Repeater Camera's Unavailable?

[karbomusic]

I've had my M3P since 9/13 and I still don't have a working repeater camera on the left side of the car. Like clockwork my appt gets pushed back a week every Friday saying the parts haven't arrived. I'm fairly patient but this is becoming pretty frustrating to not be able to actually use the FSD I paid for and/or sentry being fully functional. It's been 5-6 weeks now with a new M3 that isn't fully functional, has anyone else seen this? What's even more frustrating is I made it very clear when I set the original appt on 9/14 (the day after picking up the car) to" please be aware to order a camera" which didn't get ordered until 10/6 and they are apparently now backordered?

I'm not finding an easy way to get traction here.

 

[karbomusic]

Update: Finally spoke to some support person after doing the phone pad option dance. I said basically, that I paid 67k (including FSD which I can't fully utilize) and that I don't think M3 production came to a halt due to camera shortages -and that my appt keeps getting pushed back without good explanation, can you help me? They promised to call/text me back in 20 minutes, I wonder what will happen.

Question for the forum: Has everyone who has had bad repeaters gotten them replaced without waiting for weeks for the camera to ship?

I'm not trying to be annoying but it's a ~$50 plastic camera, how hard can this be?

 

[TX_M3P+]

5-6 weeks is ridiculous! I went through a similar waiting game after dropping $4k for FSD. I know production lines weren't halted from manufacturing cars with HW3.0, but it took almost 6 weeks to get my HW 3.0 upgrade after paying. I've hear stories of it taking up to 6 months for some! It seems like once they get your money, then you are no longer a priority. Tesla customer service is not where it needs to be for a company delivering the vehicles of the future.

 

[karbomusic]

Thanks for the reply, it was getting a little lonely here.

And.... Nothing back from Tesla support, she promised me "I understand, let me speak to some people, I'll call/text you in 20 minutes"... it's been 90 minutes now. I know I may sound impatient but I've been mostly patient for the last 40+ days (other than some rumbling when they didn't order the camera the first time I alerted them to order a camera).

I don't know where to go next, I'm mildly regretting this purchase if this is any indication of what the relationship with Tesla is going to be. I'm happy to pay what I paid, but that was for a functional vehicle, I can live with a body gap, or imperfect QC here and there.... I can root for them as a new company with challenges, but I can't really get on board with "we take your money, charge you 8k for FSD you can't fully use, and we'll get around to you whenever we want with zero escalation path".

It is a bit sad that I found myself cruising Ebay this morning trying to find a part to purchase for brand new car that the manufacturer can't seem to fix in any way resembling a timely manner.

/rant

 

[TX_M3P+]

How close are you to a service center? If there is one close to you it might be worth a drive in to talk to a manager. I live in the Austin TX area and the service center manager out here is awesome. I bought my car used and it took some time to get it registered in my name and added to my Tesla account, but the SC manager allowed me to bring the car in so they cold inspect it for any major or minor issues. It's worth a shot, if it not hundreds of miles away from you.

 

[karbomusic]

How close are you to a service center? If there is one close to you it might be worth a drive in to talk to a manager. I live in the Austin TX area and the service center manager out here is awesome. I bought my car used and it took some time to get it registered in my name and added to my Tesla account, but the SC manager allowed me to bring the car in so they cold inspect it for any major or minor issues. It's worth a shot, if it not hundreds of miles away from you.

I suppose that's my only choice at this point - The dealership is about 40 minutes away but my pessimistic expectation is they'll say "we can't install what we don't have". So I may drive out there if I never get the promised callback above, it just I'm expecting (possibly wrongly) that it will be a wasted trip.

I'm annoyed as to how it can be this difficult to get a camera that we all know they are installing 5000 of per week. Thanks for the patient ear.

 

[scooter62]

Took about 2 weeks in early September when my SC ordered the replacement camera. Lots of camera replacements needed recently. Spare parts are at a premium I would guess.

 

[karbomusic]

Took about 2 weeks in early September when my SC ordered the replacement camera. Lots of camera replacements needed recently. Spare parts are at a premium I would guess.

Yea, I set my appt on 9/14, still waiting for a camera.

 

[karbomusic]

I found the text message from mobile support that keeps moving the date back.... I replied to that message and someone replied and apologized for the delay in receiving the camera and would see if they could find anyway way expedite/escalate. So that's three prongs I poked today, online chat, direct call to support, text message, let's see if any of this improves going into next week.

 

[canadianeh]

7000 bad VINS/repeater cameras according to my service guy

 

[karbomusic]

7000 bad VINS/repeater cameras according to my service guy

I heard the same but see next post...

 

[karbomusic]

This just in....

......... So that's three prongs I poked today, online chat, direct call to support, text message, let's see if any of this improves going into next week.

To add to the story, being a DIY and fairly electronic savvy, IoT maker, guitar pedal designer/builder kind of guy with an electronics lab at home. I had actually popped the camera out on a couple of occasions over the last couple of weeks - just to look for simple stuff. Maybe a bad connection or something I might be able to fix myself. This is after all the normal reboots and resets and dealership diagnostics.

Nope, no luck and I'm 100% certain the cable was both connected properly and not broken so I came the conclusion the camera really is broken or the problem is on the other end of the cable or who knows. I even turned the cameras on while wiggling/snugging the coax cable and never did I even get so much as a glitch of signal so again, "it ain't that". Then...

This afternoon.... End of work day arrives and I go outside to give my M3 her weekly hand bathing. Soaped her up, rinsed, blew dry lovingly with my vacu-blower, topped that off with a ceramic based detail spray - sure is pretty and shiny. I always give it a couple miles round the block after a wash just to enjoy the car, especially in these lockdown times where I don't get to drive it much. As I'm backing out of the driveway...

Wtf holy heck? Now it is working. It has never worked before, not even for a second, not even a video glitch of hope and suddenly this afternoon it mysteriously works. I'm having a hard time swallowing that the afternoon wash/blow had anything to do with it, I've done that multiple times, I've had it out and jiggled etc. plenty of times so a random intermittent connection it is not.

I'm going with intermittent 'something' but for almost 6 weeks there has been zero hint of this thing working for a second. I spend the morning complaining through every Tesla support avenue I can find and now it works.

Crazy times, wonder if it will break again by morning.

 

[karbomusic]

And still working perfectly....

Took out to the highway to allow camera calibration to finally complete (has been stuck on 68% since delivery day) and now navigate with autopilot is working etc. which was never available when the camera wasn't working.

To go from never working at all, to perfectly working seems too coincidental.

 

[AZAV8R]

PFM?

 

[DaveG_NJ]

I took delivery of my Model 3 about 3 weeks ago. It came with a dead right (passenger) repeater camera, so no AP and constant warnings that "AP cameras are not available". The SC ordered me a new camera and I've been waiting since. I got frustrated and rolled the dice on a used camera from eBay off a salvage 3. It came in 2 days. Plugged it in, powered down, reset calibration and like magic, I have fully functioning AP. I was pretty steamed it was like that on delivery. Had I seen it during inspection, I would have refused the car.

My car has a build date of 9/5/20 and the VIN is a 791xxx. I've come across about 5 other Q3-build owners with the same problem. Must have been a bad batch.

Interesting to note: getting the camera out is a PITA. Look for Youtube videos on how to do it and watch the edges the metal chrome trim as they are razor sharp. When I freed my camera, I noticed that the cable was plugged in, but the fragile coax cover was missing and it was not inside the gray female connector on the cable. So someone (pre-delivery) or at the SC the next day must have broken it off and then re-attached the cable.

 

[karbomusic]

UPDATE: My joy was short-lived... The camera stopped working again so my 72 hours of FSD actually working is now gone again with no updates from Tesla that my camera is coming anytime soon.

Interesting to note: getting the camera out is a PITA. Look for Youtube videos on how to do it and watch the edges the metal chrome trim as they are razor sharp. When I freed my camera, I noticed that the cable was plugged in, but the fragile coax cover was missing and it was not inside the gray female connector on the cable. So someone (pre-delivery) or at the SC the next day must have broken it off and then re-attached the cable.

I didn't really have any issues taking mine out, which I've done multiple times hoping to get lucky and fix it.

I did order off Ebay, still mildy infuriated I had to do that; for all I know that camera doesn't work either. I should send a bill to Tesla.

 

[Gasaraki]

This just in....


To add to the story, being a DIY and fairly electronic savvy, IoT maker, guitar pedal designer/builder kind of guy with an electronics lab at home. I had actually popped the camera out on a couple of occasions over the last couple of weeks - just to look for simple stuff. Maybe a bad connection or something I might be able to fix myself. This is after all the normal reboots and resets and dealership diagnostics.

Nope, no luck and I'm 100% certain the cable was both connected properly and not broken so I came the conclusion the camera really is broken or the problem is on the other end of the cable or who knows. I even turned the cameras on while wiggling/snugging the coax cable and never did I even get so much as a glitch of signal so again, "it ain't that". Then...

This afternoon.... End of work day arrives and I go outside to give my M3 her weekly hand bathing. Soaped her up, rinsed, blew dry lovingly with my vacu-blower, topped that off with a ceramic based detail spray - sure is pretty and shiny. I always give it a couple miles round the block after a wash just to enjoy the car, especially in these lockdown times where I don't get to drive it much. As I'm backing out of the driveway...

Wtf holy heck? Now it is working. It has never worked before, not even for a second, not even a video glitch of hope and suddenly this afternoon it mysteriously works. I'm having a hard time swallowing that the afternoon wash/blow had anything to do with it, I've done that multiple times, I've had it out and jiggled etc. plenty of times so a random intermittent connection it is not.

I'm going with intermittent 'something' but for almost 6 weeks there has been zero hint of this thing working for a second. I spend the morning complaining through every Tesla support avenue I can find and now it works.

Crazy times, wonder if it will break again by morning.

It finally got some love and care. It didn't feel loved once it left its birth place and was not ready for the stress of driving by itself and growing up so fast.

 

[karbomusic]

Now it's working again, my working:non-working ratio has now increased from 0:1 to 0.01:1.

 

[KuramaKitsune]

I took delivery of my Model 3 about 3 weeks ago. It came with a dead right (passenger) repeater camera, so no AP and constant warnings that "AP cameras are not available". The SC ordered me a new camera and I've been waiting since. I got frustrated and rolled the dice on a used camera from eBay off a salvage 3. It came in 2 days. Plugged it in, powered down, reset calibration and like magic, I have fully functioning AP. I was pretty steamed it was like that on delivery. Had I seen it during inspection, I would have refused the car.

My car has a build date of 9/5/20 and the VIN is a 791xxx. I've come across about 5 other Q3-build owners with the same problem. Must have been a bad batch.

Interesting to note: getting the camera out is a PITA. Look for Youtube videos on how to do it and watch the edges the metal chrome trim as they are razor sharp. When I freed my camera, I noticed that the cable was plugged in, but the fragile coax cover was missing and it was not inside the gray female connector on the cable. So someone (pre-delivery) or at the SC the next day must have broken it off and then re-attached the cable.

View attachment 602508

this is what my model 3 is doing,
i JUST took delivery about 2 weeks ago
constant error msg on my main screen about auto pilot cameras not available
right repeater camera wont work

 

[DaveG_NJ]

It's been two weeks since the SC ordered a replacement camera for me. I got an email twice that week saying I'd get two emails each week with a status. Then no more updates. LOL. You might want to go the eBay route like I did. Cost me $100, but at least I have AP now.