Rear motor failure on road trip.

[233.3]

Two questions:
1) What is likely to be the cause of the failure?
2) What can I expect from Tesla service: time needed for repair/replacement, getting home (4+ hr drive) if my car is not ready when I need to return, and then how will I get my car back (will they deliver it)?

Today my rear motor failed while driving on the highway. May car is a LR AWD and I was able to drive for a short time, presumably with just the front motor. So that part of Tesla's claim of the dual motor redundancy was true but the part about safely continuing on to my destination clearly was not.

When it died a warning message said rear motor disabled, okay to drive, reduced power. It also said that getting out and back in may fix the problem. It did not. Sometime later, after trying that a second time the car would not move and even the A/C would no-longer come on. From that time on there was a message about the 12v power system and another about waiting for the vehicle systems to power up.

Long story short, the car was towed to a Tesla Service Center. The tow truck dropped me and my intended destination where I won't need a car for a day but will need to get home the day after.

 

[233.3]

It may help to mention that when the car did move there was noise and vibration coming from the rear drive.

 

[Bluebay]

there was a message about the 12v power system and another about waiting for the vehicle systems to power up. .

so is it possible this was a 12 Volt battery issue?
how old is the car?
What did it actually say in the message about the 12 v power system?
Any update?

 

[Bluebay]

It may help to mention that when the car did move there was noise and vibration coming from the rear drive.

oh ok, that might change things a bit .. not a clicking sound? how much range was showing at the time do you think? Had you had any prior warnings about the 12 Volt battery at all?

 

[233.3]

oh ok, that might change things a bit .. not a clicking sound? how much range was showing at the time do you think? Had you had any prior warnings about the 12 Volt battery at all?

The 12v messages did not show up until after maybe 30 minutes of sitting on the side of the road waiting for the tow and started after the second time I got out of the car and back in. The A/C and power steering was working up to that point.

There was a bit over 100 miles for range left. The car is 4 months old with about 6,000 miles.

 

[Bluebay]

Will wait to see your outcome. Hope its something simple , like a connector or something that doesn't keep the car in for repair too long

 

[tmatsus]

Me too..interested to know the outcome.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

Car shutting down - PULL OVER SAFELY on the freeway 3 days after delivery

Here is a similar issue. Sounds like it was a wiring harness in that case, but the noises from your drive unit suggest something more substantial.

 

[TESURA]

Two questions:
1) What is likely to be the cause of the failure?
2) What can I expect from Tesla service: time needed for repair/replacement, getting home (4+ hr drive) if my car is not ready when I need to return, and then how will I get my car back (will they deliver it)?

Today my rear motor failed while driving on the highway. May car is a LR AWD and I was able to drive for a short time, presumably with just the front motor. So that part of Tesla's claim of the dual motor redundancy was true but the part about safely continuing on to my destination clearly was not.

When it died a warning message said rear motor disabled, okay to drive, reduced power. It also said that getting out and back in may fix the problem. It did not. Sometime later, after trying that a second time the car would not move and even the A/C would no-longer come on. From that time on there was a message about the 12v power system and another about waiting for the vehicle systems to power up.

Long story short, the car was towed to a Tesla Service Center. The tow truck dropped me and my intended destination where I won't need a car for a day but will need to get home the day after.

Same issue here, on Saturday 9/7. Mine didn't happen on the freeway, luckily. I was at a stop sign waiting for my turn, hit the accelerator and...no dice. Same error messages, but mine did not let me "limp" to the side. I was stuck blocking traffic until the tow arrived. I also have LR AWD, 16k miles, delivery 11/18. Was told by the SC that I'd have an update that day, nothing. Sent three text messages yesterday with no response. Hopefully today (monday) will be different. I will update as well.

 

[TomB985]

I'm interested in these rear motor failures, they seem to be popping up at a disconcerting rate.

Did you hear any abnormal noise while going down the road?

 

[TESURA]

I'm interested in these rear motor failures, they seem to be popping up at a disconcerting rate.

Did you hear any abnormal noise while going down the road?

Not going down the road, but I think I heard a click or pop when i pressed the accelerator, then the messages appeared.

 

[David3]

1. Could be a number of things: HV battery, pyro fuse, wiring harness, hv controller etc.
2. Ask for a loaner first and drive it home. Once the car is repaired have them deliver it to your home and pick up the loaner. It's not guaranteed but I think it's reasonable and doesn't hurt to ask.

I don't think Tesla has the official trip-interruption policy spelled out. Other luxury brands like BMW has the following:
Trip-interruption benefit: you should experience a breakdown covered by warranty 100 miles or more away from home, you are entitled to trip-interruption benefits, including reimbursement for meals, lodging, car rentals and/or substitute transportation. This coverage is limited to a reimbursement up to $1,000 per incident, up to five days from disablement date. Claims for these benefits must include original receipts for services provided (i.e., meals, lodging, car rentals and/or substitute transportation).

 

[dmurphy]

I'm interested in these rear motor failures, they seem to be popping up at a disconcerting rate.

Did you hear any abnormal noise while going down the road?

There’s almost a half million of these things out there now. We’ve heard of, what, maybe 10? .00002% failure rate.

It’s like the story about Bill. You know that one?

Bill is a great worker. He shows up an hour early to work every day. For 20 years.
Then; one day Bill is 5 minutes late. Everyone says “wow, that’s odd. Bill’s never late.”
2 weeks later, it happens again. “Where the heck is Bill?” - the gossip starts.
A month later, it happens again and now Bill gets terminated for being an unreliable, untrustworthy employee. 3 times, in 20 years, and he’s fired.

Meanwhile, Fred been late 3 times a week for 10 years, and “it’s just Fred.” He gets a raise.

Perception is a funny thing. Doesn’t matter how good you are except what the /perception/ is.

We’ve seen a few failures, yes. Don’t conflate the few failures in a forum that just attracts bad news like flies to feces, with an actual reliability problem.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Agreed.
Sometimes an owner with a problem adds important information to others, but more often than not it is just a pity party.

Every time a car is brought into service the manufacture collects data to determine the issue. If it happens often, it usually will be addressed to keep it from happening again.

 

[AlanSubie4Life]

There’s almost a half million of these things out there now. We’ve heard of, what, maybe 10? .00002% failure rate.

It would still be highly unscientific, but someone should start a poll asking people whether they have experienced a rear motor failure (or any motor failure at all, really; you could have options to make it clear) on their Model 3!

 

[dmurphy]

It would still be highly unscientific, but someone should start a poll asking people whether they have experienced a rear motor failure (or any motor failure at all, really; you could have options to make it clear) on their Model 3!

Lies, damn lies, and statistics. That kind of poll gets skewed so fast the air crackles.

The best thing would be to get actual, hard data ... which Tesla would be incredibly reticent to share.

 

[alloverx]

Elon's redundancy motor theorem is crap. Never heard of it actually working for a useful length of time. Happy to be proven wrong.
Obviously for that to work it has to be part of the original design. I understand that sometimes its not possible due to extreme errors.

 

[TomB985]

I don’t disagree with any of that, and after countless hours over the last 20 years on various automotive forms I’m familiar with the idea that people commonly come to forums because they have a problem. And the overall majority of people without issues just drive their cars and never show up online to talk about how great they have been.

In fact I’m quite impressed with how few complaints of mechanical failures that we see here; most of the brands do not seem to do as well. Which is why motor failures stick out so much to me.

 

[233.3]

Did you hear any abnormal noise while going down the road?

I it may have made noise from the start of the warning message but I did not take notice until I was on the shoulder trying to see if it really was safe to drive (as the message said).

There’s almost a half million of these things out there now. We’ve heard of, what, maybe 10? .00002% failure rate.

For that argument to make any sense, every tesla owner would need to be a member of this board and every failure would need to be posted.

I don’t disagree with any of that, and after countless hours over the last 20 years on various automotive forms I’m familiar with the idea that people commonly come to forums because they have a problem. And the overall majority of people without issues just drive their cars and never show up online to talk about how great they have been.

I disagree. Personally I came looking for information on what to expect regarding the repair and accommodations for alternate travel arrangements. I too have been on automotive boards for about as long. I find that many, Corvette, Volt and Tesla boards in particular, have plenty of posts from people enthused and enjoying their vehicles and sharing information. Yes, there is often frustration expressed. But, posts about issues like this are how we know about common problems and their remedies. And, since when we experience those common failures the manufactures would like us to believe we are the only ones with the issue, or at least that it is uncommon, this is how we know otherwise. Further the pressure of broad public knowledge of a probably helps drive resolution, it becomes about more than just the cost of repairs vs a recall. In one case it seemed to have lead to recalls that may not have otherwise happened because the manufacture was not reporting incidents to the CPSC as they were required. Family of those killed and injured were lead to other victims by social media posts and were able to strengthen their cases to the point the manufacture did finally act. They also help strengthen the case made by the CPSC against the manufacture.

 

[dmurphy]

For that argument to make any sense, every tesla owner would need to be a member of this board and every failure would need to be posted.

I disagree. Personally I came looking for information on what to expect regarding the repair and accommodations for alternate travel arrangements.

Edited the quote for brevity but I certainly don’t feel like you shouldn’t share experiences or not get help or even express frustration. All of those things are normal.

All I’m trying to say is we need to keep some perspective. You had a rear drive failure - and that stinks. It’s not pleasant - nobody wants to deal with that.

But I don’t think we have seen an excessive number of them, either. As hundreds of thousands of these vehicles hit the road, there’s going to be some failures. That doesn’t make them an epidemic, which is all I was trying to say ... just have to keep in mind how many have been built and we still only have heard of a very small percentage of failures. The good news is it’s a fairly quick and much less intrusive to repair than a gas engine failure, that’s for sure.

That’s all. Definitely not trying to minimize the craptastic position you’re in! Just don’t think it’s “sound the alarm” territory yet ...