No Parts Available

[kunal]

Anyone else having issues with parts not arriving? I know there is a backlog of carbon fiber spoilers and hpwc. However I have contacted the service center and ordered the 3rd brake light about 4 times over the last 5-6 weeks (each time overnighted). The brake light still hasn't come in. My brake light has a burnt out bulb and needs to be replaced.

The other thing that baffles me is the carbon fiber spoilers. I never received mine on delivery and never received a phone call when one came in, but now the service center has about 5 in stock. I asked them about the matte vs. gloss and they said the matte spoiler is much nicer, so I am going to wait now till the matte spoiler comes in.

The people at the Seattle service center are great, but I think there is an issue with the factory not sending parts to them. I was also told that the factory has prioritized rattles and noise and other things are down the list on service, so I wonder if this is why I can't get a brake light yet.

Anyone else having issues?

 

[montgom626]

I am still waiting for my CF spoiler. Car looks great without it.

 

[Zextraterrestrial]

I am still waiting for my CF spoiler. Car looks great without it.

me 3

have heard nothing about CF spoiler since Dec 1 (or maybe around X-mas - but not directly from anyone)

 

[yobigd20]

Anyone else having issues with parts not arriving? I know there is a backlog of carbon fiber spoilers and hpwc. However I have contacted the service center and ordered the 3rd brake light about 4 times over the last 5-6 weeks (each time overnighted). The brake light still hasn't come in. My brake light has a burnt out bulb and needs to be replaced.

The other thing that baffles me is the carbon fiber spoilers. I never received mine on delivery and never received a phone call when one came in, but now the service center has about 5 in stock. I asked them about the matte vs. gloss and they said the matte spoiler is much nicer, so I am going to wait now till the matte spoiler comes in.

The people at the Seattle service center are great, but I think there is an issue with the factory not sending parts to them. I was also told that the factory has prioritized rattles and noise and other things are down the list on service, so I wonder if this is why I can't get a brake light yet.

Anyone else having issues?

so you ordered 4 brake lights for 1 bad bulb?

 

[Doug_G]

Just got my CF spoiler. They're not very good at "remembering" who needs what, so I had to keep asking. Finally a Ranger came by and I asked again, and he was like "if I knew I would have brought one!" Luckily he had to come back anyway.

 

[kunal]

so you ordered 4 brake lights for 1 bad bulb?

It's not a single bulb, supposedly the whole strip has to be replaced. They have ordered the part 4 times, and nothing has come in.

- - - Updated - - -

Just got my CF spoiler. They're not very good at "remembering" who needs what, so I had to keep asking. Finally a Ranger came by and I asked again, and he was like "if I knew I would have brought one!" Luckily he had to come back anyway.

Did you get the matte cf spoiler?

 

[rcc]

My guess: Tesla is having all sort of supplier issues that are still in the process of being ironed out.

Imagine you're an automotive parts manufacturer. Some upstart car company that you maybe have never heard of, has never made a profit and has never shipped volume production ever comes to you and says, "Hey, we'd like to order a few hundred parts now, a few hundred parts a month for 3 months, then ramp to 1200-1500 a month over a 3 month period."

Your reaction's likely to be:

1) You all are nuts. But I'll take your money. Cash in advance, please. Wire transfers only.
2) Minimum buy is 2000. Don't waste my time with small orders.
3) Sure, we can ink a supply agreement with some ramp forecasts. Happy to take your money for that.
4) Hmpf. Electric car startup company? Their first order is going to be their last order.

Now imagine their surprise when Tesla shows up later and says, "We're ramping on schedule. You ready?"

I think it's going to take another quarter or two for the supplier situation to settle down. Maybe more.

With 20/20 hindsight, Elon's decision to bring as much manufacturing in-house looks smarter and smarter. Imagine the problems they'd be having if most of the car was outsourced manufacturing with final assembly at Tesla. Ugh.

 

[clmazin]

No question there's a squeeze on parts. I live in Southern California, which means someone backed into my car in a parking lot and dented in my bumper a month and a half ago.

New bumper finally arrived yesterday.

 

[PopSmith]

With 20/20 hindsight, Elon's decision to bring as much manufacturing in-house looks smarter and smarter. Imagine the problems they'd be having if most of the car was outsourced manufacturing with final assembly at Tesla. Ugh.

I think a lot of Elon's decision to manufacture as much in-house as possible was so Tesla can maintain, and improve on, product quality. In-house manufacturing also lets Tesla produce modified/enhanced parts almost as soon as the pen dries on the changes. The downside, as rcc and others have mentioned, is that suppliers might not take them seriously or not give them quite as good of a deal on materials since they are still a small company. Hopefully the supply issues will get sorted out by the time Model X is scheduled to begin production.

 

[Doug_G]

Did you get the matte cf spoiler?

No, it's gloss. Personally I prefer that, on the exterior of the car anyway. The matte dashboard is very nice; it would have been over the top in gloss.

- - - Updated - - -

My guess: Tesla is having all sort of supplier issues that are still in the process of being ironed out.

It is quite obvious that things are improving rapidly on this front. I think a lot of suppliers simply didn't believe them when they told them what their run rate was going to be. That has obviously changed.

Even so, I could see there being a backlog of replacement and due bill parts for a while. Say a CF spoiler comes in. You can send it to an existing customer with it on his due bill, or you can put it on a new car. If you put it on the new car, you have one happy customer and one customer who is still unhappy but will eventually be sorted out. If you fix the due bill problem first, well now you have two unhappy customers.

It's pretty clear that new production will get the priority, unless it's a case of someone's car being inoperable.

 

[GlennAlanBerry]

I picked up my Model S in Denver last Friday. There were no due bill items, I got the CF spoiler and the parcel shelf on initial delivery. I feel for the people that have had their cars for months that are still owed due bill items.

 

[stevezzzz]

I think a lot of Elon's decision to manufacture as much in-house as possible was so Tesla can maintain, and improve on, product quality. In-house manufacturing also lets Tesla produce modified/enhanced parts almost as soon as the pen dries on the changes. The downside, as rcc and others have mentioned, is that suppliers might not take them seriously or not give them quite as good of a deal on materials since they are still a small company. Hopefully the supply issues will get sorted out by the time Model X is scheduled to begin production.

"Still a small company..."

...with $568M in Q1 revenue. :wink:

 

[CapitalistOppressor]

They clearly still have significant supplier issues. They talked about it for maybe 5 minutes during the conference call. That said, you should just keep pushing. Nothing wrong with being the squeaky wheel while recognizing that Tesla will take awhile to fulfill all of these due bill items.

 

[vfx]

In the past they have shunned outside repairs. When an electric car does not have that much to break you can't have the Maytag repairman Tesla electromechanics just sitting around. That is a loss with overhead and labor. By making it difficult to get parts the service centers could keep business in house. Not sure if that applys anymore with the decree to have the service centers make zero profit.

At this point body work goes out. I could see where Tesla does that in house too.

 

[Lyon]

My CF spoiler is scheduled to go on next week. I got the car Jan 4. Basically the issue, it seems to me, is that they've got a dearth of parts and no really good system to prioritize who gets the parts when they come in. Basically, the only way is to keep on your local service center in a polite way.

 

[DrDave]

No question there's a squeeze on parts. I live in Southern California, which means someone backed into my car in a parking lot and dented in my bumper a month and a half ago.

New bumper finally arrived yesterday.

The bumper supplier must be behind.

 

[aaronw]

If Tesla outsourced everything they would look a lot more like Fisker.

 

[yobigd20]

If Tesla outsourced everything they would look a lot more like Fisker.

yes but the key thing is that they fabricate their own battery packs whereas Fisker outsourced that. Sure the 18650 cells came from Panasonic, but the fabrication of the pack itself is done in-house. Most of the other parts are 'generic' enough to come for credible third parties and they have several options if a supplier runs out. (it's not like they are going to manufacturer their own USB cables...in fact their supplier recently ran out which "halted the production line" (they cant deliver cars with non-working USB cables and they are integrated enough that you can't really retrofit them without taking the whole car apart), so they went out to every single Fry's store in the area and bought out all their USB cables to keep the line running, lol. But if the battery packs itself were outsourced and that supplier went bankrupt (A123), it's not like you can go to your local 'Frys' store and pick up new fabricated battery packs - just say 'bye bye it was a good run' and file for bankruptcy. I believe fabricating their own packs also drove the cost down about 70% or so compared to outsourcing them with someone like A123. The battery pack is really the heart and soul of the Model S. Tires, Rims, USB cables, etc, those are all generic parts that they are "not in the business of manufacturing".

 

[PopSmith]

"Still a small company..."

...with $568M in Q1 revenue. :wink:

With quarterly results like that suppliers should be willing to work out better deals with Tesla. :biggrin:

 

[aaronw]

yes but the key thing is that they fabricate their own battery packs whereas Fisker outsourced that. Sure the 18650 cells came from Panasonic, but the fabrication of the pack itself is done in-house. Most of the other parts are 'generic' enough to come for credible third parties and they have several options if a supplier runs out. (it's not like they are going to manufacturer their own USB cables...in fact their supplier recently ran out which "halted the production line" (they cant deliver cars with non-working USB cables and they are integrated enough that you can't really retrofit them without taking the whole car apart), so they went out to every single Fry's store in the area and bought out all their USB cables to keep the line running, lol. But if the battery packs itself were outsourced and that supplier went bankrupt (A123), it's not like you can go to your local 'Frys' store and pick up new fabricated battery packs - just say 'bye bye it was a good run' and file for bankruptcy. I believe fabricating their own packs also drove the cost down about 70% or so compared to outsourcing them with someone like A123. The battery pack is really the heart and soul of the Model S. Tires, Rims, USB cables, etc, those are all generic parts that they are "not in the business of manufacturing".

Exactly. Fisker outsourced not just the battery packs but the motors, the engine and everything else and that's what ended up killing them. They outsourced their technology to companies like A123 and Quantum Technologies. They spent a lot more money so their suppliers like Quantum and A123 could tool up and develop the technology than if they did it in house and they didn't have the quality control they needed. Their outsourced software was abysmal and the battery packs were not well tested and defective. The fires were caused by a low-temperature cooling fan sourced from an outside supplier, though I think this problem was outside the control of Fisker (I bet Tesla also uses an outside supplier for their cooling fans).

My father's Fisker Karma has been in the shop a number of times due to reliability issues. There were problems with the drive train (Quantum) as well as issues caused by noise on the CAN bus (they think) due to the engine (GM).

When A123 went bankrupt, in no small part due to the recall and the low demand Fisker was stuck without a battery supplier. Tesla could presumably switch to another supplier if Panasonic had problems since the 18650 cells are standard.