Model S Technical / Mechanical Issues

[CapitalistOppressor]

From the Tesla Model S Warranty Guide:

In addition to the above exclusions and limitations, this New Vehicle
Limited Warranty does not cover any of the following:

Any corrosion or paint defects including, but not limited to, the
following:

· Corrosion from defects in non-Tesla manufactured or supplied
materials or workmanship causing perforation (holes) in body
panels or the chassis from the inside out;
· Surface or cosmetic corrosion causing perforation in body panels or
the chassis from the outside in, such as stone chips or scratches;
and
· Corrosion and paint defects caused by, due to or resulting from
accidents, paint matching, abuse, neglect, improper maintenance
or operation of the vehicle, installation of an accessory, exposure to
chemical substances, or damages resulting from an act of God or
nature, fire, or improper storage;

What car manufacturer in their right mind would cover any of those "issues"?

As far as I know the whole "soft paint" meme came up because of Tesla recommending that "Touchless" car washes be used. Anyone who thinks that ANY car manufacturer covers damage to paint from a car wash that uses brushes is smoking something. The car washes themselves have big signs up absolving themselves from any liability for damage that occurs, and for good reason.

I have had cars which have had their paint chipped by brushes, and I've even had a mirror get ripped off which put a dent and some scratches on my door. You don't need to have "soft" paint to have issues with car washes.

 

[kendallpb]

Soft paint or not, the weak warranty on the paint would suggest to me that putting Opti-Coat 2.0 on the vehicle would not be a bad idea.

Weak warranty? They don't cover defects in non-Tesla parts/labour. They don't cover chips and scratches. They don't cover abuse, neglect, poor maintenance, acts of God, etc. Is this really weak--do other warranties cover abuse, accidents, fires (!), etc.?! I'm skeptical, but my car's a 2000 model, so I have no active warranty to peruse. But this doesn't seem unreasonable.

Ford's warranty is similar.

Heck, GM won't even cover what seems like an obvious manufacturer defect.

 

[Doug_G]

Heck, GM won't even cover what seems like an obvious manufacturer defect.

A friend of mine had a similar but much worse situation with a Ford. The whole paint job crazed and then started falling off. It looked to like they had repainted the car after it was waxed. It was never fixed.

 

[Cottonwood]

I have software v1.7.36 in my VIN#37. Although I got the e-mail on Sept 20, 9 days ago, I have not seen v1.9.11 show up yet. The e-mail did say that it could take up to 2 weeks for the download to occur.

A few folks have mentioned the floating image for the backup camera when in reverse. I see this almost half the time when backing up.

Here is a snapshot of it happening. Notice how the image has floated off of the bottom of the app window.

Although it happens less often, here are some variations. First, floating with a wrap-around in the image; the bottom of the image is displayed at the top. Notice the edge of the bumper.

Here is the image wrapped, but not floating. Note the app window border. The only time I have seen this is if I select the backup camera while in park or drive.

 

[MDR]

Do you get the "floating" back-up cam video that won't swap? I noticed this in the Get Amped vehicles.

This starting to remind me of the 15,000th auto fail in the movie Gung Ho.

No floating cam video.

 

[aviators99]

I have software v1.7.36 in my VIN#37. Although I got the e-mail on Sept 20, 9 days ago, I have not seen v1.9.11 show up yet. The e-mail did say that it could take up to 2 weeks for the download to occur.

A few folks have mentioned the floating image for the backup camera when in reverse. I see this almost half the time when backing up.

Here is a snapshot of it happening. Notice how the image has floated off of the bottom of the app window.
View attachment 10228

Although it happens less often, here are some variations. First, floating with a wrap-around in the image; the bottom of the image is displayed at the top. Notice the edge of the bumper.
View attachment 10229

Here is the image wrapped, but not floating. Note the app window border. The only time I have seen this is if I select the backup camera while in park or drive.
View attachment 10230

I thought someone said this was a bunch of errant pixels problem? What you've shown here is something different, and a completely different (and less common) type of bug. I'm still convinced that it is not a hardware bug, though.

 

[cinergi]

1.9.11 is on the demo car at the Boston (natick) store. :tongue:

 

[mknox]

What car manufacturer in their right mind would cover any of those "issues"?

It says "any corrosion or paint defects". I don't know what kind of cars you've been buying, but I have always had "paint defects" covered for the length of the basic warranty and corrosion for usually a lot longer. I'm not talking about exhaust or emission controls stuff... this is bodywork stuff. I've had body paint repairs made over the years, including aluminum wheels. I had 4 wheels completely re-finished under warranty due to corrosion from winter road salt and it included a loaner car because they needed it for a few days. This wasn't a "high end" car either, it was just a GMC Jimmy.

- - - Updated - - -

Weak warranty? They don't cover defects in non-Tesla parts/labour. They don't cover chips and scratches. They don't cover abuse, neglect, poor maintenance, acts of God, etc. Is this really weak--do other warranties cover abuse, accidents, fires (!), etc.?! I'm skeptical, but my car's a 2000 model, so I have no active warranty to peruse. But this doesn't seem unreasonable.

Read it again. It says "any corrosion or paint defects" and includes those items you list as "including, but not limited to." There is NO WARRANTY for paint or corrosion from Tesla according to the language in their warranty guide.

I have had corrosion repairs made under warranty at no cost, and by GM no less (see my other post).

- - - Updated - - -

That's just standard warranty speak. It's only covering Tesla against external circumstances beyond their control. Paint and corrosion *are* covered if the problem is or is caused by a manufacturers defect.

How do you figure? It says the New Vehicle Warranty does NOT cover "ANY corrosion or paint defects". If paint and corrosion ARE covered, why don't they say so like other manufacturers?

Look, I'm as big a Tesla fanboy as anyone, but I am not going to "go on faith" that something will be covered when their language is pretty clear that it won't be.

 

[Cottonwood]

1.9.11 is on the demo car at the Boston (natick) store. :tongue:

Well after saying something about the SW upgrade this morning on this forum, the note came up on my S this afternoon that the upgrade is ready for install. Is someone from Tesla watching this forum and initiated a push, or is this coincidence? :wink: I scheduled the install (up to 2 hours of down, no-drive time) for 2 AM. I'll see what it looks like tomorrow morning.

 

[Velo1]

If you have Tesla apply the paint armor, is opti coat still a good idea? Do you just cover the paint-exposed areas, or all surfaces including the paint armor?

 

[KenEE]

mknox, Everything listed are problems due to non-manufacturer caused defects. The "Any corrosion or defects" is qualified by (but not limited to) the provided list of non-Tesla caused problems. Nothing in that text says Tesla caused problems are not covered. It just lists many non-Tesla caused problems and says that the list may be incomplete. Still the other items not listed would be other non-Tesla caused problems.

 

[RDoc]

mknox, Everything listed are problems due to non-manufacturer caused defects. The "Any corrosion or defects" is qualified by (but not limited to) the provided list of non-Tesla caused problems. Nothing in that text says Tesla caused problems are not covered. It just lists many non-Tesla caused problems and says that the list may be incomplete. Still the other items not listed would be other non-Tesla caused problems.

That's certainly correct that it doesn't say that Tesla caused problems are not covered.
However, what it does say is that "Any corrosion or defects" are not covered. Where does it say anything about any such defects being covered? There's nothing saying that Tesla caused problems are covered, just that among all the things not covered, non-Tesla caused problems aren't.

 

[shokunin]

If you have Tesla apply the paint armor, is opti coat still a good idea? Do you just cover the paint-exposed areas, or all surfaces including the paint armor?

You can apply opti coAt on top of the paint armor

 

[ModelS1079]

Now my worrying has begun regarding reliability. Door handles, battery issues, radio issues, pixel issues....oh boy.

Regarding exterior paint: I talked to a specialist about "soft" paint that's on the Model S. I had this specialist polish and put Opti-Coat on my Prius to see the effect/results before committing this technology to the Model S exterior. After seeing the results, I'm 80-90% sure I will put Opti-Coat on the Model S too. Not 100% sure yet b/c it hasn't even been one day of results yet.

PGuerra, how much does one pay to Opti Coat the front/hood of a Prius?

 

[mknox]

mknox, Everything listed are problems due to non-manufacturer caused defects. The "Any corrosion or defects" is qualified by (but not limited to) the provided list of non-Tesla caused problems. Nothing in that text says Tesla caused problems are not covered. It just lists many non-Tesla caused problems and says that the list may be incomplete. Still the other items not listed would be other non-Tesla caused problems.

I was looking at my current warranty coverage (Cadillac CTS) and it specifically says that paint and corrosion ARE covered with the EXCEPTION of those non-manufacturer-related causes for 4 years/80,000 km and Sheet Metal rust through is covered for 6 years/unlimited km's.

What Tesla says is that Paint and Corrosion are NOT covered, INCLUDING those issues caused by non-manufacturer-related causes.

If what you're saying is true, Tesla needs to fix the language in their warranty guide.

 

[kendallpb]

Read it again. It says "any corrosion or paint defects" and includes those items you list as "including, but not limited to."

Ah...I think they mean "no corrosion or paint defects from these and possibly other things we haven't thought of that aren't our fault"...

Look, I'm as big a Tesla fanboy as anyone, but I am not going to "go on faith" that something will be covered when their language is pretty clear that it won't be.

...but you're right, unfortunately--that excerpt doesn't, technically (or legally) say that. Unless there's something else earlier in the warranty that makes it clearer--I don't have a copy and can't check. Are there really no other mentions of pain/corrosion?

Thanks for clarifying.

 

[KenEE]

Ah...I think they mean "no corrosion or paint defects from these and possibly other things we haven't thought of that aren't our fault"...

Couldn't have said it better myself.... wait, I did say that Well I can't recant what it says one more time. (ok ONCE more - it's only a list of reasons that they wouldn't cover the defect - here's another one not listed - bird poop! - Tesla will not repaint your car if you park it under a tree then let the bird poop set on it etc. etc. - that's all this text is for - don't expect Tesla to fix problems not caused by them! If they meant not "Any corrosion or paint defects" PERIOD, they would have put the period and skipped the list. But there is no period after "Any corrosion or paint defects" only the partial list defining what they mean by a non-covered defect.)

Sure it would be nice to have wording more like a GM warranty. I have a CTS as well and can attest it has a great warranty.

Maybe GeorgeB will chime in again and clarify about *manufacturer* defects in structure, panels, and paint?

 

[Todd Burch]

Guys...mind taking the paint warranty comments to the warranty thread? This one's intended for reporting status of actual mechanical/technical issues. Thanks!

 

[ChadS]

I've only had VIN 112 for a couple of days (and it has rom 1.7.36; no update notice yet), but so far things look pretty good:

* door handles work just fine. At first I thought there was an issue, but I was assuming the handles just needed to sense a touch and they would unlatch the door, then you can pull. But my wife said "just pull!" and that seems to work--it seems to need some pressure

* no floating camera or display pixel issues, at least not yet

* mirrors work fine in Reverse

* bluetooth and homelink are both fine

The only issues I've noted:

* bubbles in the paint armor. I was told it's "very fresh" and bubbles would disappear in a few days

* black and white speckles inside one door handle, pretty visible with handle retracted. Delivery specialist pointed it out, and said he would alert Service

* slightly loose plastic moldings inside the rear hatch area. Delivery specialist pointed it out, and said he would alert Service

* the frunk is really hard to close. You have to push really hard on the edge, sometimes a few times. If you push up higher on the hood, it bends the hood (it bounces back; but still not nice). My wife refuses to use it. I will have to ask Service to look at this too.

 

[Bardlebee]

Chad, what color car do you have? And can you get a close up picture of the paint armor? I am really interested in how invisible it is to the eye.