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Model X needs a better Quality Control team

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I fully expect my soon to be delivered model X to have a few issues. Yes, it will be a minor inconvenience to get it fixed by Tesla but I trust they will do so. If Tesla was just another ice manufacturer selling obsolete long perfected technology I would be less forgiving. However, Tesla is pushing the limits and taking on the world, I figure the least I can do is cut them a little slack. Some people are different and have nothing to do but bitch and complain with the attitude of "don't they know who I am?" and that is their right to do so but that has to be a miserable existence imo. Perspective.
 
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I don’t know how technology and being a start up have anything to do with sloppy work. I understand the software bugs and quirks, but little silly things such as not having the car cleaned and ready to deliver. That’s just completely dumb. Most of the times they screw themselves over because the service center has to now deal with all the problems. I mean how hard is it to hire a guy for $30 an hour and just have he/she walk around each car with a clipboard doing just minor small inspections. They have horrible people running the delivery wing of the company, I don’t know why they choose not to address it when it is so simple to do. This is like me not paying my parking tickets and then the fines just get bigger and bigger. I will end up having to pay it anyway.

I fully expect my soon to be delivered model X to have a few issues. Yes, it will be a minor inconvenience to get it fixed by Tesla but I trust they will do so. If Tesla was just another ice manufacturer selling obsolete long perfected technology I would be less forgiving. However, Tesla is pushing the limits and taking on the world, I figure the least I can do is cut them a little slack. Some people are different and have nothing to do but bitch and complain with the attitude of "don't they know who I am?" and that is their right to do so but that has to be a miserable existence imo. Perspective.
 
I fully expect my soon to be delivered model X to have a few issues. Yes, it will be a minor inconvenience to get it fixed by Tesla but I trust they will do so. If Tesla was just another ice manufacturer selling obsolete long perfected technology I would be less forgiving. However, Tesla is pushing the limits and taking on the world, I figure the least I can do is cut them a little slack. Some people are different and have nothing to do but bitch and complain with the attitude of "don't they know who I am?" and that is their right to do so but that has to be a miserable existence imo. Perspective.

You say that now. Currently issues popping up with my car are happening faster than they are resolving them.
 
You say that now. Currently issues popping up with my car are happening faster than they are resolving them.

Same here, but I am dumb enough to add a "s", so for me it is car"s".

So far my Model S - Delivered on August 9 has been out of service for issues ranging from Air Suspension Needs Service, where they replaced both rear struts and the air compressor, to multiple rattles and things in between, for 11% of the time I have owned it.

My Model X - Delivered on September 29 has been out of service with everything from Parking Brake Needs Service, where it was undrivable, to tail lights fogging and being replaced, to rattles as well for 13% of the time I have owned it.

The above does not count the "gremlin" issues that come up all the time, like the Nav losing track of me in the Model X requiring a reboot, or the Nav in the Model S caught in a voice repeat loop saying the same thing over and over again and requiring me to stop and reboot. Both cars also have the Slacker iNet radio issue with constant reloads as well.

These are by far the most unreliable in terms of both annoying unrepeatable "gremlin" issues as well as issues that rendered them unsafe or undrivable all within the first 3 months of ownership. In my case it is clearly a brand experience as having two TeslasI cannot be convinced the problems I am experiencing are one off experiences.

I am hoping they settle down, but don't see that in the near future, otherwise I will just ride out the first year of ownership, eat the $50k depreciation loss and call it a day with Tesla. Other option is try to Lemon both cars in NJ if they hit the magic 20 days in service number (halfway there on both in 3 months, so it's possible).

It's a shame as I really want to like the cars, but I honestly don't trust them at all. Every day I am wondering what will happen today; yesterday I got in my Model S after having it sit for a day or two and the center screen was frozen and unresponsive and I had to reboot. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?
 

My Model X has a very similar, but not as loud sound and I was told it was the coolant pump and we checked another Model X they had in stock and it had the same sound in the cabin. Tech told me you cannot hear it in an S as they moved the pump to a higher position in the car. As it is not as loud as the one in your video I am just going to live with it, but may be the same issue you have, but the pump may be defective, it is almost an identical sound to what I have and I also thought it was something impinging on a fan, but they checked all the fans.
 
You say that now. Currently issues popping up with my car are happening faster than they are resolving them.

It appears you're new here based on your profile. Maybe you didn't do your research before you bought the car? I've been here a while, I'm an informed buyer. I'm not implying I'll be excited about service center visits but I'll take that over owning any new ice vehicle. I could go on the BMW forums and whine all day long about all the issues I've had with them including my current 335d, the latest being a $3000 emission issue that happened 1k miles out of warranty and once fixed I still have a check engine light for another part of the system that needs to be fixed.
 
It appears you're new here based on your profile. Maybe you didn't do your research before you bought the car? I've been here a while, I'm an informed buyer. I'm not implying I'll be excited about service center visits but I'll take that over owning any new ice vehicle. I could go on the BMW forums and whine all day long about all the issues I've had with them including my current 335d, the latest being a $3000 emission issue that happened 1k miles out of warranty and once fixed I still have a check engine light for another part of the system that needs to be fixed.

Yes, definitely berating people about posting about bad experiences leads to more informed buyers, ROFLMAO.
 
My Model X has a very similar, but not as loud sound and I was told it was the coolant pump and we checked another Model X they had in stock and it had the same sound in the cabin. Tech told me you cannot hear it in an S as they moved the pump to a higher position in the car. As it is not as loud as the one in your video I am just going to live with it, but may be the same issue you have, but the pump may be defective, it is almost an identical sound to what I have and I also thought it was something impinging on a fan, but they checked all the fans.

My MCU was defective day one. Nothing to do with the cooling system. A replacement fixed the issue. Insist on a prompt resolution, whatever your issue may be.
 
It's a shame as I really want to like the cars, but I honestly don't trust them at all. Every day I am wondering what will happen today; yesterday I got in my Model S after having it sit for a day or two and the center screen was frozen and unresponsive and I had to reboot. Wonder what tomorrow will bring?

While I do genuinely empathize with your issues, I think you're being a bit overly dramatic here with regards to the reboots... The car is largely a computer on wheels and it will need occasional rebooting. If that is really an issue for you and the 30 seconds it takes to do it then yeah, it's probably best you move on from Tesla at your earliest convenance.

I've had my Model S for two years now and other than some rattles (fixed), panel/trim alignment (fixed, well fixed enough to be acceptable), and the occasional need to reboot, I haven't had any other issues whatsoever. I don't say that to suggest you haven't had issues or that your issues are not valid or important. I say that to illustrate that after 2 years, I feel like my car is as reliable as any other out there.

Jeff
 
While I do genuinely empathize with your issues, I think you're being a bit overly dramatic here with regards to the reboots... The car is largely a computer on wheels and it will need occasional rebooting. If that is really an issue for you and the 30 seconds it takes to do it then yeah, it's probably best you move on from Tesla at your earliest convenance.

I've had my Model S for two years now and other than some rattles (fixed), panel/trim alignment (fixed, well fixed enough to be acceptable), and the occasional need to reboot, I haven't had any other issues whatsoever. I don't say that to suggest you haven't had issues or that your issues are not valid or important. I say that to illustrate that after 2 years, I feel like my car is as reliable as any other out there.

Jeff

I have to disagree with you here. While I think that Tesla is a new company and they are trying to start a business in an insanely difficult market some things just shouldn't happen. Most people who can afford to buy an S/X are probably technically savvy enough to not be annoyed by it. However, as a Tesla investor I am concerned that once the 3 comes out if these same software glitches exist the masses will not be as forgiving and it could pose a serious problem for the company.
 
It appears you're new here based on your profile. Maybe you didn't do your research before you bought the car? I've been here a while, I'm an informed buyer. I'm not implying I'll be excited about service center visits but I'll take that over owning any new ice vehicle. I could go on the BMW forums and whine all day long about all the issues I've had with them including my current 335d, the latest being a $3000 emission issue that happened 1k miles out of warranty and once fixed I still have a check engine light for another part of the system that needs to be fixed.

I test drove a Model S when they first came out in Seattle's first sales location. I spent years mulling over buying an S doing my research, going back and forth based on reports of build quality issues, it is certainly a risk. However, considering the upside potential and technology benefits I figured why not. The fact that the car is electric is #5 on my priority list. I created a spreadsheet based on weighted facets of comparison across brands. I even went as far as to do sentiment analysis on forums by crawling them and feeding them through NLP+Data Steams.

My purchase was calculated.

What I didn't expect was to have such basic QA issues. I also didn't expect to have 30 service issues within 3 months. That it excessive. I came from a 2014 Audi S6 that had a twin-turbo V8 that I had heavily modified including a Stage 2 ECU tune. Know how many issues I had over 3.5 years and 45k miles? 2..... 2 issues. Both resolved. My Model X shakes so bad under acceleration it has caused rattles. I was told this is within spec.

I do appreciate the inference that since I'm new to the forum I am an uninformed buyer.
 
Yes, definitely berating people about posting about bad experiences leads to more informed buyers, ROFLMAO.

To each their own, never said i had a problem with people listing problems and looking for a solution. It's the whining and acting like they could do it better I could do without.

I test drove a Model S when they first came out in Seattle's first sales location. I spent years mulling over buying an S doing my research, going back and forth based on reports of build quality issues, it is certainly a risk. However, considering the upside potential and technology benefits I figured why not. The fact that the car is electric is #5 on my priority list. I created a spreadsheet based on weighted facets of comparison across brands. I even went as far as to do sentiment analysis on forums by crawling them and feeding them through NLP+Data Steams.

My purchase was calculated.

What I didn't expect was to have such basic QA issues. I also didn't expect to have 30 service issues within 3 months. That it excessive. I came from a 2014 Audi S6 that had a twin-turbo V8 that I had heavily modified including a Stage 2 ECU tune. Know how many issues I had over 3.5 years and 45k miles? 2..... 2 issues. Both resolved. My Model X shakes so bad under acceleration it has caused rattles. I was told this is within spec.

I do appreciate the inference that since I'm new to the forum I am an uninformed buyer.

Pretty sure I said "MAYBE you didn't do your research"? Oh yeah, I did.

congrats on being an investor, I am also. Maybe you should sell.

Hard to believe Tesla has such high owner approval isn't it? Maybe because most people understand the big picture and difficulties with what Tesla is trying to achieve. Shame on them for not achieving perfect yet, please point me to any company that has.
 
To each their own, never said i had a problem with people listing problems and looking for a solution. It's the whining and acting like they could do it better I could do without.



Pretty sure I said "MAYBE you didn't do your research"? Oh yeah, I did.

congrats on being an investor, I am also. Maybe you should sell.

Hard to believe Tesla has such high owner approval isn't it? Maybe because most people understand the big picture and difficulties with what Tesla is trying to achieve. Shame on them for not achieving perfect yet, please point me to any company that has.

You mentioned you were an informed buyer, that's why I said inference.

I have been investing in $TSLA for quite some time, even if their stock price were cut in 1/5 I'd be in the black. My concern is not S/X owners. My concern is that people buying the 3 will not be as flexible and understanding. May be more willing to invoke lemon laws. Tesla plans on selling 2x as many cars as they've ever sold in 2 years, that's awesome and... terrifying. I've talked to 3 SCs when doing my due diligence before adding to my $TLSA position and they are all ABSOLUTELY terrified about the Model 3 coming out. They said they were already being pushed to the limit with just the S/X.

I just hope their QA game is strong for the 3.

According to consumer reports the S has the highest customer satisfaction. However, the X is suffering quite badly and is one of the worst SUVs in terms of reliability ratings.

Do you have some data to point a picture of Tesla overall?
 
@Peteski As Tesla optimizes their global distribution and manufacturing batching for end of quarter deliveries, there often isn't time to rectify stuff. They are under pressure to deliver those cars within the quarter - and lots of them.

The customer is pressured into taking delivery and returning with the car later for service. That's the whole premise of this thread, of course, and IMO it is absolutely factual.

I'm talking about simple PDIs here and the kind of trivial issues people are typically spotting on delivery. Not things that would delay delivery significantly if done properly. You could easily argue that the service centres will be put under more pressure if they have to have discussions with new owners and then take cars back in to fix things that could have been done easily and quickly up front.

Manufacturing issues due to pressure of moving cars quickly off the line is a different kind of quality issue and one that Tesla seem to have improved on significantly over time.
 
Hard to believe Tesla has such high owner approval isn't it? Maybe because most people understand the big picture and difficulties with what Tesla is trying to achieve. Shame on them for not achieving perfect yet, please point me to any company that has.

Yes it is hard to believe. You are correct Tesla does rank very high in what is referred to as Owner Satisfaction, recently for example Tesla headlines the Consumer Reports Owner Satisfaction Survey (Car Brands Ranked by Owner Satisfaction) where Tesla is rated at 91%, but that is actually rated on "Would you buy again?". Digging more deeply it is hard to understand why that is true as when you look at typical underlying drivers such as brand reliability Tesla ranks quite low (Car Brands Reliability: How They Stack Up).

My contention based on available data is that the reason Tesla ranks so high is a few reasons; first is that there are few if any alternatives in the market. If I want a non-ICE SUV or luxury sedan with long range there is no option, so I would only consider Tesla and would buy it again. Second I think Tesla owners become somewhat immune to issues that they would not accept from other manufacturers (you can see it with people's posts in this thread where they expect delivery issues). I have no data to support these contentions, just my opinion.
 
You mentioned you were an informed buyer, that's why I said inference.

I have been investing in $TSLA for quite some time, even if their stock price were cut in 1/5 I'd be in the black. My concern is not S/X owners. My concern is that people buying the 3 will not be as flexible and understanding. May be more willing to invoke lemon laws. Tesla plans on selling 2x as many cars as they've ever sold in 2 years, that's awesome and... terrifying. I've talked to 3 SCs when doing my due diligence before adding to my $TLSA position and they are all ABSOLUTELY terrified about the Model 3 coming out. They said they were already being pushed to the limit with just the S/X.

I just hope their QA game is strong for the 3.

According to consumer reports the S has the highest customer satisfaction. However, the X is suffering quite badly and is one of the worst SUVs in terms of reliability ratings.

Do you have some data to point a picture of Tesla overall?

I agree the increased sales from model 3 will put more of a strain on Tesla, but I trust they will get it figured out because they are smart and all. Saying that those buyers on average will be less tolerant seems a bit elitist to me. I would expect way more of the "don't you know who I am" attitude from model S/X owners.

Yes it is hard to believe. You are correct Tesla does rank very high in what is referred to as Owner Satisfaction, recently for example Tesla headlines the Consumer Reports Owner Satisfaction Survey (Car Brands Ranked by Owner Satisfaction) where Tesla is rated at 91%, but that is actually rated on "Would you buy again?". Digging more deeply it is hard to understand why that is true as when you look at typical underlying drivers such as brand reliability Tesla ranks quite low (Car Brands Reliability: How They Stack Up).

My contention based on available data is that the reason Tesla ranks so high is a few reasons; first is that there are few if any alternatives in the market. If I want a non-ICE SUV or luxury sedan with long range there is no option, so I would only consider Tesla and would buy it again. Second I think Tesla owners become somewhat immune to issues that they would not accept from other manufacturers (you can see it with people's posts in this thread where they expect delivery issues). I have no data to support these contentions, just my opinion.

Spend some time on some other car forums, particularly those that can be considered competitors to Tesla like BMW, Audi, Mercedes. You will see a lot of the same issues and complaining about those brands. As I mentioned before I have a BMW (335d) that has had a few issues but I was also aware before I bought it that other owners were having major engine issues. I still bought the car and accepted the risk. I've never once whined about the car online, only visited the forums where I could get information on the fix.

Just not a fan of the whining and the "I could do it better" attitude of anonymous done nothing Internet posters. It's your right to do it of course, and it's mine to call it out. I'm not referring to anyone in particular including those quoted in this post.
 
Just not a fan of the whining and the "I could do it better" attitude of anonymous done nothing Internet posters.

Given that the posters are anonomyous, likelihood is, many of them actually have done something in life, but you wouldn't know it. :) Especially if they can affort to buy a Tesla.

Some consider feedback and community awareness doing something, too. I for one would rather have a very well informed TMC community than one that isn't. "Whining" helps in providing some of that info.

That said, calling others whiners or whining is IMO the ultimate form of elitism because it tries to make you the authority on what is an accepted complaint.
 
I'm talking about simple PDIs here and the kind of trivial issues people are typically spotting on delivery. Not things that would delay delivery significantly if done properly. You could easily argue that the service centres will be put under more pressure if they have to have discussions with new owners and then take cars back in to fix things that could have been done easily and quickly up front.

Manufacturing issues due to pressure of moving cars quickly off the line is a different kind of quality issue and one that Tesla seem to have improved on significantly over time.

Sure, I'm just explaining the overall operational logic and culture I believe Tesla follows. Maybe they could do better within that culture too, by small adjustments as you suggest, but IMO they'd do much better - quality-wise - by abandoning the deliver fast, fix later philosophy and re-calculating the whole way they do this...