Model 3: My car is in the shop on day 2

[sperkin]

I doubt you have a Toyota experience but hopefully it is not like a FIAT.

I'm just looking for a 90'ish Toyota experience and it'll be good enough for me. My 4Runner and Prius have been fabulous cars and never left me stranded. However, one time I ran out of gas on the freeway but the plug-in Prius had battery left to just drive under 62 mph to get me there. The digital fuel gauge is the one thing I don't like about the Prius. Flashing or no bars left could mean out of gas or 50 miles in the tank.

Anyway no more derailing the OP, but I do wish Model 3 will give me a good experience to stay in the Tesla family. I'm very worried to leave Toyota since everyone in my family drives a Toyota without any issues. Had major headaches when my wife wanted to try a VW and that Jetta TDI didn't last long.

I hope I enjoy a worry free car and my kids will buy Teslas when they grow up. I'm aligned with their mission and think they do make great cars (on paper as I'm just not an owner yet).

 

[SMAlset]

Not sure what your message was exactly with regenerative braking but as RayK mentioned there will be messages about regenerative braking not being available or something like that. Happens on cold mornings (even to us when temps were in 40s, even 50s I think). Depends on the capacity of your battery too, if full the regenerative braking can't put the energy back into the battery at that point. The message is to let you know that until your battery warms up your regenerative braking will be limited for a time (so be aware and use the normal brakes when necessary). This warning is normal. Don't know how it is on the Model 3 (we have an MS and waiting for a Model 3) but on our MS we have an energy graph (circular) on our display that will display a yellow dashed line. The yellow indicates regenerative braking power is low while it is being displayed.

Don't know if this is similar to your situation but I have seen a thread on here about super fast battery drain on the Model 3. Believe it was a software issue possibly but didn't pay full attention to the posts. Yes it is something you would expect to be checked out before delivery. We had an intermittent charger issue on delivery, they could charge sometimes but not all as we had found out on our first attempt to charge when it would only go to red ring, and they replaced the charge port. Doesn't leave you with the best first impression I know but I will say that after the port was fixed we've been good to go and been enjoying our car. Enjoy the MS while you have it, and hope they have the car back to you shortly.

 

[Canuck]

This is pure lunacy

Exaggerate much?

@Bet TSLA makes a lot of good points that ran through my head when I read the OP's post. Unless you own a Tesla, or if you read the manual, a lot of what he thinks may be problems could just be normal with Tesla -- regen limited, updates, slower charging as it tapers, etc.

The only thing that looks wrong is the excessive vampire drain but even that I wonder if he is talking about the charging rate rather than the charge on the vehicle. Then to claim it's "bricked" when he drove it into service makes the OP sound overly dramatic -- kind of like your comment to someone who is trying to help the OP and doesn't deserve such a shot.

 

[SFInvestor21]

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to see what I can do here. I've never had a worst experience picking up a new car.

Day 1: Sat, 4/21, we picked up the car at Fremont

On our drive home, the car said that there was an issue with regenerative braking. When we got home, we plugged in the car, we had an error message saying that there was an error. We could hear something engage and disengage, but it never could start charging. We also got an error message that the firmware needed to be updated, so we set that up.
Shouldn't that have been done, before we picked up the car?

We decided we would try charging at a supercharger first thing on Sunday. Guess what?

Day 2: We started the car, and the charge had halved overnight. The charge had dropped from 180 miles to 98 overnight? What happened? So, now we have a car that doesn't charge. The firmware is not updated. It's pretty much bricked.
So, we decided to take the car directly to a service center so as not to risk having to tow the car on Monday. We dropped off the car, hoping to try the charger at the service center, but all the ports were used. (probably for the loaner vehicles)

Day 3: I ubered to the service center, and now the car sits waiting for a technician to take a look at this.
Hopefully, my experience is just completely different from everyone's? This has been really bad. The car only has 79 miles on it, and it's sitting at the service center. Now, granted I've been given an S as a loaner, but I would much rather be home with my car working.

Any suggestions on how to get this escalated?

Thanks,

A disappointed Tesla driver

Probably why Tesla gets an F with the BBB (Better Business Bureau)

 

[Bet TSLA]

Probably why Tesla gets an F with the BBB (Better Business Bureau)

No, it's critical stuff like this:
Another complaint had little to do with a Tesla car. A person said after buying two Tesla T-shirts, the promised receipt was not emailed so the customer wasn’t able to return the shirts, the complaint said.

Also:
Tesla isn’t the only Silicon Valley tech giant with a bad BBB rating. Google currently has a “D.” Last week it had an “F.”

This would no doubt explain why Google's stock is down over 4% at the moment.

See this article if you care. The BBB has never been useful or relevant that I'm aware of.

 

[azred]

People being critical on the OP need to stop. They have been waiting for this car for two years, and its pretty clear from the description that the car came home with some issues (monster vampire drain at minimum). Sounds like they got it towed to the SC after hours and weren't able to get a loaner until the next day. They're understandably disappointed. OP came here for support from fellow Tesla owners, and that's all we should be giving.

OP - welcome to the forum. Totally sympathize with you. I have a delivery scheduled for next week and am hoping mine goes smoother. Stories like yours aren't common, but happen more than they should. As others have noted, it may be a bit too soon to escalate, but give them a chance. Having been on these boards a while, I'll tell you that 99 times out of 100 Tesla will make you whole and you're going to love your car. And at least you're driving a complimentary Model S loaner in the meantime!

All we should give is support? This is a board to discuss all things Tesla, not a place to get a guaranteed pat on the back. If the car really lost half of its charge sitting overnight — and count me as a skeptic — that is obviously concerning but most of the rest of the post was odd, to say the least. Therefore, skepticism about the entire post was deserved.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

As others mentioned, it's possible the regenerative braking message was displayed if the car had been fully charged or if the battery was cold.

Also, that pending firmware update might fix the vampire drain...

 

[SMAlset]

....Day 1: Sat, 4/21, we picked up the car at Fremont....

Day 2: We started the car, and the charge had halved overnight. The charge had dropped from 180 miles to 98 overnight? What happened? So, now we have a car that doesn't charge. The firmware is not updated. It's pretty much bricked.
So, we decided to take the car directly to a service center so as not to risk having to tow the car on Monday. We dropped off the car, hoping to try the charger at the service center, but all the ports were used. (probably for the loaner vehicles)

Day 3: I ubered to the service center, and now the car sits waiting for a technician to take a look at this.
Hopefully, my experience is just completely different from everyone's? This has been really bad. The car only has 79 miles on it, and it's sitting at the service center. Now, granted I've been given an S as a loaner, but I would much rather be home with my car working.

Any suggestions on how to get this escalated?

Thanks,

A disappointed Tesla driver

Regarding the vampire drain (like a whole blood bank of it!) I think this is the thread I was thinking of where we have a new Model 3 and 100 mi range on battery and 0 the next day. Not sure if there's anything helpful in there to explain OP's issue but only he might know if he recognizes something similar to his home experience. Battery to 0 overnight

OP any word back on the car?

 

[bthienthai]

I don't really understand what's the deal with people picking on the OP. It's one thing to love the model 3. It's another to totally disregard any problems and assume it's a given, especially on the first day of the car. It's a 60K car for crying out loud. People would return a $500 laptop in a heart beat if it malfunctions on them, and the guy shouldn't freak out when he just paid 60K for the car and it stopped working when he brought it home? Granted he's got a MS for a loaner, but who wants to deal with going back & forth to the service center to deal with things like this.

 

[azred]

I don't really understand what's the deal with people picking on the OP. It's one thing to love the model 3. It's another to totally disregard any problems and assume it's a given, especially on the first day of the car. It's a 60K car for crying out loud. People would return a $500 laptop in a heart beat if it malfunctions on them, and the guy shouldn't freak out when he just paid 60K for the car and it stopped working when he brought it home? Granted he's got a MS for a loaner, but who wants to deal with going back & forth to the service center to deal with things like this.

Agreed that if a $60,000 new car stopped working the next day, any buyer would and probably should freak out. So, is that what you think happened? Aren’t you even slightly skeptical?

 

[slipnslider]

At least you got a Tesla loaner, I'm a Chrysler 300. My car is in the SC for an airbag sensor issue for since Wednesday and I don't think they've even looked at the car yet.

I don't understand the point of booking an appointment if they aren't even going to start within a day or two. Just spread out the appointments more, kind of ridiculous. The San Diego SC needs to get their act together.

This is only going to get worse and worse as more flawed cars are delivered. Service centers are going to be totally swamped with fixing poorly produced cars.

 

[slipnslider]

As much as we would probably all hope Tesla to be like Toyota, it’s probably not going to happen. I’m hoping they can get to a similar state as BMW. High quality with mediocre reliability.
I think anyone purchasing one of these early cars needs to be prepared for the possibility that there will be problems.

Problems would be more acceptable if they were addressed quickly and thoroughly. Tesla's approach of rolling them off the line sloppily built then having the service centers fix them is going to drown the service centers.

 

[bthienthai]

Agreed that if a $60,000 new car stopped working the next day, any buyer would and probably should freak out. So, is that what you think happened? Aren’t you even slightly skeptical?

I don't know what happened. He stated that the charge was halved over night. Unless he made that up, that should be a concern. Nobody else knows what happened either. So, I would give him the benefit of a doubt until we know more.

 

[SMAlset]

The first of the OP's problems could be not understanding about regen (without seeing the message hard to say) and many new to Tesla will have a learning curve. I know we did. We read info on the forum, the manual and called Support a few times. We did have one issue that needed to be taken care of by the SvC. Maybe the vampire drain was because a door wasn't closed completely or the key fob was close to the car overnight (like mentioned in the link I posted above (#28)). Could be a matter of getting use to how this electronic car works or it could be a physical or software related problem affecting the battery. Hopefully OP will come back after the SvC has looked at it and let us know what they said.

Hey, when our car was very new my husband thought our car's AC wasn't working properly and took it into the SvC for an appointment. AC flow was fine in the middle vents and on my side. Nothing coming out of his. SvC diagnosed even before we pulled into the shop floor...the vent tab was all the way to the left so putting the vent in the closed position. Yep . No printed guides on the car to show on or off on the vents and he didn't think about it being all the way to the side.

 

[TexasEV]

People really need to RTFM when they buy a Tesla. It's not like any other car you've had.

By the way, I think this may be have been the first post on TMC where someone complained about having a message that a firmware update was available. All the previous complaints for the past five years have been about not having the message yet!

 

[RyanS]

Wow. some people are definitely hostile here, rather than helpful. You could experience PTSD for posting or asking "novice" questions here. Stupid questions are not allowed or you will be shot down. Good way to attract new members.

So, I just use "Ignore" option and keep on posting. Ka-chow

 

[Canuck]

I don't really understand what's the deal with people picking on the OP. It's one thing to love the model 3. It's another to totally disregard any problems...

Wow. some people are definitely hostile here, rather than helpful.

Where's the hostility, disregard for his complaints, and people picking on the OP? I browsed the thread and see a lot of helpful replies. If he has problems that are not really problems, he is being helped by being told that. If he really has problems, he can reply and rule out what people are telling him may just be normal operation.

Some people sure have thin skins around here. I would not enjoy a forum where everyone walks on egg shells so as not to offend feelings when just trying to give information.

 

[rhaekar]

This is only going to get worse and worse as more flawed cars are delivered. Service centers are going to be totally swamped with fixing poorly produced cars.

They already are swamped. They've had my car since Wednesday and haven't even looked at it yet. They texted me yesterday I was still 7th in line for a technician to look at the car.

I don't know why they schedule appointments if they can't even inspect the problem within a few days.

 

[bthienthai]

Where's the hostility, disregard for his complaints, and people picking on the OP? I browsed the thread and see a lot of helpful replies. If he has problems that are not really problems, he is being helped by being told that. If he really has problems, he can reply and rule out what people are telling him may just be normal operation.

Some people sure have thin skins around here. I would not enjoy a forum where everyone walks on egg shells so as not to offend feelings when just trying to give information.

I don't know about you, but if I ask people questions, any people, coworkers, friends, relatives, strangers, and if what I get back is something along the line of "why are you such an idiot?", "it's not a problem, stupid", and then play down my concerns, I'm sure as hell I won't talk to that person again.
I'm sure there are a lot of helpful replies too. But some I thought were unnecessary harsh. But that's just me...and a bunch of other people who liked my post

 

[Canuck]

I don't know about you, but if I ask people questions, any people, coworkers, friends, relatives, strangers, and if what I get back is something along the line of "why are you such an idiot?", "it's not a problem, stupid", and then play down my concerns, I'm sure as hell I won't talk to that person again.
I'm sure there are a lot of helpful replies too. But some I thought were unnecessary harsh. But that's just me...and a bunch of other people who liked my post

If people said what you put in quotes, then I would agree with you. That's extremely rude and inappropriate to call people looking for assistance stupid and an idiot. But fortunately no one said anything even "along the line" of what you quoted. Nice try though -- using quotes to quote things that were never said. Anything to make a point I guess, even if it takes exaggeration or embellishment.

I guess people could coddle the OP which is what you want from everyone -- but I don't want people here doing that to me -- nor do I want my family, friends or co-workers doing that to me. If I'm doing something that may be wrong I want to be told that -- and no sugar coating is needed. If my concern is not really a concern, I don't want my concern to be played up like you do. That makes no sense to me. If it really is a concern, and the advice of normal operation is wrong, I would come back and post that -- so we can get to the route of the problem.

From my review of the thread, it's the people attacking those who are trying to help as "pure lunacy" and giving "disagrees" who are rude. Those who said his problems may be normal operation did so without such rude attacks.