New Model 3 Breaks Down on Day 2

[PDA64]

Picked up my SR Model 3 on Friday. Fell in love immediately as the car is incredible. Rounded the corner near my house yesterday, heard a pop in the back and lost power with an error message to pull to the side of the road. Fortunately was able to roll into my driveway. Would have been much worse on freeway. Screen still worked but could drive and received a message that the car needs to be serviced. Tesla roadside assistance was great and flat bed came to my house to get. Don’t know anything else yet. Pretty crushed and concerned as they’ll be pulling apart a brand new car and wondering if this car will be predisposed to problems. . Contemplating asking for a new car since it has less than 100 miles and is a day old. Another option is to return but that’s a last resort. Anyone heard of this popping noise/breakdown before? Thx

 

[richyrich]

Sorry to hear that, I haven't heard of that issue. I'd wait and see what the resolution is before demanding a new car - that will be lots of hassle for everyone. Tough start to your ownership but if it's any consolation I'm 8 months and 37,000km in with no major issues.

 

[SomeJoe7777]

Picked up my SR Model 3 on Friday. Fell in love immediately as the car is incredible. Rounded the corner near my house yesterday, heard a pop in the back and lost power with an error message to pull to the side of the road. Fortunately was able to roll into my driveway. Would have been much worse on freeway. Screen still worked but could drive and received a message that the car needs to be serviced. Tesla roadside assistance was great and flat bed came to my house to get. Don’t know anything else yet. Pretty crushed and concerned as they’ll be pulling apart a brand new car and wondering if this car will be predisposed to problems. . Contemplating asking for a new car since it has less than 100 miles and is a day old. Another option is to return but that’s a last resort. Anyone heard of this popping noise/breakdown before? Thx

Worst case possibility -- drive inverter. Yet, easy to fix. They'll just drop the entire drive unit and replace with a new one. Pretty easy.

There have been well over 100,000 Model 3's delivered and I've only heard of maybe 1 or 2 drive unit failures. Pretty exceptional, especially when compared to the 1st couple of years of Model S deliveries when a sizeable percentage of drive units eventually had an issue.

Hold off on radical action until you know what's wrong and what the course of action will be. Give them a chance to make it right.

 

[Saghost]

Picked up my SR Model 3 on Friday. Fell in love immediately as the car is incredible. Rounded the corner near my house yesterday, heard a pop in the back and lost power with an error message to pull to the side of the road. Fortunately was able to roll into my driveway. Would have been much worse on freeway. Screen still worked but could drive and received a message that the car needs to be serviced. Tesla roadside assistance was great and flat bed came to my house to get. Don’t know anything else yet. Pretty crushed and concerned as they’ll be pulling apart a brand new car and wondering if this car will be predisposed to problems. . Contemplating asking for a new car since it has less than 100 miles and is a day old. Another option is to return but that’s a last resort. Anyone heard of this popping noise/breakdown before? Thx

Bathtub reliability curve. Things either break almost right away or not for a long time. Something in your new car wasn't quite to design tolerances.

But Tesla will fix it - and it'll be good as new for a long time. They'll probably just drop the whole drive unit out of the car and install a new one in a couple hours to get you back on the road (just a few wires and a couple fluid lines, then unbolt it and the whole thing comes out of the bottom easily.)

Then they'll go take yours back to the lab and figure out what's wrong with it, and probably fix it to give to the next guy with a big problem.

 

[2012MS85]

But don’t wait too long if you want to demand a new 3, as your 100% no questions asked return policy expires in a few days. Please verify how many days you have, as it varies depending on your circumstances. Today you have great leverage to demand what gives you long-term peace of mind. Once your free return option expires, any future hassles will be very frustrating to resolve and Tesla will have the upper hand (today YOU do). Best of luck!

 

[PDA64]

Sorry to hear that, I haven't heard of that issue. I'd wait and see what the resolution is before demanding a new car - that will be lots of hassle for everyone. Tough start to your ownership but if it's any consolation I'm 8 months and 37,000km in with no major issues.

 

[PDA64]

Thanks all. Yes i have 7 days or 1000 miles to decide. Need to figure out in next couple of days. Good advice all around. Appreciate it.

 

[cwerdna]

There have been well over 100,000 Model 3's delivered and I've only heard of maybe 1 or 2 drive unit failures.

Here are another 1.5 dozen or so:
Shoddy quality and poor QC and missing parts..

And two more:
"Car May Not Restart" service message, no kidding "Car not Safe to Drive-- Pull over Safely"

And, it turned out that was the prob with OP here: Rear Drive Unit Failed.

 

[Avid]

Thanks for the followup that OP didn't do.

 

[ngogas]

First I heard of this. It’s and easy fix. Now you got a new drive unit.

 

[Big Earl]

Thanks all. Yes i have 7 days or 1000 miles to decide. Need to figure out in next couple of days. Good advice all around. Appreciate it.

So what ended up happening?

 

[cwerdna]

So what ended up happening?

I think Rear Drive Unit Failed has the answer.