Hello current and future owners, first of all, this is a speculative thread. For the past months it seems that the "third row" has severe issues. Production, supplier, security, temperature, crashtest issues, no one knows. Fact is tho, that no one, except Elon, got their child seats yet. What would You do, if they never see the light? thank You for Your answers.
As you point out, Elon is using his. I'd be pretty certain that he's not cooking his kids nor exposing them to risk just in the name of research for Model S buyers; that means delays are related to production, supplier or administrative issues which will eventually be solved.
Well you asked the question of Model S owners and future owners, not just people that bought the jump seats. I am another, couldn't care less, but I didn't order them. I almost did, but it would have been to show them to people interested in the Model S as the closest Tesla store or service is 700 miles away from Minneapolis, MN. So even if I had, it would have been no skin off my nose.
Honestly, I'm kind of dubious of the whole concept of these jump seats in the first place. Personally, if I was in the position of absolutely having to carry 5 adults and two children around all the time (or even some of the time), I wouldn't be looking at a Model S. I would wait for Model X or go for a minivan. It might be a tiny bit more appealing if the seats were full-sized and not just for 5-10 year olds, but otherwise it seems like an option with a very narrow audience.
I seem to remember that one owner, on the factory tour, said they saw a number of the seats. That was a while back. Maybe the first batch was rejected for some reason.
Going along with the hypothetical, the rear seats are a convenience for me that I would use occasionally for when we have car pools or my kids have friends over or something. I never planned on using them daily, nor would I use them for long trips. I may be pleasantly surprised by the safety and comfort back there, but for me it was just an added bonus to get those two seats for the occasional times I could use them. So if they didn't come, I'd shrug my shoulders, take my money back and continue to enjoy the car. But I agree that this is a less than 10% chance of coming true. It may take awhile, but I'm pretty confident these seats will end up in the cars eventually. Elon doesn't like to lose, and he's been promising 7 seats since day one.
Likewise. I have 3 boys with another on the way (due in the next few weeks, along with my car -- even to the point we talked about delivering it to the hospital if need be!) and I would consider it an extreme inconvenience (leaving only my old Suburban or my wife's Traverse as candidates for carrying kids). It's not a showstopper, it would just relegate the Model S to a non-family car.
Sounds like a Model X might be in your future too. Congrats. Hospital delivery for the Model S probably would be a first.
We are expecting our 5th child in February and the seats are one reason I justify the cost of this car. Not having to take the Suburban out everytime we go out as a family will be a big plus. Also the flexibility of being able to put the whole family in my car (currently a standard seats-5 sedan) will make things more flexible for us not having to trade cars based on certain situations. I would probably still get the S, but with significantly less enthusiasm.
I'm trying to understand the reason for the original post. If you've ordered child seats and receive your car without them, Tesla has put them on the due bill. You will receive them. I understand you said this was a speculative thread, but it feels a little disingenuous ... a bit of pot stirring. Are you really worried Tesla won't deliver seats to you? If the seats are a deal breaker for you and you are worried about delivery, then you should wait to configure your car until you see the seats being delivered. To answer your question directly, if I'd ordered the seats and they were on the due bill, I'd be a little annoyed (if I needed them now), but I'd expect to receive them. If I didn't receive them EVER, then I'd say that Tesla took my money for a car they didn't deliver and I'd work it out with them. But it would never occur to me that they wouldn't deliver the seats. Tesla has kept their word to me each and every time.
In fairness to the OP, I believe what he was getting at was not that Tesla wouldn't appropriately reimburse for the undelivered product, but if the EPA were to fail to approve them, would it prove a hardship bc the expectation was to use them regularly for a larger family. Evan, Via Tapatalk
Yes - but I think that the approval is part of the 'due bill'. I agree with Nigel's remarks regarding it's unlikely that Elon would be using his kids as a testbed ... the odds of Tesla not coming thru on this is highly unlikely. And again, as I noted, if I'd ordered the seats and I did not get what I ordered, there would be a contractual issue to work out with Tesla. - - - Updated - - - The original post said nothing about if the seats didn't pass testing, only if you never received them. I agree that it would be not good if the seats didn't pass testing - but that wasn't how I read the first post.