Roadster parts becoming a significant problem?

[dhrivnak]

From a shareholder perspective no I don't think that is accurate. Their interest to me seems to be focused on Model S and removing any fears of EV adoption.

I really disagree as if Tesla cannot provide good support to a 5 year old model then EV's are sunk. I have two 10+ year old gassers that have no issue with spare parts and Jun just fine. If an EV needs to be surplussed in 10 years or less than will really hurt the Model 3 adoption. But if Tesla continues to support the Roadster then they show perspective buyers they will be supported. Actions always speak louder than words.

 

[ViperDoc]

Agreed

I really disagree as if Tesla cannot provide good support to a 5 year old model then EV's are sunk. I havoue two 10+ year old gassers that have no issue with spare parts and Jun just fine. If an EV needs to be surplused in 10 tears or less than will really hurt the Model 3 adoption. But if Tesla continues to support the Roadster then the show perspective buyers the will be supported. Actions always speak louder than words.

This is spot on. Tesla needs to show consumers they are in it for the long haul and have plans to take care of their customers. It might be expensive to keep Roadsters running, but it will be more expensive if they are perceived to abandon certain models and not support them, leading to consumers not wanting to "gamble" on the future support of the Model S, Model X, etc.

 

[Mark77a]

This is spot on. Tesla needs to show consumers they are in it for the long haul and have plans to take care of their customers. It might be expensive to keep Roadsters running, but it will be more expensive if they are perceived to abandon certain models and not support them, leading to consumers not wanting to "gamble" on the future support of the Model S, Model X, etc.

Agreed too

It is very good to know that we have some good Programing and Electronics expertise, here on TMC, amongst existing Roadster owners (wiztecy, spaceballs, marco2228, as well as several other long term posters (Henry, Doug, TEC, Tomsax, Markwj etc. .. and even ex-Tesla Guys like Supercharged20v . Although from what I see, Tesla do hire some guys with such insights .. which means, their knowledge is effectively taken off line (eg Scott).

Maybe Tesla is hoping that some 3rd party company/shop will step up to service and repair roadsters ?? , And then, maybe if this happens, they will then release the roadster knowledgebase & workshop manuals to such company.
BUT this would be so much less attractive than Tesla themselves stepping up to the challenge of looking after these cars as they get older and parts need repair/replacement.

I hope that collectively we can keep pressure on Tesla to not forget the roadster.

 

[spaceballs]

... I havoue two 10+ year old gassers that have no issue with spare parts and Jun just fine. If an EV needs to be surplused in 10 tears or less than will really hurt the Model 3 adoption....

I think the problem is purely numbers, any car that only made 2,600 of them, and how many spare parts (Roadster only specific) they produced before they shut down that product line. It's can be costly to re-start and build spares parts.

Actions always speak louder than words.

From my talks with parts guys at the service centers, parts are really getting hard to find/source Roadster parts (spare keys for example have to get them from Europe last I checked). But Model S is getting great support, and I expect to continue to get great support afterwards, due to the volume Tesla manufactured.

 

[Panicopticon]

If you don't have the HIDs I highly recommend the TRS setup, its rather in-expensive. There's a thread on this, think its in the HID thread. You can ship your lights and they'll install them or you can install them inside your headlight assembly yourself. You'll need to split the housing (heat it up). Also you'll need to buy a $12 black re-sealer to waterproof the lights again. Awesome price, $310 for the whole kit with the resealer and your temp bulb choice. Its not just the HID bulbs/ballasts but rather it includes an HID projector lens which focuses the light correctly for the HID bulb/intensity (rather than being scattered light pollution). They made a custom bracket so the HID projector can be mounted properly inside the headlight assembly. Its about equal to the Tesla HID light kit in terms of brightness and definition of coverage, at only a fraction of the cost. I worked hard to get this kit made and they came back with a ridiculous cheap price for it. They did mine for free since they felt bad for taking a year to get the initial prototype and finished product ready.

Here's the link (comes with a 5 year warranty):
Retro-Quik: Tesla Roadster

I did a review of the TRS setup over in the HID thread, a few days ago (yesterday?). There is basically a photo tutorial of the process. I'd add that when I spoke to TRS about it, they didn't seem willing to do the ship, split and install at their site, so I did it myself. If you're curious, Xenon HID upgrade - Page 31

 

[bart513]

Interesting. When I purchased mine and had trouble finding someone to install they did offer to do the installation for like $300. As it was I returned the whole thing out of frustration and bought the HID bulbs from DDM and am satisfied. I'm not the most mechanical person so that it is important to mention.....

 

[ElectricLove]

Does anyone have an idea for a "call to action" on this issue? ie. A plan to get the attention of Tesla (maybe Elon directly is the only chance?) on this issue of lack of future support for the Roadsters? I know the happy Tesla shareholders may not care so much since they have possibly made 1000% on their investments and are in a financial place to just replace their Roadsters with the Model R when it comes out and also have the feeling that it would be too costly and hurt the "bottom-line" and therefore possibly effect their investment value, BUT... I think there are enough of us who are in support of the idea that Tesla do something to show us that support for our vehicles won't disappear. Our cars are not like other limited production vehicles which use the same basic technology as every other vehicle on the road, everything about our cars is unique and in order for our cars to maintain their "integrity" with time we need a plan from Tesla. I think there is some interest and the new 400-mi battery pack upgrade proves that but there are still some holes and the parts supply limitations are demonstrating one of the largest of these holes. At some point it either needs to become open source or Tesla needs to agree to continue to support every aspect of the Roadster. I personally wouldn't buy a Model 3 or any other future Tesla if they fail to do that and I think at some point media attention would be brought to the issue and perhaps dissuade others from purchasing Tesla cars in the future as well...

I mean, we all love Tesla and want to see it succeed but we shouldn't need to be martyrs here.

 

[bonnie]

Does anyone have an idea for a "call to action" on this issue? ie. A plan to get the attention of Tesla (maybe Elon directly is the only chance?) on this issue of lack of future support for the Roadsters? I know the happy Tesla shareholders may not care so much since they have possibly made 1000% on their investments and are in a financial place to just replace their Roadsters with the Model R when it comes out and also have the feeling that it would be too costly and hurt the "bottom-line" and therefore possibly effect their investment value, BUT... I think there are enough of us who are in support of the idea that Tesla do something to show us that support for our vehicles won't disappear. Our cars are not like other limited production vehicles which use the same basic technology as every other vehicle on the road, everything about our cars is unique and in order for our cars to maintain their "integrity" with time we need a plan from Tesla. I think there is some interest and the new 400-mi battery pack upgrade proves that but there are still some holes and the parts supply limitations are demonstrating one of the largest of these holes. At some point it either needs to become open source or Tesla needs to agree to continue to support every aspect of the Roadster. I personally wouldn't buy a Model 3 or any other future Tesla if they fail to do that and I think at some point media attention would be brought to the issue and perhaps dissuade others from purchasing Tesla cars in the future as well...

I mean, we all love Tesla and want to see it succeed but we shouldn't need to be martyrs here.

What is the 'call to action'? Do we know what we want?

Yes, I'd like there to be parts on the shelf, but realistically, for 2400 Roadsters (give or take & decreasing monthly), they're not going to be able to stock all the parts we want stocked. Sometimes we're going to have to wait. What else are we proposing they do? I knew going in that this car was a limited manufacturing run & I knew what that meant. (Personally, I've toyed with the idea of going in on a couple of salvage Roadsters with another owner or two and keeping those for parts.)

We have a lot of expertise here & there is also a lot of expertise 'out in the wild' - namely people who were with Tesla and who have now moved on to new careers. I'm in contact with some of them. I'd be interested in getting their perspective, since they also had an inside view and I suspect knew the parts situation first-hand.

 

[Mark77a]

What is the 'call to action'? Do we know what we want?

This is a call to
1. Ideally encourage Tesla to repair and maintain Roadsters .
For example at the moment, any one of us (warranty or not) could be off the road for months.
And as these cars get older, this will get worse.
And / or
2. Put knowledge base, circuit diagrams, code, workshop manuals and technical bulletins into the public domain,
So at least we can fix our own roadsters. For example: if the PEM goes wrong, it is probably a simple capacitor swop to fix it, almost any electronics shop or even keen owners could fix this ... But only if we had access to troubleshooting data base and knowledge base.

Like most on here I am so grateful to Tesla for making these fantastic cars real. I simply want to continue to use my roadster, everyday as intended, and to continue to promote Tesla as a game-changing exemplar of cool future transport.

 

[dhrivnak]

This is a call to

2. Put knowledge base, circuit diagrams, code, workshop manuals and technical bulletins into the public domain,
So at least we can fix our own roadsters. For example: if the PEM goes wrong, it is probably a simple capacitor swop to fix it, almost any electronics shop or even keen owners could fix this ... But only if we had access to troubleshooting data base and knowledge base.

Like most on here I am so grateful to Tesla for making these fantastic cars real. I simply want to continue to use my roadster, everyday as intended, and to continue to promote Tesla as a game-changing exemplar of cool future transport.

I fully agree if the patents are now open to the world why not put out a repair manual like virtually all other cars. That way we could maintain our cars or at least do a lot more of the work.

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

I've been wondering the same thing for a while. I'm thinking it's some combination of Tesla trying to make a good chunk of money on service, trying to manage their brand image/liability (They don't want a DIYer electrocuting themselves using the Roadster FSM), and just not having much in the way of resources since they're going to launch two new models over the next few years on top of expanding production of the S and releasing a new roadster.

With that said, I'd love for Tesla to prove me wrong and release FSMs/provide reasonably priced replacement parts.

 

[Botbldr45]

I had this terrible dream the other night!!!!!
THERE WERE NO SERVICE MANUALS EVER MADE FOR THE ROADSTER!!!!!:scared:
Frightening!!!

 

[AEdennis]

I posted this on one of the other threads... (the one regarding my CPO's battery losing 15-16 miles before the first year...

"Of particular note (and I'll probably cross-post this part on the thread on Roadster parts) is that I am waiting on a hose and a door sill because the Service Writer told me that Tesla is in the process of moving the warehouse that has all the Roadster parts and that is what delayed some of my parts for my service (but not others.)" Not sure if I was provided hogwash or not.

 

[rtz]

Put the Roadster back into production? Design is proven, it's been built before. Should be cheaper building the body in house. Use Model S Dash and other parts?

 

[hcsharp]

I posted this on one of the other threads... (the one regarding my CPO's battery losing 15-16 miles before the first year...

"Of particular note (and I'll probably cross-post this part on the thread on Roadster parts) is that I am waiting on a hose and a door sill because the Service Writer told me that Tesla is in the process of moving the warehouse that has all the Roadster parts and that is what delayed some of my parts for my service (but not others.)" Not sure if I was provided hogwash or not.

I was told exactly the same thing about a month ago when they were unable to complete a couple of service items for lack of parts. They said as soon as they finish moving to the new location they will be able to get roadster parts much quicker.

 

[AEdennis]

I was told exactly the same thing about a month ago when they were unable to complete a couple of service items for lack of parts. They said as soon as they finish moving to the new location they will be able to get roadster parts much quicker.

How long does it take them to move? We need a hose for the AC system.

 

[dhrivnak]

Put the Roadster back into production? Design is proven, it's been built before. Should be cheaper building the body in house. Use Model S Dash and other parts?

Not very practical. The Roadster was hand built by Lotus and the basic design was phased out in 2011. There was also an air bad exemption that would need overcome as well. I am not sure Tesla wants to revisit the Lotus partnership.

Remember the Roadster was a custom hand built car. And a very low volume one at that. Nissan sells more Leafs in a month that 3 years of Roadster sales world wide.

 

[S-2000 Roadster]

Not very practical. The Roadster was hand built by Lotus and the basic design was phased out in 2011. There was also an air bad exemption that would need overcome as well. I am not sure Tesla wants to revisit the Lotus partnership.

Agreed. I am not sure Lotus wants to revisit the Tesla partnership. Lotus retired another one of their models at the same time the Tesla Roadster stopped production. Those models share some parts like the dash, so I think everyone is done with manufacturing that family of cars.

Not that I wouldn't like it to happen. I find the Tesla Roadster to be the ideal car for me. It's also a lot more environmentally considerate compared to the huge Model S. Here's hoping that Tesla Motors can come up with something with a low drag area like the Honda CRX/Insight or the Roadster, even if it looks nothing like the Lotus design.

 

[rtz]

I was suggesting for Tesla to build new bodies themselves. They said the car was totally different from the Lotus(short of the Dash, and a couple other items). I'm sure they still have the prints. Or just measure out an existing car. Put Model S dash and suspension in it if need be; etc. This way it could pass the crash tests and have the airbags, etc.

Are they going to build the new Roadster after Model 3(E), or before/after their take on the F-150? Building one new model at a time is going to take decades to get them all into production.

They did suggest Model X was going to be released back in 2012...

 

[ElectricLove]

You can take your A/C hose to a shop and have a custom one made. Probably won't cost much differently than getting it from Tesla, the ends are standard fit. This is what I am doing for an 84 vanagon westfalia I'm restoring right now!