Next Gen Seat Upgrade available, not a good deal.

[Tampaukfan]

My SC has told me that the Next Gen seats can now be ordered but from what I have told its going to be horrible deal.
The impression the SC has been given is your existing seats will not be returned, Tesla will keep them on top of charging about $5000 for the seats!
So essentially the cost of the upgrade is $7,000 since i figure your old seats are worth at least $2000.
Mind you this is not set in stone, this how the SC thinks the upgrade process will work.
Hopefully Tesla gives a fair credit for your old seats toward the Next Gen ones. Personally I think a charge of $3000 and Tesla keeping the old seats is very fair.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

My SC has told me that the Next Gen seats can now be ordered but from what I have told its going to be horrible deal.
The impression the SC has been given is your existing seats will not be returned, Tesla will keep them on top of charging about $5000 for the seats!
So essentially the cost of the upgrade is $7,000 since i figure your old seats are worth at least $2000.
Mind you this is not set in stone, this how the SC thinks the upgrade process will work.
Hopefully Tesla gives a fair credit for your old seats toward the Next Gen ones. Personally I think a charge of $3000 and Tesla keeping the old seats is very fair.

Since when have retrofits ever been cost effective? Adding a $500 parking sensor option after the fact cost $5,000. Adding a $500 folding mirror option costs over $1,500 after the fact. The only retrofit that seems reasonable is the LTE upgrade at $500, but that's probably because Tesla wants everyone to upgrade to LTE so it can further its own data gathering efforts.

I'm not at all surprised by this pricing. It's too bad, but not surprised.

 

[dsm363]

Parking sensors were $6,500 I believe so even worse.

 

[yobigd20]

Parking sensors were $6,500 I believe so even worse.

heh, what about the "+" suspension retrofit at $23k....that was a steal!! (aka they stole your money!)

 

[Tampaukfan]

Price to me is not the issue, I am ok with $5000 for the seats... however I am not ok with Tesla keeping the old seats on top of the $5000.
Options like parking sensors I can justify a high cost since the car wasnt meant to have them from the start.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Price to me is not the issue, I am ok with $5000 for the seats... however I am not ok with Tesla keeping the old seats on top of the $5000.
Options like parking sensors I can justify a high cost since the car wasnt meant to have them from the start.

First of all, we still don't know what the official pricing is going to be. You are reacting to a speculation by your service center. Wait for the actual numbers before freaking out.

Second, Tesla is giving you a credit for the old seats if they are keeping them. That credit is built into the speculatory $5,000 price that you are using. What you don't agree with is the $5,000 price, which is about double what the seats actually cost at the time of order. Based on past retrofits, I'd say that's a steal.

 

[hpham007]

The impression the SC has been given is your existing seats will not be returned,

Price aside, what can Tesla do with old seats? Is there a market for them? Do they re-use them for CPO cars? They can't put them in new cars.

 

[Tampaukfan]

Didnt say that I wasnt ok with $5,000, I am not ok with keeping my old seats. If I go to Tesla and order a set of 21" wheels do they take my old wheels on top of my $5500 ? No they do not..... Just like if I bought parts from any other automaker, they dont keep the part you are upgrading. I think 5500 is fair as long as I get to keep the old ones..

The air bags what they would want the old seats for, unblown bags are worth at least $2000.00

Price aside, what can Tesla do with old seats? Is there a market for them? Do they re-use them for CPO cars? They can't put them in new cars.

First of all, we still don't know what the official pricing is going to be. You are reacting to a speculation by your service center. Wait for the actual numbers before freaking out.

Second, Tesla is giving you a credit for the old seats if they are keeping them. That credit is built into the speculatory $5,000 price that you are using. What you don't agree with is the $5,000 price, which is about double what the seats actually cost at the time of order. Based on past retrofits, I'd say that's a steal.

 

[hpham007]

The air bags what they would want the old seats for, unblown bags are worth at least $2000.00

Can Tesla reuse airbags? Who would want to buy a car whose airbags were recommission from another car? There has to some regulation against this.

Edit: Looking at the below video, it looks like Tesla has side curtain airbags. None in the bolster.

TESLA Model S Crash Test 5/5 Stars Tesla Commercial Tesla NCAP Rating CARJAM TV HD 4K Car Video 2015 - YouTube

 

[Tampaukfan]

I dont think the could, that would be a huge liability... Selling the old seats to a used auto parts dealer seems to be the only reason why they would keep them.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Didnt say that I wasnt ok with $5,000, I am not ok with keeping my old seats. If I go to Tesla and order a set of 21" wheels do they take my old wheels on top of my $5500 ? No they do not..... Just like if I bought parts from any other automaker, they dont keep the part you are upgrading. I think 5500 is fair as long as I get to keep the old ones..

The air bags what they would want the old seats for, unblown bags are worth at least $2000.00

Then why don't you ask the service center how much it would cost if you kept the existing seats? I mean, it's too early to speculate about anything since the numbers you were given were guesses for a retrofit that hasn't been rolled out.

 

[mtndrew1]

I'd imagine the in-seat airbags are the reason Tesla is taking the old seats back. The old seats are probably just shredded.

The liability potential in having thousands of airbag-equipped seats floating around the secondhand market is huge. Some clown fits old Tesla seats into his Civic, the airbag pops, he sues, etc..

Seats and glass are some of the most expensive individual items in a (conventional) new car and $5k for what are effectively factory-backed OEM Recaros seems like a steal to me.

Electing to wrap a 911's sun visors in leather, choosing yellow indicator needles, and having unique seatbelt webbing color can cost $5k. Porsche's actual cost on that stuff is probably about $11.37.

 

[TexasEV]

The only retrofit that seems reasonable is the LTE upgrade at $500, but that's probably because Tesla wants everyone to upgrade to LTE so it can further its own data gathering efforts.

I don't see any basis for either assertion. The few people who have upgraded to LTE have done so on their own initiative. Tesla has not publicized such an upgrade to owners, it has only responded to inquiries. It's unlikely that any casual owner (one who doesn't read the forums) even knows that new cars have LTE rather than 3G and that an upgrade is available. There is nothing to suggest LTE has anything to do with data gathering either.

 

[MartinAustin]

Consider this - if you have first-generation seats, and you order this upgrade, the 2nd generation seats are only in the front... your old back seat headrests stick around, leaving you work MORE rear-view visibility than customers get when ordering 2nd generation seats in new cars.

$5,000 is probably reasonable, considering:
* costs for the same thing at other automakers (detailed above)
* costs associated with transport & ecologically correct disposal of the old seats
* despite Tesla's zero-profit Service phiilosophy, the price is probably a disincentive, so that it's not so cheap that everyone orders it, which would cause an imbalance in inventory at the factory and inundate Service Centers with extra work.

The 2nd generation seats are nice to sit in at the Showroom, but I won't be ordering. I am waiting for the 3rd generation seats in some sort of ventilated leather-like material at which point I will definitely order. I am sick of driving my car and getting a sweaty back, even with the AC blasting.

 

[matbl]

The next gen seats are just laughable. Before trying them I got the impression that they would actually be really good and considered if retrofitting would be worth it.
After trying them out I'm glad I don't have them. I imagined something like BMW 5/7-series comfort seats (go try them at a dealer before speaking of them) which are adjustable in all kind of ways (18 I think). But these were just like the standard seats but with added side support. Non-adjustable...
although some more side support can be nice, this was too much. And at a very hefty price even factory installed. I think the BMW seats actually are less on a 5-series. And much much better.
disappointed? Me? YES!

 

[Tampaukfan]

Have to agree with you on BMW seats, my wifes new X5 has the multicontour seats and they are incredible.

The next gen seats are just laughable. Before trying them I got the impression that they would actually be really good and considered if retrofitting would be worth it.
After trying them out I'm glad I don't have them. I imagined something like BMW 5/7-series comfort seats (go try them at a dealer before speaking of them) which are adjustable in all kind of ways (18 I think). But these were just like the standard seats but with added side support. Non-adjustable...
although some more side support can be nice, this was too much. And at a very hefty price even factory installed. I think the BMW seats actually are less on a 5-series. And much much better.
disappointed? Me? YES!

 

[Gizmotoy]

The next gen seats are just laughable. Before trying them I got the impression that they would actually be really good and considered if retrofitting would be worth it.
After trying them out I'm glad I don't have them. I imagined something like BMW 5/7-series comfort seats (go try them at a dealer before speaking of them) which are adjustable in all kind of ways (18 I think). But these were just like the standard seats but with added side support. Non-adjustable...
although some more side support can be nice, this was too much. And at a very hefty price even factory installed. I think the BMW seats actually are less on a 5-series. And much much better.
disappointed? Me? YES!

On the other hand, it might just be me, but I get the distinct impression that a properly-designed seat doesn't need to be 100-way adjustable. I have a car with, literally, 2-way (front/rear slide + tilt) adjustable Recaros that are the most comfortable seats we've ever had in my life. I thought they'd be punishing, but they're not. My wife, of substantially different body type and height, agrees. We drove about 3000+ miles in them over 5 days and they felt great.


Is the $5k estimate for both seats? That honestly seems pretty reasonable to me. Sure, cheaper would be great, but have you seen Tesla's pricing for this kind of stuff? $5k is bargain basement for a seat upgrade. Example: The above-mentioned 2-way Recaro OEM seats? $3300 part cost. Each.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I don't see any basis for either assertion. The few people who have upgraded to LTE have done so on their own initiative. Tesla has not publicized such an upgrade to owners, it has only responded to inquiries. It's unlikely that any casual owner (one who doesn't read the forums) even knows that new cars have LTE rather than 3G and that an upgrade is available. There is nothing to suggest LTE has anything to do with data gathering either.

It's clear that Tesla gathers data from its fleet. It's clear that the amount of data gathered is about to increase with the launch of Autopilot. Musk has already said that the cars are going to get smarter based upon the behavior of other Model S cars on the road. This implies, at least to me, an increased amount of data flowing to the mothership and hence the switchover to LTE in production vehicles. I think it's great that Tesla is offering this upgrade for only $500, which seems shockingly low when compared to some of their other retrofit pricing. It's obviously just my opinion that Tesla is doing this in order to encourage owners of 3G cars to upgrade, but regardless, isn't it great that the price is so low? That's what I'm celebrating.

- - - Updated - - -

The 2nd generation seats are nice to sit in at the Showroom, but I won't be ordering. I am waiting for the 3rd generation seats in some sort of ventilated leather-like material at which point I will definitely order. I am sick of driving my car and getting a sweaty back, even with the AC blasting.

I agree with this. The Next-Gen seats are not nearly next-gen enough to justify an upgrade.

 

[Dborn]

I have been told that the next gen seat is not electronically compatible with the earlier generation. So, it is not just the seats being bolted in. There is other work necessary as well to integrate them.

 

[AMPUP]

Since when have retrofits ever been cost effective? Adding a $500 parking sensor option after the fact cost $5,000. Adding a $500 folding mirror option costs over $1,500 after the fact. The only retrofit that seems reasonable is the LTE upgrade at $500, but that's probably because Tesla wants everyone to upgrade to LTE so it can further its own data gathering efforts.

I'm not at all surprised by this pricing. It's too bad, but not surprised.

Parking sensors were less than 2k for me and mirrors were $700. Part prices have dropped. $5k isn't bad, I'd be surprised if they keep the old seats. What will they do with them?