard to keep clean. I’ve replaced them as a result of this
   
   
6. Airbag needs service. I noticed at first when I stayed at a lady friend’s house and my car was in her driveway on the cold Ohio mornings in Feb/March I would get an airbag needs service request. I contacted them and they just said lets monitor it. Month or so later now the warning comes up 100% of the time. I cannot open my trunk from inside the car because the warning is over this. They need to move the warnings so they don’t decrease additional functionality on the car. I am bringing the car in today to be serviced.
   
   
7. Car charging via android/iphone should be wireless. These mounted chargers are very impractical as they won’t work if your phone has a case on it
   
   
8. Various small bugs. Several times screen hasn’t come on. I’ve had screen also look like a broken monitor (pixels running in vertical lines) which others have reported having happen. Several times when making a phone call it sounds like I’m listening to an encrypted deceptacon talking.
   
   
9. Ambiguous functionality of autopilot. I’ve found it very hard to get any real details on what the autopilot is supposed to do. Why can’t it tell me that it will only lane change on the freeway or when I have my turn signal on and just have to wonder if it will move or not, give an indicator message such as “cannot change lanes”
   
   
10. Auto-park icon rarely shows up if I wanted to use it. However, given how auto-park works I would avoid this as it likes to adjust the steering wheel while the car is stopped. This cannot be good for the life of the tires.
    
    
11. Not an issue for me but I have ethical issues with the fact they are allowing people to pay $3000 for full autonomous mode when it may never come to pass, or at least certainly not for many years from now.

GPS is receive only. It "projects" nothing, and should not interfere with Bluetooth at all.

 

[jimmyjohn]

It's TikiNiki's world, we're just living in it.

Most of these are more issues with your car and not necessarily with all models 3s, right? The phone not unlocking would drive me crazy though, enough that I'd probably try and buy a new phone if it worked better.

 

[sreams]

How in the f'ing world are the all-weather mats still not available in the Tesla Shop??? We're 9 months into production now. And it's not like Tesla would have to dedicate engineering resources to this. You get a supplier to do it. Totally baffling. (I know this company has some for sale, but they're pretty cheap looking. The Turo car I rented had them installed, and I wouldn't want them for a permanent solution.)

Why does Tesla have to provide them? Just buy these... They're great:

https://www.amazon.com/ToughPRO-Tesla-Model-Floor-Mats/dp/B0792RW471

 

[TikiNiki]

one other issue i thought of that I didn't add....

Accidental ear piercing audio. I often listen to things on youtube which requires me to turn volume up. I'll get out of the car and when I get back in I'll want to listen to the radio or stream or whatever. When I turn it the volume is unbearably loud. Would be nice to not just have a master volume but volume controls specific to the the different types of audio.

 

[TikiNiki]

Another design failure that's so painfully obvious that it's hard to fathom how an engineering team could screw it up so badly. Sigh. And the dock tray is also too far away from the driver and aims the phone mostly up at the ceiling instead of toward the driver.

This is very true! My phone actually often falls in the compartment below the dock.

 

[X Fan]

FWIW: unrestrained printers are heavy items......don't doubt they would "damage" most car interiors....

airbag notification is the only one that really bothers me...that should be fixed.

Account stuff & others will eventually be fixed by Tesla through SW upgrades.....stay patient, early adapters get the thrill of having the car first but also deal with early bugs.....

Had same with my 3xxx X but since early life, it's worked great.

 

[TikiNiki]

Interesting but yeah it does appear Iphones are significantly more reliable from that poll. Perhaps that was just that own Techs personal experience. I feel like the iphone crowd is more likely to drive tesla's that andriod crowd but that could be a false stereotype.

Right now what I do is "tickle" the back door lever (push it just enough to trigger the unlock, but not enough to open the door). That allows me to then pull the charger handle out

I think I try this but seem to fail sometimes, maybe i'm overly fat fingering it.

 

[dwharrison]

Interesting but yeah it does appear Iphones are significantly more reliable from that poll. Perhaps that was just that own Techs personal experience. I feel like the iphone crowd is more likely to drive tesla's that andriod crowd but that could be a false stereotype.

My sense of it is that Apple uses Bluetooth extensively for communication within their own products, and there are a lot of system-level macOS and iOS features that depend on it, so Apple's BT may be more robust compared to Android devices.

Having said that, BT is VERY prone to interference in general, so you may want to try it out in different environments to see if there are specific environments that trigger the issue more.

 

[TikiNiki]

Most of these are more issues with your car and not necearily with all models 3s, right? The phone not unlocking would drive me crazy though, enough that I'd probably try and buy a new phone if it worked better.

Some are specific to me others are going to be general. The phone issue as linked by the poll in 1st response to the thread is plaguing others but not everyone. Some are just personal gripes and small issues. The airbag issue I haven't heard anyone else having.

I believe the customer service or lack there of has to do with the model 3 ramp up and there a little in over there head. They may not have a big enough support staff for all the new model 3 issues popping up. As a result you hire new people quicker (possibly a little more relaxed in hiring process) who have less experience and maybe not the best personalities for phone support. I'm thinking these will be corrected going forward

 

[xav-]

I think someone like OP should not have received one of the first cars. Tesla should have kept these cars for one of the line waiters, who likely would have been tolerant for issues here and there.

That’s where tesla screwed up with the deliveries. True fans who camped overnight were skipped while the buddies of the employees/owners received their cars.

This is not an insult to OP. I perfectly understand his or her perspective.

 

[TikiNiki]

Part of the phone issue makes me half wonder if its the phone I have. I had bought several very expensive phones in last 2 years that were "waterproof" "destruction proof" and with big otterbox cases and I still find a way to lose/break these phones. After going through 4 or 5 of these in a 2 year span I decided to settle for the Samsung Galaxy J7 which is like a $200 phone that does pretty much everything I need just doesnt have as fast a processer/camera resolution etc than the $700+ phones I've had before.
Since I dont really understand the root cause of the issue though I'm hesitant to get another expensive phone which I'll likely just end up breaking.

 

[dwharrison]

Since I dont really understand the root cause of the issue though I'm hesitant to get another expensive phone which I'll likely just end up breaking.

There's no reason why you can't test other phones, though. If you can get friends to spend 20 minutes with you, with a promise of a nice Tesla ride as the reward, you can pair their phones to the car and do some testing, and then tell the car to forget the phone when you're done.

As for phone breakage, a good Otterbox-type case will go a long way, though personally I just pay $100 for AppleCare insurance on my iPhones, so that if I do drop it and break it it's just a small cost to have them fix it or give me a new one.

 

[TikiNiki]

For clarity, I'm very happy with my car and don't regret the purchase just wanted to summarize everything from a new Tesla users perspective since most reviews even from independent 3rd party companies I've found come from previous Tesla owners or "people that drink the kool-aid". I say that as no offense but just mean people that stand by the brand as described in quote below. I plan to make a reverse post about all the things I really like about the car too which I think at least some are rarely mentioned.

I think someone like OP should not have received one of the first cars. Tesla should have kept these cars for one of the line waiters, who likely would have been tolerant for issues here and there.

That’s where tesla screwed up with the deliveries. True fans who camped overnight were skipped while the buddies of the employees/owners received their cars.

This is not an insult to OP. I perfectly understand his or her perspective.

 

[Foxhound199]

One discrepancy in my personal experience has been that both the seats and floormats have been incredibly easy to clean, and it has been quite a muddy spring where I live.

Definitely have loads of problems with Bluetooth. One weird error I run into constantly is that it will let me into the car, but not start driving. My leading theory right now is that this has to do with the phone being in my left pocket, with my body blocking the signal.

My only other gripe is slacker radio. I probably would have found this resource quite amazing--in 2010. But it's 2018, Spotify is miles beyond slacker, and I should be able to play an album in its entirety directly from the screen.