Blog Report: Tesla Employees Pressured to Take Shortcuts to Meet Production Goals

A new report from CNBC talks to Tesla workers who say they were forced to take shortcuts to meet the company’s aggressive production goals.

Those shortcuts included using electrical tape to patch cracks on plastic brackets containing electrical components, and sometimes passing cars through inspection that were missing bolts, nuts, or lugs.

The employees interviewed also said Tesla encouraged them to work in harsh conditions. The bulk of complaints from employees developed from Tesla’s GA4 production tent, a makeshift assembly line constructed to hit an ambitious production target of 6,000 Model 3’s a week. Tesla continues to use the tent a year later.

A Tesla spokesperson told CNBC that the company hasn’t found evidence of electrical tape being used to make quick fixes in GA4, and would never officially condone or encourage it.

Employees interviewed by CNBC also provided photos from the assembly line to back up their accusations.

Tesla called the anecdotes “misleading” and said that they were unrepresentative of what it’s like to work at Tesla.

CNBC spoke to two former employees on the record for its report, and corroborated their account with six other current and former employees who asked to remain anonymous.

 

[3Victoria]

Zero problems with my 2019.03 3MR. CNBC are just looking for clicks. I don't bother clicking on them any more.

 

[dewittbo]

I don't own a Model 3, so I can't speak to the concerns about its build quality (although we are picking one up this weekend for my wife--so we'll see). I have owned an X for six months, though, and I love it. I have absolutely no complaints about 'build quality,' although the numerous Tesla-haters in the media never seem to cease trumpeting their claims about Tesla's reputation for poor build quality. As far as I'm concerned the build quality of my X has been on par with any automobile I have ever owned, which includes a '72 240Z, 2010 and 2016 Mercedes SLKs, and a BMW.

Just my two cents.

 

[spindrome]

I'm not going to publicly blast everything I went through post-delivery, but I have no doubt in my mind that there's some truth to this article. Tremendous amount of pressure to produce 1000 m3's/day.

 

[TexasTeslaRacing]

While I'm not okay with these shortcuts, I don't see how this affects the safety of the car. It will affect reliability. I'm not too worried as my 2018 Model 3 has had zero problems in 11,000 miles.

 

[Feathermerchan]

News flash - My 2011 F150 has electrical tape in it.
Should I be worried?

 

[alcibiades]

News flash - My 2011 F150 has electrical tape in it.
Should I be worried?

Only if you think that's a good argument!

 

[Rwatters549]

Mine was missing the name plate (Dual Motor) on the back and when I questioned it at the service center, I was told they "ran out of them" when the car was being built (Oct 2018). I also see others with a "Model 3" nameplate on the back and wonder if they had run out of them also. What else is missing. I still wonder if its dual motor and LR?

 

[Silicon Desert]

Tesla pressured me to buy a car ! One night about 3 years ago, I awakened in a cold sweat and heard a voice saying "Get up, go buy it now. You need it. You must have it."

Well, at least that is the excuse I used to tell the wife why I did it

 

[wrishel]

I don't doubt the report at all.

I agree. These people calling everything negative about Tesla "fake news" -- even if they mean it to be funny -- are painful because of what's going on in the bigger field of politics.

Every company -- especially a good one like Tesla -- needs to be viewed critically. Total worship leads to corruption.

 

[edwpang]

I have been owner of Tesla Model 3 since last month. The car itself is superb, but I cannot say the same about customer service. I have been promised by the sale adviser that he can use other customer referral to give 1500km of supercharging. But I never see it in my account. I am not going to ask about anymore, because in itself it looks shady and not honest practice. On top this, he made some broken promises which didn't work out. I have to request online customer service which is very slow! And there are quite a bit of contradicting information online and by their customer service people. So I am not surprised at the CNBC report at all.

BTW, be aware! They(Tesla people) are watching us!

 

[M3totms]

I haven't been in a more recently produced Model 3, but mine was during the July '18 batch, VIN# 17XXX, and aside from a glovebox that kept opening, my Model 3 has been perfectly fine. I think many people come to the forums to complain about their issues, whereas for people who have perfectly fine vehicles that are built within their expectations, they don't post their non-existent issues. I would be curious to see a broader / general owner-based survey. Does one exist anywhere that is free to access?

I can't speak for anyone else but my car (P3D vin#4138xx is basically perfect. I have worked on many vehicles and I did look over the car and continue to as I add parts or clean it. The only thing I really noticed is that one of the bolts that mount the drivers door, the bolt head was slightly rounded. Like it was still being rotated when the socket was pulling off it. But other than that it is excellent build.

 

[John Beans]

If you haven't, take a look at @KarenRei's survey on Tesla Owners Online. She conducted primary research on Model 3 owners in 2018 to answer the question "How common are defects?"

Everyone must wonder: Are the defects common, or are complaints just amplified by the tendency to report problems rather than to report lack of problems?

There's a good chance you've never had access to survey this thorough and thoughtful on Tesla—the survey shows how the date and VIN range affects the results, and even ensures that only valid VINs are used.

Here is the online thread where it's discussed

Here are the results

TLDR: As you'd intuitively guess based on overall owner satisfaction, problems tend to be rare, minor, and tend to decline over time as they are addressed.

 

[meanwhileinND]

 

[TW1898M3]

Well, I'm not sure I'm ready to say that CNBC is anti-Tesla, but the story does have a smell factor to it.

My experience is just one car, a Model 3 Duel Motor, delivered late April. After 4,200 miles, I can say it's the best automobile I've ever bought or had (and I count 14 before now, mostly Toyotas). Not one problem with the Tesla other than a few times I needed to reboot the screen (and that was in the first 2-300 miles).

I'm sure there are growing pains with Tesla production, but they seem to be doing most things right -- and they seem like an organization that wants to keep making it better.

 

[darrelld]

Stopped reading when I saw CNBC, CNBC financial analyst and writing skills are at best high school level.

 

[Diggs31]

Picked up my Model 3 on 6/21.

I DID have an issue. Maybe a dud but not even 1000 miles on my car and my 12V battery warning came on. I made an appointment for repair which was 2-3 weeks out. I researched and others state warning sign buys approx 1 month of time. 1 week later a horrible rotten egg smell was coming from my car, I researched and apparently this is from acid leak from my failing 12V. Then, one day car ran but no sounds from turn signal, parking sensors or radio.

I brought car into service center next morning without appointment. They were able to squeeze me in and replace. Likely a dud? But I don't doubt corners were cut during production.

 

[Silicon Desert]

Stopped reading when I saw CNBC, CNBC financial analyst and writing skills are at best high school level.

yes, what is with that? Not to pull this off topic, yet there sure seems to be a LOT of people in the media (not just this station) these days that make up terms not even found in the dictionary and give misleading statements. My wife is ESL (English as a second language), and even she notes the poor communication they have.

 

[RickAnstey]

Two Teslas for me. Two examples of absolute perfection. Based on my experience, one of my best friends just bought one. Same story of perfection.

It would interesting to have a peek at the stock portfolios of CNBC employees.

 

[SIG0075]

In my opinion, I believe you could replace Tesla's name with any other auto manufacturer. Makes me wonder why Tesla's being singled out? Does the media forget the whole Ford disaster? There will always be haters or someone trying to keep their job at the cost of others ("reporters")...SMH!! I LOVE MY SIG00075!

 

[Alphonso14]

Re: the CNBC report, I took delivery of my MX 75D in September 2018. Love the car!. Only problems have been a non-working key fob and inability to get a full 237 mile charge. Service rep is on his way here this afternoon. Not a big deal. I bet you can find ex-employees with and axe to grind at any company with more than 25 employees. LOVE my MX!