Quality Control?? Delivered Model 3 with Major Issues!!!

[Gavyne]

You know what, maybe I'm more upset at the way they handled it. So, im supposed to be grateful they were generous in fixing issues that were caused because they rushed to meet their quotas? What if I missed the paint and bumper issues and found it later. Again, they would have blamed me for 1. Not noticing it and not documenting it 2. It was outside of their 72 hour window. 3. Blame the company for adding a clear bra.

They didn't even ask me to bring the car in about the scratches. I told them there were scratches and they totally blamed the tint company. Would have made me feel better if they looked at it and tried to work with me a little.

I would never advise you or anybody to accept a car you are not happy with. As a buyer you have the responsibility to examine the car thoroughly, and only accept it if you are happy with it (or ok with Tesla noting the issues & fixing the issues after delivery). So would they have rejected fixing these issues if you bring it up a month down the road? Of course, these issues could've been caused by a lot of things, wouldn't even need to be the PPF installation.

The problem with the windshield is there's pretty much no way for either parties to prove who's at fault. Like I said, there have been tons of reports of damages caused by detail shops installing tints. There are pics everywhere on this forum and others. So you can't really say one way or another whether the scratches were there pre-tint. It would be up to the detail shop to tell you they were there before doing the job.

I'm totally not saying it's ok for cars to be delivered with blemishes. One difference between the current model vs dealership model is that most other cars are detailed at dealerships before delivery. Other automakers have plenty of dealerships across the nation that do this. I do wish Tesla has time to do that. But with 16 States not allowing them to have a dealership and 9 put strict limits on # of Tesla dealerships in their States, Tesla is fighting an uphill battle. Not only were they on the clock to produce and turn profit, but they have all sorts of restrictions placed on them. Hell your own State of Texas is part of the problem. Tell your oil loving legislature to stop being so anti-EV's and anti-Tesla.

May sound like I'm making excuses for them but I'm pointing out the facts of the matter. If you even remotely enjoy your Model 3, then you should accept some of the "Tesla tax". We all have to pay for them by ways of slightly less build quality, just so we can have our iphones on wheels and a car so smart that most people don't believe it until they've seen it with their eyes.

I would be more harsh on Tesla if they didn't fix your issues. But your post clearly states they took care of all the issues you had and even took the right route, which was to replace the bumper.

 

[alseTrick]

"A few black specks" and "scratches" are NOT major issues!

 

[KenF]

"A few black specks" and "scratches" are NOT major issues!

Right.

Go to any car dealership and you’ll be hard pressed to find a new car with a perfect paint job.

 

[Runt8]

Is there a reason you needed to start another thread about this?

72 hours to report issues??!!

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

"A few black specks" and "scratches" are NOT major issues!

Okay, it might not be major mechanical issues but I think they are major issues. When you have paint imperfections, things under the clearcoat, deep gashes and gouges in the front bumper, I think those are also major paint issues on a 60k car.

Not sure what type of cars you have purchased in the past but from my personal experience, I've never seen these type of things. Maybe I'm more picky about it but isn't it relative to each owner? What might constitute as minor issue to you could be major to someone else. To think this is normal shouldn't be acceptable.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

Right.

Go to any car dealership and you’ll be hard pressed to find a new car with a perfect paint job.

I have purchased many new cars in the past from trucks, luxury, exotic, etc and never have I come across anything with this many imperfections. Maybe the dealerships take care of them before like one of the forum members have suggested but I seriously never encountered this. I inspect all my cars similarly each time. Guess it's my OCD.

 

[lozza]

Okay, it might not be major mechanical issues but I think they are major issues. When you have paint imperfections, things under the clearcoat, deep gashes and gouges in the front bumper, I think those are also major paint issues on a 60k car.

Not sure what type of cars you have purchased in the past but from my personal experience, I've never seen these type of things. Maybe I'm more picky about it but isn't it relative to each owner? What might constitute as minor issue to you could be major to someone else. To think this is normal shouldn't be acceptable.

I totally agree with you. This is not a cheap car. Mine was $73K. I checked over my Chevy Bolt and it was cosmetically perfect, send less than half the price. Also if people are comparing Teslas to luxury cars, then they must compare every part, not just the 'performance' part. There is no way an Audi, BMW, or Lexus would have these cosmetic issues... And the end of Q3 Rush is also not an excuse.

I am off to pick up my car today after a week in the shop to fix all my cosmetic issues... Fingers crossed.

 

[dsvick]

The problem for Tesla is that, for every person who has a windshield that was legitimately scratched prior to delivery, there are probably an equal number who screwed up their tint on their own or by their installer and are trying to get a free windshield out of it. Tesla has no way of knowing which side of the coin your on.

 

[MaxSpeedM3]

The problem for Tesla is that, for every person who has a windshield that was legitimately scratched prior to delivery, there are probably an equal number who screwed up their tint on their own or by their installer and are trying to get a free windshield out of it. Tesla has no way of knowing which side of the coin your on.

I have seen tint companies install tint. With new install processes, it's really hard for me to see where they would cause scratches like the ones I have. I have had many cars tinted by this company. My x5m was done. I'm not talking about straight line knife scratches on my windshield. I'm talking about small light scratches all around the line of sight on the driver's side. These type of scratches are not common with the install of tint. Like I said before, they totally dismissed my claims before even looking at the scratches. I had less than 400 miles on the car. Quickly blamed the tint company right off the bat.

 

[BYE FOSL]

I decided to live with my paint defects. I shrug it off as part of buying a car made in America. Does it have to be this way? No, but it is. It is a great car with shoddy finish.

I have bigger issues with Tesla. You have to pick your fights. Tesla now owes me a $5k refund, a spoiler, and badging. They used to owe me supercharging for life, but I traded it for the $5k.

 

[alseTrick]

"A few black specks" and "scratches" are NOT major issues!

EDIT: "light scratches"

 

[alseTrick]

Okay, it might not be major mechanical issues but I think they are major issues. When you have paint imperfections, things under the clearcoat, deep gashes and gouges in the front bumper, I think those are also major paint issues on a 60k car.

Not sure what type of cars you have purchased in the past but from my personal experience, I've never seen these type of things. Maybe I'm more picky about it but isn't it relative to each owner? What might constitute as minor issue to you could be major to someone else. To think this is normal shouldn't be acceptable.

No. I think the vast majority of people would agree these are not major issues. But that is your prerogative.

Also, I never said what was "normal" or not.

From what I can tell, you said Tesla fixed your paint imperfections and were a "happy customer". Problem solved.

As for the windshield, neither you nor the tint place noticed the scratches until after you put tint on? How can you honestly expect Tesla to accept responsibility for that? And if Tesla knows they aren't going to accept responsibility for that, would them wasting their time and yours by bringing your car in to look at the windshield just to tell you, "Nope!" really make you feel any better?

If you say they're just "light scratches" on the windshield, can't you have someone try to buff them out? It sounds like the only thing separating you from enjoying your new car is something relatively small, and potentially easily corrected by the appropriate professional.

 

[brandonee916]

These are definitely not major issues.... very minor and can easily be corrected. Mine on the other hand... the entire car is being repainted due to bubbles in every body panel, clear coat streaking, buff marks, headlights look like they were pinched, back bumper not attached on either side... been at the service center for 6 weeks and counting :-/ Not too happy at this point... but I know they'll make it right in the end.

 

[ba2002]

I have weird curved scratching or etching on my rear glass. Hard to see except in the right light.

I've exhausted my will repairing other defects, and then defects that were caused repairing the original defects.

Tesla just has a ways to go before they reach the qc of regular carmakers. You can either live with it or not. As soon as someone else makes a car that is competitive they will have issues. Unfortunately it's looking like the competition is many years behind.

 

[more863-also]

*sugar* happens mate. I had a new Chevy blow a coolant hose and *sugar* all of its coolant out on the road, stranding me, within the first 1,000 miles of ownership. It's actually been really good since that, but IMO it's not a 'major QC issue' unless it's stranding you.

 

[brobinson]

I think you need a new keyboard. Your ? and ! keys seem to stick

 

[outie]

I have seen tint companies install tint. With new install processes, it's really hard for me to see where they would cause scratches like the ones I have. I have had many cars tinted by this company. My x5m was done. I'm not talking about straight line knife scratches on my windshield. I'm talking about small light scratches all around the line of sight on the driver's side. These type of scratches are not common with the install of tint. Like I said before, they totally dismissed my claims before even looking at the scratches. I had less than 400 miles on the car. Quickly blamed the tint company right off the bat.

I totally understand your reasoning. Unless you were there watching the job whole time you do not know the truth. Now I am not saying it's definitely the tint shop causing it, and it's equally likely that the windshield came like that. The issue is that the tint shop failed to report the issue before continuing the job causing this conflict.

When a dealership tries to blame the owner that their aftermarket modification caused an issue that is a possibility but in fact not, some people restore their parts to original parts and claimed warranty. I'll leave it at that and you can decide how you want to proceed.

 

[lozza]

So just got back after being told my car is 'ready'. In short... After inspecting I refused to pick it up. So now my car will have been longer back with Tesla than in my garage. Had to deal with a manager full of BS telling me I should focus on the amazing technology vs. expecting this to be to my expectation of cosmetic standards. To which I call BS! This is not a 1990s Hyandai! This is a $70K+ car that is being compared to luxury cars. Granted they did fix some of the issues, but I still have a chunk of metal missing from my break caliper, a big crease in the rear seat bottom fabric, and now white spots where they sanded down the sand and dirt specs under the paint. I'm willing for the car to be 98% perfect, and we are getting there, but not 80% perfect.

I also noticed they are arming their team with a little set of printed cards that show what the 'fault tolerances' so they can defend chips that are less than a certain size, or a panel gap that is 'too big'.

In addition to this I have to deal with my wife as we are at 'told you so' stage, and was why she didn't want us to get the car in the first place. It didn't help that she happened to meet an ex Telsa customer relations employee the week before we took delivery who said... Wait to buy a 3, they are still working through huge quality control issues right now.

 

[N5329K]

I picked up my P+ today and didn't see any issues. Maybe I need to go out in the garage and look closer!

Don't.
Robin

 

[MXWing]

In addition to this I have to deal with my wife as we are at 'told you so' stage, and was why she didn't want us to get the car in the first place. It didn't help that she happened to meet an ex Telsa customer relations employee the week before we took delivery who said... Wait to buy a 3, they are still working through huge quality control issues right now.

$3,750 goes a long way towards handbags and shoes. You don't get that in 2019 where the cars will be of higher cosmetic quality.