Next-gen REAR seats no longer available for new orders, please post feedback on yours

[EarlyAdopter]

I will say here (and I'd really never say this to Tesla, although I realize they might read this forum): In my personal opinion, the car is EXTREMELY OVERPRICED. In other words, I realize I'm paying a huge margin to obtain this unique vehicle. Therefore, I'm not going to get wrapped up in whether or not a given option costs a given amount... the total price to get the vehicle, and get it configured the way I want, is what it is. I've gritted my teeth and decided to pay it... so a small change up or down is just not on my radar. I'm getting what I want, and paying the price with open eyes.

I know. There are all those other sedans that can do 0-60 in 3.2s that we could buy for so much less... ;-)

 

[Jaff]

Firstly, thanks for the comprehensive review of the Next Gen seats...to those of us who did not receive Next Gen rear seats, nor have had the opportunity to sit in Next Gen rear seats, it was very valuable input.

Secondly, I agree totally with your sentiments here...

... but Tesla does change pricing all the time, as long as they offer the option of the back Next Gen seats to everyone who ordered when they were available I don't see an issue.

 

[Danal]

I know. There are all those other sedans that can do 0-60 in 3.2s that we could buy for so much less... ;-)

Exactly!

 

[mdevp]

All we need now is someone to compare the comfort of next gen rear vs rear seat 1.5. The next gen looks way more comfortable but looks can be deceiving.

 

[hhh]

I wonder how many potential buyers are holding back because of the whole sh**ty seat situation. I know I am. Super low gas prices does not help Tesla either. Looks like i could have a new order delivered in 2 months. Don't remember delivery ever being this fast? Hope they will be getting their act together fast.

 

[gavinwang]

No one has spotted that they are introducing "Executive Rear Seats" to replace "Next Gen Seats" in the back? It looks very nice with a central console. But judged from the photo, the console can't fold back, so the rear seats become a 2-seater, foreseeably a problem for some people. With the Executive Rear Seats comes the winder package for free, although it's not something i would want at my part of the world. Still waiting to speak with my DS on more detail with regard to various options for the rear seats. But from the message he dropped me, I would say there are now only two options left for the rear, old first generation seats, or the brand new executive seats, no more New Gen.

 

[darthy001]

edit: forget the entire post. Dont have the energy to keep discussing this

Now I' m simply just sad that Tesla has once again managed to make the purchasing experience filled with negativity. If it hadnt been for the Norwegian price increase and absurd currency change towards USD I would have cancelled the car:frown:

 

[LostJackal42]

I like their wording change. It seems they were careful not to say they've been discontinued. I would've pressed them for more info. Has anyone asked if they are being redesigned or if they are switching manufacturers or if the discontinued seats are permanent forever?

Also, has anyone asked if the new executive seats fold down at all? And if they do, what is the angle that they fold?

I asked and the Tesla lady confirmed Executive Seats DO NOT FOLD DOWN they're fixed

Mine would be that the rear headrests simply fold back when not in use. My wife's CRV has this feature.

Yes that would also be a decent option. My Scirocco has only two seats (similar to the Executive Seats) in the rear but both fold down perfectly however it doesn't have the middle armrest which presumably is the issue. The rear view mirror on that is pretty bad however I can't imagine having a headrest in the middle as well. Sure it will be fine....

 

[Gizmotoy]

The base of many car seats are wider than the space provided between the bolsters. If you have two in the back, each side borrows a little space from the center seat.

Is the space-borrowing the issue? That's going to be the case whether the bolsters are there are not.

If the carseats sit tilted to one side because of the bolsters that could be a big issue. I'd be surprised no one noticed that prior to production, though.

So what on earth is all the fuss about? It strikes me that Tesla are in the midst of an enormous communication exercise to reassure everyone with existing orders that they will get what they ordered and they are to be commended for that. To claim that Tesla don't communicate with their customers could not be further from the truth. They just don't get involved with forums.

I don't commonly see complaints that doesn't doesn't communicate, but rather that they don't do it well. As in, their messaging and answers aren't consistent and 5 owners can ask the same question and all get different answers. You still see that a bit here, even with Tesla proactively making the calls.

 

[MarcG]

My latest phone conversation with a Tesla Ownership representative confirms what others have been told: the next-gen rear seats' headrests are larger and block rear-view mirror vision more, so they're offering us the option to keep current gen rear seats. Same pricing for either option (take rear next-gen seats or not). No mention of fold-flat issue.

 

[Danal]

edit: forget the entire post. Dont have the energy to keep discussing this

Now I' m simply just sad that Tesla has once again managed to make the purchasing experience filled with negativity. If it hadnt been for the Norwegian price increase and absurd currency change towards USD I would have cancelled the car:frown:

Who made the experience negative, Tesla, or this forum?

If I had never read the forum: I would have placed an order, been waiting, and gotten a call from Tesla explaining that some customers want rear seats one way, and some another, so they are changing the offering for future orders... and I could have my choice of either the old way or the new way. Which would I prefer?

What could possibly be negative about that?

 

[darthy001]

Who made the experience negative, Tesla, or this forum?

If I had never read the forum... I would have placed an order, been waiting, and gotten a call from Tesla explaining that some customers want it one way, and some another, and I could have my choice. What could possibly be negative about that?

very off-topic, but the answer is sadly both.

Tesla has directly been responsible for a DS who hasnt answered numerous emails, range has been "changed" numerous times, mytesla has shown my car to be finished twice and in transit twice even if the woman I spoke to yesterday said it was still waiting for transport almost 3weeks after finishing production, seats changed in the design part of mytesla without any info and of course now the completely different story about seats I got as compared to others here. Not to mention that I got to experience the first round of deliveries to Norway where options that was included in the US P-version, like 21" perf wheels, was made an expensive extra option to be paid for in Norway long after I made my reservation. That is soon two years ago and Tesla is still pulling similar stunts.

The forum has made me aware of "seatgate", blackhole cars, poor actual range of the cars delivered and of course horrible comms from tesla on all of those issues. All of these could have been spun in a positive way by Tesla, but instead we have seen obvious false claims, deleted tweets etc etc. Could mention heated steering wheel as well, but there I think the only wrong doing by tesla is not grasping that introducing that features just weeks after launching a new halo-car was idiotic. Who thought of that idea?

No doubt that if Tesla had any real competition in the market I would not be here any more... And that is not good for Tesla in the long run. And Tesla cant expect customers buying their car via a website to not use online sources to keep up to speed on developments.

 

[Danal]

Darthy001:

Yes, I fully agree that Tesla should expect people to be online and connect.

And... the rest of your experience... YIKES!! Very not good. My experience is/was very different... were I you, I'd be going up the chain somewhere in Tesla, or walking away, or...

Best of luck, and I hope your experience gets better.

Danal

 

[tc4542]

The answer is Tesla is changing about as often as the wind changes directions Franky I think they're closely monitoring all of this and adapting on the fly... The life and direction of Tesla greatly depends on the excellent feedback on these forums, good or bad. Yes we are the "test crash dummies."

 

[4us2bev]

Rear NG Headrests are *exactly the same* as the New-Old Rear Headrests

My latest phone conversation with a Tesla Ownership representative confirms what others have been told: the next-gen rear seats' headrests are larger and block rear-view mirror vision more, so they're offering us the option to keep current gen rear seats. Same pricing for either option (take rear next-gen seats or not).

I have a P85D with NG Fronts and New-Old Rears (with NG Rears promised for Q1 2015), and I have been confused about this as well -- whether the Rear NG Seats have different headrests than the New-Old Rear Seats (especially since the pictures on the Design Studio were so confusing before they disappeared).

In my car currently, I find the visibility out the back to be acceptable, because the center headrest on the New-Old Rears is lower than the left/right headrests. So I emailed Jerome, asking him if there were any differences between the headrests on the Rear NGs vs. the New-Old Rears. His response:

"The height of the headrests is identical for the NG rear seats as for the alternative rear seats. The outboard headrests are taller than the center one, both for the NG rear seats and for the alternative rear seats. The height of the outboard headrests is the same for the NG rear seats as the alternative rear seats. The height of the center headrest is the same for the NG rear seat as the alternative rear seat."

As a result, I will accept NG Rears once they become available because the lay-flat issue (if one exists) is of minor consequence to me, whereas rear visibility is a paramount safety issue.

(Thanks, Jerome!)

-- David

 

[MarcG]

I have a P85D with NG Fronts and New-Old Rears (with NG Rears promised for Q1 2015), and I have been confused about this as well -- whether the Rear NG Seats have different headrests than the New-Old Rear Seats (especially since the pictures on the Design Studio were so confusing before they disappeared).

In my car currently, I find the visibility out the back to be acceptable, because the center headrest on the New-Old Rears is lower than the left/right headrests. So I emailed Jerome, asking him if there were any differences between the headrests on the Rear NGs vs. the New-Old Rears. His response:

"The height of the headrests is identical for the NG rear seats as for the alternative rear seats. The outboard headrests are taller than the center one, both for the NG rear seats and for the alternative rear seats. The height of the outboard headrests is the same for the NG rear seats as the alternative rear seats. The height of the center headrest is the same for the NG rear seat as the alternative rear seat."

As a result, I will accept NG Rears once they become available because the lay-flat issue (if one exists) is of minor consequence to me, whereas rear visibility is a paramount safety issue.

(Thanks, Jerome!)

-- David

Thanks for sharing this valuable information!

 

[redox]

As a result, I will accept NG Rears once they become available because the lay-flat issue (if one exists) is of minor consequence to me, whereas rear visibility is a paramount safety issue.

(Thanks, Jerome!)

-- David

Any indication about when in Q1 the swap would be available? They obviously have no more supply issue since they've built many cars with them...

-- Greg

 

[gpetti]

I have a P85D with NG Fronts and New-Old Rears (with NG Rears promised for Q1 2015), and I have been confused about this as well -- whether the Rear NG Seats have different headrests than the New-Old Rear Seats (especially since the pictures on the Design Studio were so confusing before they disappeared).

In my car currently, I find the visibility out the back to be acceptable, because the center headrest on the New-Old Rears is lower than the left/right headrests. So I emailed Jerome, asking him if there were any differences between the headrests on the Rear NGs vs. the New-Old Rears. His response:

"The height of the headrests is identical for the NG rear seats as for the alternative rear seats. The outboard headrests are taller than the center one, both for the NG rear seats and for the alternative rear seats. The height of the outboard headrests is the same for the NG rear seats as the alternative rear seats. The height of the center headrest is the same for the NG rear seat as the alternative rear seat."

As a result, I will accept NG Rears once they become available because the lay-flat issue (if one exists) is of minor consequence to me, whereas rear visibility is a paramount safety issue.

(Thanks, Jerome!)

-- David

This is very useful as there have been some contradictory points on this. Its good to see Jerome make this statement so unambiguous but perhaps he should send an equally clear memo out to all the DSs and the people who are making the customer calls as this clearly isn't consistent with the messaging some owners are getting, i.e. some owners are being told that the problem with the NG seats is one of visibility.

 

[gavinwang]

I also got a proactive communication from Tesla.

In my case, an email. I called the person's number listed in that mail and got voice mail. I did NOT leave a message... and he still called me back a few minutes later, solely based on Caller ID. That's pretty proactive.

He explained that I had a pending order for NG seats, that I would receive them front and back, and that some people did not like the visibility and/or folding in the back, and that I could therefore chose NG front only and enhanced Napa Leather in the back. I told him I'd seen photos of all of this on TMC forum. I asked for overnight to think about it, and he was fine.

I talked to my wife and called him back a few minutes later. We chose NG in front, and regular back. The Tesla person was very interested in why we made this choice. I told him that, for us, this choice is driven EXCLUSIVELY by lack of visibility out the rear view mirror with the NG 'center' back seat. The photos on TMC convinced us that the folding issue was really a non-issue.

We did not discuss price. It simply did not come up.

I will say here (and I'd really never say this to Tesla, although I realize they might read this forum): In my personal opinion, the car is EXTREMELY OVERPRICED. In other words, I realize I'm paying a huge margin to obtain this unique vehicle. Therefore, I'm not going to get wrapped up in whether or not a given option costs a given amount... the total price to get the vehicle, and get it configured the way I want, is what it is. I've gritted my teeth and decided to pay it... so a small change up or down is just not on my radar. I'm getting what I want, and paying the price with open eyes.

Danal, wondering what you meant by "enhanced Napa Leather in the back". What is enhanced from the original first gen back seats? I'm in the same trench as you. Much appreciated.

 

[yobigd20]

Danal, wondering what you meant by "enhanced Napa Leather in the back". What is enhanced from the original first gen back seats? I'm in the same trench as you. Much appreciated.

"Enhanced" nappa leather meant real leather on the doors instead of fake leather.