Production/Delivery Status

[Prime Mover]

Does Toronto have a Great-Lakes-region accent? That's what I imagined when I saw "Oh my goodness" /:smile/:

Congratulations!

Hi edo. Interesting, I have never heard of a "Great-Lakes-region accent". We get the usual brunt of jokes about our Canadian dialect (especially "eh") and we spell "colour" wrong, but I don't know about a Great Lakes sound to our speech. But noone thinks they have an accent, so maybe you're right.

Certainly, the Roadster causes some unique ways of expressing one's self, often in loud exclamations of joy while accelerating!

 

[kgb]

I took delivery last week, yet according to the status update, my Roadster is still in the Paint Factory!

I have mixed emotions about that. It would be nice if the status would change as work progresses. I thought I was the impetus for the website status changes. This is what I wrote to my salesperson:

Regarding your website:

When I order a pizza from dominoes, on their website, it tells me (1) the order has been cued for production, then (2) The delicious ingredients are being added to the pizza, then (3) the pizza is in the oven baking to a golden brown, and finally (4) the pizza is in the car on route.

That is just for a pizza costing $10. I suggest that you have similar updates on the My Tesla page.

We'll see what happens. Just the notice about the "paint factory" had me so I couldn't sleep.

 

[Prime Mover]

We'll see what happens. Just the notice about the "paint factory" had me so I couldn't sleep.

I understand your excitement. I have just finally started to be able to get a good night's sleep now that my lovely Roadster is safely in my garage.

My dealer seemed to have an ability to see where a VIN number was in the manufacturing process, but I don't know how detailed or accurate the info was.

Given your previous analysis about how many cars are probably produced each month, it does seem like your vehicle should be getting close to shipping. My car was shipped at the beginning of September and took about 2 weeks to arrive. I don't know what the delivery time will be to Houston but it sounds like you will be driving before the end of October deadline you were given.

As you also wrote before in this thread, just where the heck are all the other people who have ordered Roadsters but are not commenting in this forum? People, don't be afraid to say "Hi", we want to hear from prospective Tesla owners!

 

[Fuzzylogic]

My status page now reads:
Status | Your Roadster is undergoing Final Testing

Only two days left to delivery...:biggrin:

 

[Doug_G]

My status page now reads:
Status | Your Roadster is undergoing Final Testing

Only two days left to delivery...:biggrin:

My car never got those progress updates, but it arrived simultaneously with the web site update (July 2). So it sounds like these status updates are a feature of the new web site.

 

[dwegmull]

My car never got those progress updates, but it arrived simultaneously with the web site update (July 2). So it sounds like these status updates are a feature of the new web site.

My understanding is that the updates were supposed to be part of the old site but never worked...

 

[Prime Mover]

Delivery "Bumps in the Road"

There were a couple of problems I experienced during the order / delivery process that I thought I should describe to provide some balance about my experience.

First, let me be clear that everyone at Tesla Motors has been great to deal with and they all worked very hard to correct any situations when something went wrong.

There are two categories that I am describing here:

Merchandise: I ordered some shirts, mugs, etc. from the Tesla web site as well as the additional charger options. I received a box containing some of my items and then heard nothing. When I checked into it, the person responsible for merchandise had been away and thought my order was complete. She then sent me the remaining items by next day courier.
The chargers and universal adapters were to be coordinated by a different person. When the car was delivered, there was no Universal Mobile Connector because they thought it had already been shipped. Again, when they were made aware of the problem, they quickly corrected the situation. I am still awaiting to hear about the hardtop roof and its storage bag that I had ordered.

Vehicle Issues: After ordering the Roadster, I decided to add the Paint Armor. They said no problem but the car ended up being shipped without the 3M product applied. The local office spotted this and had the Armor installed this week.
Also, I had asked that the front license plate not be installed (as I had purchased the Foundry bracket) but the car arrived with the new Tesla front license plate bracket attached.

On the day I was expecting delivery, the car had arrived with too little charge in it to allow the dealer to drive it to my home. The left headlamp had condensation in it (a new fix has been developed that TM still has to apply). Also, my dealer was kind enough
to see that the driver's interior door panel is pulling away a bit and they will fix it.

So there can be a few "bumps in the road" during the process of dealing with TM but they are terrific people who care deeply about their products and gladly addressed all problems promptly.

 

[Jaff]

Thanks for the update & heads up PM...Murphy's Law is alive & well. :smile:

Sometimes the best measure of service is how problems are dealt with after the fact, eh?

 

[Doug_G]

The left headlamp had condensation in it (a new fix has been developed that TM still has to apply).

They have a fix for the headlamp fogging??? That's news to me!

 

[stenkb]

Prime,

I had issues as well - seems "normal" for Tesla. You wouldn't think so for a high priced car - but seems most people I've talked to have had similar experiences - just another thing to overlook to get your hands on a Roadster .

Your windows will probably have a bit of wind noise and need adjusting - mine did.

My car also was not charged enough for the trip to my house when I picked mine up - but we figured it out.

Headlight water.....mine too!!! My Tesla "Ranger"- who is great by the way!!! came to my home to fix the headlight problem - but only got it partially fixed. Luckily he showed me what to do and I can share it with you if you want to fix it your self - pretty easy to do.

If you want to fix it yourself here's what you do.
Open hood. remove front cover seen in pics below - 8 screws I believe. You want to make access to your headlight from the side. Reach behind the headlight and pull off a plastic cap (3 inches round approx). Then turn on a hair dryer on low heat and point it in there for a few hours - it will dry it out. Put plastic cap back on. Put screws back in. and your done.

The Tesla "Ranger" did it differently - he took off the tire and the parts underneath the fender to get to the back of the light to dry it out - but I think my way was easier.

If you don't want to do it - ask them to come out and do it - depending on how busy they are may be a few weeks wait.

Kevin. #938 2010 Roadster Electric Blue - Lethbridge, AB

P.S. Best to just 'borrow' the wife's hairdryer and put it back before it is known it is missing.....

 

[Prime Mover]

They have a fix for the headlamp fogging??? That's news to me!

Hi Doug. Yes, the day before I took delivery the Toronto dealership received some bulletin on how to fix the headlamp condensation problem. Not sure what is involved but I was encouraged that maybe this long-time known problem might get eradicated!

 

[Doug_G]

Prime,
Headlight water.....mine too!!! My Tesla "Ranger"- who is great by the way!!! came to my home to fix the headlight problem - but only got it partially fixed. Luckily he showed me what to do and I can share it with you if you want to fix it your self - pretty easy to do.

Hmmm... that's a pretty temporary fix. My left headlight will fog up in high humidity, but as soon as the humidity returns to normal so does the headlight. So the thing ain't terribly well sealed (or alternatively, not that well ventilated).

 

[smoothoperator]

I had the exact same problems! Condensation in the headlight, door panel pulling away from the drivers side door, and a couple things missing that were supposed to be delivered with the car. Tesla's attention to detail doesn't seem to be that great, but once you contact your rep they seem to be able to square most of it away. I like being able to deal with a single point of contact, if assistance is needed as problems get sorted pretty quickly. Things are probably pretty hectic at the Tesla plant so small things like this get overlooked, I guess thats par for the course for a small startup auto company.

 

[stenkb]

Hmmm... that's a pretty temporary fix. My left headlight will fog up in high humidity, but as soon as the humidity returns to normal so does the headlight. So the thing ain't terribly well sealed (or alternatively, not that well ventilated).

I guess I should have noted: The Tesla Ranger added a new gasket to seal it better before drying it out - and between the new gasket and the drying out mine is fixed. I drove in rain for 2 days since and no condensation has returned. Sorry I forgot about the new gasket which is fairly important.

But the big thing here is to get that water out that is in your headlight that has been there since the headlight was made. It isn't going to get out on its own.......

 

[raymond]

The Tesla "Ranger" did it differently - he took off the tire and the parts underneath the fender to get to the back of the light to dry it out - but I think my way was easier.

Does this imply that to change a light bulb you need to remove a tire?!

 

[Fuzzylogic]

Yesterday my EU Roadster Sport #359 was delivered. Yay!
Now wait a bit more for the licence+plates to be delivered, which should take another 4-5 days..

While checking the menu's of the roadster, i noticed it already had 236 km on the odo meter. Is this normal?

 

[Adm]

Enjoy, I will probably see you around.

236KM??? Ferris Bueller's day off? Only they forgot to roll back the odometer... maybe all the better.. ;-)

 

[edo]

Approx 1100 US roadsters + 359 EU roadsters... So the EV-1 has been left in the dust as far as delivery then?

 

[Jaff]

I remember reading recently that TM was (quality control) testing each Roadster for approximately 250 km prior to delivery...That'd be a great job, Roadster test driver! :biggrin::wink:

Enjoy, I will probably see you around.

236KM??? Ferris Bueller's day off? Only they forgot to roll back the odometer... maybe all the better.. ;-)

 

[Fuzzylogic]

I remember reading recently that TM was (quality control) testing each Roadster for approximately 250 km prior to delivery...That'd be a great job, Roadster test driver! :biggrin::wink:

That's a relief, thanks.