my brand new two week old with 600 miles tesla model S shut down in the middle of the road today saying that the rear motor has been temporarily disabled. Tried calling tesla support but they could not figure it out. I had to get it towed to the service center. This is my first Tesla after waiting for almost a year to get delivery and needless to say, I am very disappointed. Has anyone else had this issue?
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Rear motor problem on a brand new Model S
- Thread starter Aarden
- Start date
Rice&Curry
Member
Very unfortunate- since it has already gone to the service center, please keep us update on the diagnosis. After this incident, I wish that you have a trouble free & enjoyable experience with your car.
Both unfortunate and I understand your disappointment. I had a somewhat similar situation when my mid-2016 MS90D was only about 2 months old. Was driving and in must a matter seconds had multiple messages pop up about front motor drive torque reduced, pull over safely, PRND display going red, and coasting to side of road. Was diagnosed at the time as "rare software bug" and the car returned to me.
What my service team did tell me after the first event was if something like this happens to get out of my car, walk 20-30 feet away (out of key fob range), let the car lock and shut down. Wait about a minute or so, then approach car, unlock it, and get back in. Most of the diagnostics are reset to run again on initial start-up. If it's a borderline fault condition you may find that car will drive fine, at least allowing you to get back home to arrange service in likely a more convenient setting than sitting at the side of the road.
Now my car did repeat the exact same situation about about 20 months later. I remembered what service told me, did exactly as suggested and did find that when I unlocked and got back it that it was fine. That allowed me to at least drive home and make arrangements to get car in for service in a fashion more convenient to me than being stuck on the side of the road (actually drove the car to service center, ~ 50 miles away, about a week later). That time they kept my car for close to a week and engineering reviewed all the data, did multiple troubleshooting exercises, but ultimately ended up replacing my rear drive motor.
Not suggesting your failure is same issue as mine; more wanting to relay the advice about exiting vehicle, shutdown, and potential this could reset diagnostics if case you ever encounter similar situation in the future.
What my service team did tell me after the first event was if something like this happens to get out of my car, walk 20-30 feet away (out of key fob range), let the car lock and shut down. Wait about a minute or so, then approach car, unlock it, and get back in. Most of the diagnostics are reset to run again on initial start-up. If it's a borderline fault condition you may find that car will drive fine, at least allowing you to get back home to arrange service in likely a more convenient setting than sitting at the side of the road.
Now my car did repeat the exact same situation about about 20 months later. I remembered what service told me, did exactly as suggested and did find that when I unlocked and got back it that it was fine. That allowed me to at least drive home and make arrangements to get car in for service in a fashion more convenient to me than being stuck on the side of the road (actually drove the car to service center, ~ 50 miles away, about a week later). That time they kept my car for close to a week and engineering reviewed all the data, did multiple troubleshooting exercises, but ultimately ended up replacing my rear drive motor.
Not suggesting your failure is same issue as mine; more wanting to relay the advice about exiting vehicle, shutdown, and potential this could reset diagnostics if case you ever encounter similar situation in the future.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Same thing on my Model S except front motor. It had to be towed. This was two weeks ago. I cannot even get an answer from them other than "we are working on it". No loaner. Nobody to talk to. One of the big selling point was "home service" and the fact that you barely need to service this. But the quality on these cars is so poor that you do need to service them and their service is horrible. They are so slammed with the increased deliveries that this will become a major problem for owners. I am bailing out of this vehicle the moment I can order a car at MSRP again. We have an X scheduled for December delivery. I think we will cancel that too.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Yup, seems as though quality issues are not just in body panel alignment. I'm seeing motor issues pop up in this forum regularly now.
zoomer0056
Active Member
Oops ... I must have been reading some other post. Resolution has not been posted by OP ... apologies
My less than one month old 2022 LR S had a oil leak and they had to replace the front drive unit oil pump and heat exchanger. The loaner they provided to me during the repair turned out to be not working on the spot at the service center. They didn't even know their car was broken.
Before the leak they already replaced one of the head lights of my car.
These all happened within the first month.
QA is a mystery in Tesla.
Before the leak they already replaced one of the head lights of my car.
These all happened within the first month.
QA is a mystery in Tesla.
Last edited:
roblab
Active Member
You will be much happier. What bothers me is that you say your Model S had to be towed, when they are always put on a flatbed truck.
Tesla does not have "loaners", leaving that to the owners to arrange, who quite often have a second car and don't need a "loaner", so offering a loaner may be unnecessary. On top of which, in my experience, the loaners are often worthless junk that I wouldn't want to be seen in anyway.
As to your comment about service being "horrible", I've never had that problem. The two service centers I use are actually quite good. And again, in my experience with four Teslas, service was virtually non-existent. These are not gas cars that need tune-ups or oil changes, and even needing a front motor is an exceedingly rare case.
As to being slammed, any company will grow as the product gets bought, including service, so service will grow to the need, worry not. The quality of MY car was great, and of my four Teslas, I never had any issues. I have not needed service. And the people who will buy the X you ordered will likely never need service, either, or at most, a very little.
The Model S had to be towed, but it was towed on little wheels. Not on its own wheels.
As far as loaners. It is the standard to offer one. A typical USA family needs two cars. Wife needs it for school, kindergarten, errands, etc. I need the other one to drive to work. Are you telling me to get another car so I can park it and use it just in case my Tesla breaks down? I cannot wait to get another 911 and put it into the garage. But not because I drive a Tesla and I need to. In 20+ years I've never been without a loaner car. (Driving mostly BMWs.) It had happened that they could not provide a BMW loaner, but they gave me a rental from Enterprise. It was fine. Why can't Tesla team up with a rental company? These Uber credits don't work to bring little ones to school.
My vehicle got eventually fixed. Inverter. They could not figure this out for two weeks and provided no information other than "we are working on it". When I finally met them in person they told me they have been running multiple tests and had no real idea what the issue was. Just reading here I already suspected it was going to be the inverter. It seams to be a somewhat common thing on newer motors. I though this was unheard of. Clearly not. This worries me now.
I am not trying to slam Tesla's service. But this is what happened factually:
- Car stopped on the road on a Sunday and was towed to the nearest service center, which was Delray Beach, FL.
- Monday I texted them. No reply for two days. Car showed next Monday completion. Eventually someone replied that "we are working on it".
- This back and forth of "can you give us some information" and "we are working on it" went on for 17 days. Sometimes 2-3 days went by without a reply. I have the screen shots. I am not making this up. When I got a reply it was never more than "we are working on it".
- I was not able to call anyone. The phone system told me to use the app.
- I did not get Uber credits for like 12-15 days I think. They texted that they were issued but they did not show up in the app until much later. I never was able to use them either.
- I had to rent a car.
- After 17 days of not getting information, I drove down in person. I actually drove down to find out if I need to extend my rental. Funny, but when I drove down I got a loaner. Older model X. 75D? It was great because we have an X on order. At least we were able to drive one now. We liked it. I was told that they have been trouble shooting our Model S, and cannot find the problem. They are trying out new things and getting parts. They were very friendly. They have apologized about the communication. I told them check out the inverter because I was reading it here.
- A few days later they called us that indeed it was the inverter and the car will be done within days.
- Overall it took them 25 days to fix our vehicle.
- When my vehicle was delivered it was not washed.
- The Delray Beach service center is under construction and the service advisors were working under really bad conditions. I felt bad for them.
- I saw my service advisor actually cleaning the X loaner we got. Usually there are dedicated people for specific tasks. No wonder he had no time to communicate with me.
- Taking the loaner, and overall time spent in the service department (when in person) was good. It took maybe 20 mins to get the loaner and only 5-10 to drop it off and get into my car. That was definitely faster than most, but they have also not inspected the loaner after drop off. They just took my word for it. Weird. They were totally overloaded with work.
You tell me if this is a good or bad experience.
Anyhow. Wife loved the loaner X, even though it was an old one. So we are getting the one on order for sure. For the time being I am keeping the S. I still like it a lot, but now it is a bit of love and hate relationship. I am planning to bail out early. I have the new A6 e-Tron as top pick. It is still in concept but plenty of info about it already. They are planning a 2023 release. Looks amazing. Either that, or go with the original plan of MB S580 once MSRP pricing returns, then revisit having two EVs a few years later.
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