Multiple Early Issues with M3

[MjolnirM3]

Hello,

(X-Post from Reddit)
First, Happy New Year! I'm sure this type of post has been created many times, but I'm looking for a little advice. Just to be clear, I still really love my car, but the number of issues my car is giving me and the severely limited time I have to deal with them is making me lose a little faith in Tesla.

I got my 2020 M3 LR AWD on Oct. 11, in New York State. I took it to the service center, which is about 70 miles away for a dent that was present on delivery to get it removed on October 27. I then took it to the service center on November 18th for a L turn signal fault (not working), L side headlight remaining turned on; at this visit they replaced the L sided headlight assembly. Finally, it brings us to today (December 31), where my rear speakers and subwoofer stopped working (didn't work even after 2 reboots). It feels like every month I am having a new issue. I've got an appointment on January 15th with mobile service, but in the event they can't fix it, I will need to make another appointment with an SC. I only have just over 5000 miles on the car.

Part of the problem is that I am still a resident physician, and only get 1 day off a week most weeks of the month. Which means that because of the limited service centers in my area, it's difficult to go there, drop the car off, and then return another day to return the loaner (which for the most part they expect to be returned 24 hours after the repair is completed, although in fairness they try to be flexible with me).

Do SCs have a service with which they can pick up the car and drop off a loaner? Are there any other options to help this maintenance be a bit more manageable? Is there anyone I can write to get a service center opened up closer to me? Is it worth looking into lemon laws at this point? To be honest I'm not sure what I'm asking, I guess I'm becoming a little frustrated.

TL;DR My Tesla is having many issues with just over 5000 miles and 2 months of ownership, and getting fixes is becoming frustrating.

 

[Peteski]

Sooooo, 1 dent and a couple of minor electrical gremlins in a new car. Annoying of course, but hardly lemon law territory!

My n=2 experience with Tesla is that there are always delivery issues with a new Tesla requiring at least a couple of SC visits to deal with and then they are fine for the long haul. Our MX had maybe half a dozen trivial quality issues from birth and has been faultless ever since (now at 42k miles). Just taken delivery of a new Model 3, again with half a dozen minor quality issues (body panel fits) and also needs an SC visit to sort out. I'm hoping it will be reliable after that.

 

[MjolnirM3]

Sooooo, 1 dent and a couple of minor electrical gremlins in a new car. Annoying of course, but hardly lemon law territory!

My n=2 experience with Tesla is that there are always delivery issues with a new Tesla requiring at least a couple of SC visits to deal with and then they are fine for the long haul. Our MX had maybe half a dozen trivial quality issues from birth and has been faultless ever since (now at 42k miles). Just taken delivery of a new Model 3, again with half a dozen minor quality issues (body panel fits) and also needs an SC visit to sort out. I'm hoping it will be reliable after that.

Thank you! That does make me feel better. My gut states that it doesn't fall into lemon law territory as you stated, but man is it frustrating with the lack of SC in my area!

 

[Dynamite647]

Hello,

(X-Post from Reddit)
First, Happy New Year! I'm sure this type of post has been created many times, but I'm looking for a little advice. Just to be clear, I still really love my car, but the number of issues my car is giving me and the severely limited time I have to deal with them is making me lose a little faith in Tesla.

I got my 2020 M3 LR AWD on Oct. 11, in New York State. I took it to the service center, which is about 70 miles away for a dent that was present on delivery to get it removed on October 27. I then took it to the service center on November 18th for a L turn signal fault (not working), L side headlight remaining turned on; at this visit they replaced the L sided headlight assembly. Finally, it brings us to today (December 31), where my rear speakers and subwoofer stopped working (didn't work even after 2 reboots). It feels like every month I am having a new issue. I've got an appointment on January 15th with mobile service, but in the event they can't fix it, I will need to make another appointment with an SC. I only have just over 5000 miles on the car.

Part of the problem is that I am still a resident physician, and only get 1 day off a week most weeks of the month. Which means that because of the limited service centers in my area, it's difficult to go there, drop the car off, and then return another day to return the loaner (which for the most part they expect to be returned 24 hours after the repair is completed, although in fairness they try to be flexible with me).

Do SCs have a service with which they can pick up the car and drop off a loaner? Are there any other options to help this maintenance be a bit more manageable? Is there anyone I can write to get a service center opened up closer to me? Is it worth looking into lemon laws at this point? To be honest I'm not sure what I'm asking, I guess I'm becoming a little frustrated.

TL;DR My Tesla is having many issues with just over 5000 miles and 2 months of ownership, and getting fixes is becoming frustrating.

When I got mine in 2nd week of Dec.2020 it had issues as well. I was asked to sign docs first and do inspection later (go figure). These cars will in most cases come with some sort of factory defect. You will just have to get used to it and fix as much as you can through the service center..
I already have had 3 service appointments and still some of the issues are not fixed while others are within "spec".

How do you like the car otherwise?

 

[MjolnirM3]

When I got mine in 2nd week of Dec.2020 it had issues as well. I was asked to sign docs first and do inspection later (go figure). These cars will in most cases come with some sort of factory defect. You will just have to get used to it and fix as much as you can through the service center..
I already have had 3 service appointments and still some of the issues are not fixed while others are within "spec".

How do you like the car otherwise?

Love the car! I convinced my dad to get a model 3 back in 2018, and now it was my turn! I was hoping to get a third party power trunk/frunk installed, but with all of these electrical issues I may take a pass on that.

 

[UncertainTimes]

Not the best car to have to deal with during residency. You need the luxury of time to deal with the issues that come up with this car. For example it took over a month to replace my bumper and headlight because of parts shortages. Many SCs don’t have loaners and it’s near impossible to talk to an actual person for anything. Hopefully you have easy access to a spare car to borrow.

 

[MjolnirM3]

Not the best car to have to deal with during residency. You need the luxury of time to deal with the issues that come up with this car. For example it took over a month to replace my bumper and headlight because of parts shortages. Many SCs don’t have loaners and it’s near impossible to talk to an actual person for anything.

One thing I can say is that the closest service center to me (Henrietta) has provided exceptional customer service. I have always received a loaner, and with all credit to them, they try to let me keep the loaner until I can return it (which at the latest is an extra day). I know we have a lot of horror stories of poor customer service, but Henrietta and Mount Kisco have been great to work with!

 

[Tranquil Rage]

Hello,

(X-Post from Reddit)
First, Happy New Year! I'm sure this type of post has been created many times, but I'm looking for a little advice. Just to be clear, I still really love my car, but the number of issues my car is giving me and the severely limited time I have to deal with them is making me lose a little faith in Tesla.

I got my 2020 M3 LR AWD on Oct. 11, in New York State. I took it to the service center, which is about 70 miles away for a dent that was present on delivery to get it removed on October 27. I then took it to the service center on November 18th for a L turn signal fault (not working), L side headlight remaining turned on; at this visit they replaced the L sided headlight assembly. Finally, it brings us to today (December 31), where my rear speakers and subwoofer stopped working (didn't work even after 2 reboots). It feels like every month I am having a new issue. I've got an appointment on January 15th with mobile service, but in the event they can't fix it, I will need to make another appointment with an SC. I only have just over 5000 miles on the car.

Part of the problem is that I am still a resident physician, and only get 1 day off a week most weeks of the month. Which means that because of the limited service centers in my area, it's difficult to go there, drop the car off, and then return another day to return the loaner (which for the most part they expect to be returned 24 hours after the repair is completed, although in fairness they try to be flexible with me).

Do SCs have a service with which they can pick up the car and drop off a loaner? Are there any other options to help this maintenance be a bit more manageable? Is there anyone I can write to get a service center opened up closer to me? Is it worth looking into lemon laws at this point? To be honest I'm not sure what I'm asking, I guess I'm becoming a little frustrated.

TL;DR My Tesla is having many issues with just over 5000 miles and 2 months of ownership, and getting fixes is becoming frustrating.

Based on the various electronic issues you're experiencing, this sounds more like a wiring harness, ground, or front body controller fault. When I picked my car up at the end of 2018, there was a pinched wire issue with the wiring harness that controls the map lights, hazard light button, etc. That would cause my subwoofer and rear speakers to drop out even though they were on entirely different circuits. When the MCU or body control module doesn't see the signal that it's expecting, it can cause all kinds of weird symptoms.

Push your service center to inspect all grounds (especially the ones under the frunk at the front body control module) since that's easy and then suggest to them to look into the aforementioned modules. You can also call Tesla's support line (not the service center) and ask them to run remote diagnostics.

 

[MjolnirM3]

Based on the various electronic issues you're experiencing, this sounds more like a wiring harness, ground, or front body controller fault. When I picked my car up at the end of 2018, there was a pinched wire issue with the wiring harness that controls the map lights, hazard light button, etc. That would cause my subwoofer and rear speakers to drop out even though they were on entirely different circuits. When the MCU or body control module doesn't see the signal that it's expecting, it can cause all kinds of weird symptoms.

Push your service center to inspect all grounds (especially the ones under the frunk at the front body control module) since that's easy and then suggest to them to look into the aforementioned modules. You can also call Tesla's support line (not the service center) and ask them to run remote diagnostics.

This is excellent information! Thank you so much for letting me know!

 

[JayNJ]

Hello,

(X-Post from Reddit)
First, Happy New Year! I'm sure this type of post has been created many times, but I'm looking for a little advice. Just to be clear, I still really love my car, but the number of issues my car is giving me and the severely limited time I have to deal with them is making me lose a little faith in Tesla.

I got my 2020 M3 LR AWD on Oct. 11, in New York State. I took it to the service center, which is about 70 miles away for a dent that was present on delivery to get it removed on October 27. I then took it to the service center on November 18th for a L turn signal fault (not working), L side headlight remaining turned on; at this visit they replaced the L sided headlight assembly. Finally, it brings us to today (December 31), where my rear speakers and subwoofer stopped working (didn't work even after 2 reboots). It feels like every month I am having a new issue. I've got an appointment on January 15th with mobile service, but in the event they can't fix it, I will need to make another appointment with an SC. I only have just over 5000 miles on the car.

Part of the problem is that I am still a resident physician, and only get 1 day off a week most weeks of the month. Which means that because of the limited service centers in my area, it's difficult to go there, drop the car off, and then return another day to return the loaner (which for the most part they expect to be returned 24 hours after the repair is completed, although in fairness they try to be flexible with me).

Do SCs have a service with which they can pick up the car and drop off a loaner? Are there any other options to help this maintenance be a bit more manageable? Is there anyone I can write to get a service center opened up closer to me? Is it worth looking into lemon laws at this point? To be honest I'm not sure what I'm asking, I guess I'm becoming a little frustrated.

TL;DR My Tesla is having many issues with just over 5000 miles and 2 months of ownership, and getting fixes is becoming frustrating.

They should have been able to do mobile service on all but the dent. Lemon laws don't apply for different problems.

 

[MjolnirM3]

They should have been able to do mobile service on all but the dent. Lemon laws don't apply for different problems.

Unfortunately mobile service is stretched thin where I live because they have a wide catchment area.