Never ending Manufacturing Issues Model X

[Pinheiro]

Hi,

I live in Norway and I`m serviced by Tesla Stavanger Service Center. I was a happy buyer of a new 90D Model X on March 2017. My car was produced in late 2016 and still has AP1 and ventilated seats. Right after I took ownership of the car, I noticed some manufacturing issues that were flagged during delivery. Well, OK I guessed, it is known that Tesla had some issues with the early Model S, so in our first service center appointment they fixed:

- Scratches on backside of drivers seat;
- B-Pillar teared;
- A hole on C-Pillar;
- Wipers were faulty and did not spray any water;
- Sliding door on central console was faulty and scratched;
- Gaps found in the plastics around the tires;
- Interior plastics were poorly assembled (uneven compared with both sides of the car);
- Poorly assembled rubber protections on the interior of the car;
- Damage on the body of the car due to friction of the FWD when they closed;
- Squeaking noise of the FWD doors when opening/closing
- Gap in the trunk plastics (where the read headlight is)
- Rubber isolation on the ceiling of the car, where the falcon wing doors open, it was bent and starting to open
- Liftgate latch with scratches
- Slight vibration on the steering when driving at 100 km/h at the highway. Using LOW suspension setting. SC said its a known issue, but will not fix for now.

I was told I had to return to the SC because of the plastics of the FWD that were ordered. No problem. In early June, here I go again to the SC to assemble these plastics. On our second service center appointment they fixed:

- Wipers were still not working after the first intervention. Had to attach the water hose...
- Loose fan inside of the passenger seat
- Slight damage on the paint on the hood

When I received my car back after the 2nd service things didn´t look so good. One of the FWD had a reasonable gap in comparison with the other one and also a lot of oil stains were left inside of my car... and I do have the "cream" color interior. So, I complained about the gap and the oil stains and off I go to the 3rd round of SC appointment in the end of June:

- Cleaning the interior
- Door seals of the FWD were badly damaged (even teared) due to the new alignment position they made on the first SC appointment. Had to order new ones.
- Both Driver and passenger seat have leather that wasn´t properly assembled. SC ordered new seats.. 8 months delivery time!
- Now Tesla states that the vibration found on the 2nd appointment is within the acceptable limit and will not fix it.
- FWD alignment (again!).
- Loose piece on the drivers seat...

Tesla had the car 2 days on their workshop for this last appointment. I could access to the car during the whole first day and also half of the 2nd day (that is when they started working on it)... When I picked up my car, the oil stains were still visible on the interior, but the worse was not that, the gap on the right FWD door was still huge and when I was washing the car, water started to flow into the interior from the ceiling!!

I tried to visit the SC and have a chat with the SC Manager, but they said he is "too busy" and I had to make an appointment with him. Of course I tried to contact him via email, but no reply after a day.

Does any of the Model X owners faced such a high amount of quality problems on their car? What are my options here? I´m highly inclined to request a refund/change to a newer built car, but I think I need to climb up the chain and not stick up with the service center manager only.

Regards, Pinheiro

 

[X Fan]

Sorry to hear about your difficulties. Close to your production date but with much less challenges.

March '16 production, May pickup. Have 28K miles and had three early issues: quarter panel noise, front door latch failure, front sensor.

All were repaired & since then, vehicle has been flawless and my only service need was for new tires at 23K.

 

[verygreen]

Does any of the Model X owners faced such a high amount of quality problems on their car? What are my options here? I´m highly inclined to request a refund/change to a newer built car, but I think I need to climb up the chain and not stick up with the service center manager only.

Quite a bad run up you had there.
I had a bunch of problems myself only my service center is much slower than yours, so I only had 2 visits to it. Once lasting 3 weeks and another (still continuing) 4+ weeks.
In my opinion you may and probably should request refund/rebuild assuming various thresholds for your local lemon law version have been met. Prepare that Tesla would then have great interest in fixing your car all of a sudden sometime after you file your paperwork.

 

[Pinheiro]

Yeah.. it´s been quite rought. It´s sad because I really love the car! Today I will deliver the paperwork to start the "lemon law" process here and see where it goes. Since I will not be accepting any other repairs done on the car, do you have any idea if Tesla tries to push a replacement car instead of a refund?

 

[verygreen]

Yeah.. it´s been quite rought. It´s sad because I really love the car! Today I will deliver the paperwork to start the "lemon law" process here and see where it goes. Since I will not be accepting any other repairs done on the car, do you have any idea if Tesla tries to push a replacement car instead of a refund?

The employee that spoke with me emphasized that the choice is mine and they would respect it.
That said there is a thread on reddit where X 90D owner reports that since no more 90D cars are being made his only option was a refund even though he would prefer a car replacement.
I also love my car (when it works) so I plan to give Tesla another chance personally.

 

[ecarfan]

my only service need was for new tires at 23K.

I assume that was because the amount of tread wear necessitated new tires? Do you have 22" or 20" wheels? That seems like rather low miles out of a set of tires. I got 40K on my S with 19" wheels. Planning to order an X soon with 20" wheels. Hope to get much more than 23K miles from a set of tires!

 

[X Fan]

I assume that was because the amount of tread wear necessitated new tires? Do you have 22" or 20" wheels? That seems like rather low miles out of a set of tires. I got 40K on my S with 19" wheels. Planning to order an X soon with 20" wheels. Hope to get much more than 23K miles from a set of tires!

20" tires.....actually, had tread left and could have gone another 4-5K but since I was going to travel a lot in summer decided to replace. Also, there was (is?) a shortage of 20" Contis in U.S. do figured get them while I could.

FWIW: Per Ranger, he said X tire life span is less than S.

 

[Pinheiro]

The employee that spoke with me emphasized that the choice is mine and they would respect it.
That said there is a thread on reddit where X 90D owner reports that since no more 90D cars are being made his only option was a refund even though he would prefer a car replacement.
I also love my car (when it works) so I plan to give Tesla another chance personally.

I see. But I do find it strange that Tesla wouldn´t propose to exchange with a 100D with the client paying the difference between the two models. Let´s see how it goes in the next few days. I`m almost certain that the service center manager would be interested in meeting me now, instead of avoiding me/my emails in the past 2 days...

 

[verygreen]

I see. But I do find it strange that Tesla wouldn´t propose to exchange with a 100D with the client paying the difference between the two models. Let´s see how it goes in the next few days. I`m almost certain that the service center manager would be interested in meeting me now, instead of avoiding me/my emails in the past 2 days...

Well, you might be a bit overoptimistic in your expectations.
I filed my paperwork on 17th, it arrived to Tesla on 20th (and there was a 10 days deadline), so I was first contacted about this whole thing on... 29th, 1 day before the deadline.

 

[Pinheiro]

Well, you might be a bit overoptimistic in your expectations.
I filed my paperwork on 17th, it arrived to Tesla on 20th (and there was a 10 days deadline), so I was first contacted about this whole thing on... 29th, 1 day before the deadline.

Oh well... we have to be optimistic under these situations (to release the stress I guess) Would you mind sharing your experience in regards of what issues you found? Tesla tried to have all your issues fixed and you rejected?

 

[verygreen]

Oh well... we have to be optimistic under these situations (to release the stress I guess) Would you mind sharing your experience in regards of what issues you found? Tesla tried to have all your issues fixed and you rejected?

Tesla Service/Quality control is still as bad as ever I guess is the place where I am discussing it.

I'll update it later today. They have the car currently in transit to me, so I get to see if I am happy with the result or not and I hope to get them to sign something in writing that if I ever need any other in-warranty repair in the next 11 or so months they just take the car back with no additional hassle.
I also wonder how is my replaced windshied wrt ghosting now, the original one was pretty bad.

 

[Pinheiro]

Update: After filling out the forms for a "lemon car" in Norway and delivering to Tesla service center and also sending out the same information to Tesla Europe, I have been contacted by Tesla that their are looking into it and will revert back to me as soon as possible. Let´s see what will happen...

 

[gmorales]

Update: After filling out the forms for a "lemon car" in Norway and delivering to Tesla service center and also sending out the same information to Tesla Europe, I have been contacted by Tesla that their are looking into it and will revert back to me as soon as possible. Let´s see what will happen...

Any update ? (Just curious...)

 

[Pinheiro]

Any update ? (Just curious...)

Well, there are some updates.

After I notified Tesla about my intention of returning the car, they suddenly became very eager to repair the car. They contacted me and told me they would like to repair my car as soon as possible. I accepted that the car could be repaired, but with no consequence to my claim. My intention was, and still is, to return the car anyway. All the 3 times that I went to the SC to repair warranty items, the car was usually returned to me after 1-2 days at the shop. Now, they already have it in the shop for more than 2 weeks.. so I can see a real effort on making everything right. I haven´t got the car back yet, but as far as I know, they have replaced almost everything... from front shafts to driver/passenger seats and so on.

As for the claim, since Tesla didn´t provide any official answer yet (within the time frame I gave them on my letter), I have started the process within the Norwegian government.

 

[hill]

.....snip...... FWIW: Per Ranger, he said X tire life span is less than S.

great ....
crossing fingers they'll last 2 1/2 more years, to the end of the lease.

we have a hand full of the nickel & dime things to be corrected at service ... but it's sooo exasperating to go in - only to have to go back again & again ... and since it's "she-who-must-be-obeyd's" car ... i figure it's only fair if she has to deal with it ... so i keep putting it off untill there's REALLY a ton of things. buahahahahaa.
.

 

[Pinheiro]

A final update:

After a long back and forth discussions with Tesla, some meetings with lawyers and such, both me and Tesla reached out an agreement. They will buyback my car for almost the same value I paid (about 97%) and I will get a new 100D by paying the difference value.

All worked out well I guess!

 

[kevinof]

glad to hear they "made it right" and hopefully your new 100D will be great. It needs people like you to push back and force better quality from Tesla.

Let us know what happens when you get the new one!

 

[Pinheiro]

Thanks! Me too, I hope I can finally full enjoy the greatness of a proper Model X!