Suspension Problem on Model S

[techmaven]

People should withhold prejudging this until all the facts come out. It's either true or it isn't.

Prejudging what? That he is promoting the idea that crashed vehicles in salvage yards have suspension issues when the front ends have clearly been smashed to bits? You can go through the same salvage sites for BMW's, Mercedes, Cadillac and claim that all of those also have suspension problems that led to their crashes. Doesn't make it true.

Mr. Cordano and Mr. Wivaneff have pre-judged. We are responding to their pre-judgement.

I was angered enough by the treatment of Pete Cordaro to actually register. Usually I just peruse this site as I am considering an EV and wanted to learn more about Tesla.

But seeing how some of you are lynching this guy, it really disgusts me. He is not pro- or anti-Tesla. He just wants his car fixed and to make Teslas safer if there is a problem.

You stock traders worship the almighty dollar. Driver safety is what matters, and Tesla's behavior seems to suggest it wants to sweep problems under the rug or downplay issues with a TSB. Disgusting.

There are plenty of people betting against TSLA. The short interest is very high. Plenty of lies and innuendos are pushed by people betting against TSLA day in and day out. Mr. Wivaneff frequents the Yahoo finance boards to rail against Tesla and has a long history of lunacy in this regard. You draw your own conclusions based on that.

Now, Mr. Cordano might not be in it for stock gains either way, but he is clearly in it for something. Maybe it's to get Tesla to cover his entire repair under good will. But in doing so, he's taken the stance that all Model S's have this quality problem. He's the one pre-judging and he's drawn in support from well known trolls to promote his agenda. That's disgusting.

Neither person really is about making Tesla's safer.

 

[csshih]

The media sharks have gotten wind of this thread. It's all going downhill now.

 

[0exhausts]

Does it ever mention which suspension type has problem?

 

[Johan]

I was angered enough by the treatment of Pete Cordaro to actually register. Usually I just peruse this site as I am considering an EV and wanted to learn more about Tesla.

But seeing how some of you are lynching this guy, it really disgusts me. He is not pro- or anti-Tesla. He just wants his car fixed and to make Teslas safer if there is a problem.

You stock traders worship the almighty dollar. Driver safety is what matters, and Tesla's behavior seems to suggest it wants to sweep problems under the rug or downplay issues with a TSB. Disgusting.

Be very careful making such accusations without having at least heard both sides of the story.

 

[zambono]

The person affected did have air suspension but the control arms might be the same. I don't have my S yet

 

[Zybd1201]

I am glad it is out there in the public now. As a new Tesla owner I want the car to be safe and encourage everyone to share their concerns openly, give the appropriate authorities the opportunity to investigate, and hold companies accountable for any possible defects.

If there are no problems the stock will recover. Probably before the investigation is concluded but at least after it. That valuation fluctuates and it is normal for it to do so.

These things are nothing new and par for the course. This is a growing company and a market disruptor making a safety critical product. What else should we expect?

 

[omarsultan]

Driver safety is what matters, and Tesla's behavior seems to suggest it wants to sweep problems under the rug or downplay issues with a TSB. Disgusting.

This is so completely and utterly off base. Tesla has time and again proven through action that if there is a hint of an issue, they will jump all over it, well ahead of any regulatory issue. They did that with the battery shield, they did that with the seatbelt bolt, they did that with the update to summons behavior after the Consumer Reports feedback and they just did that with the MX 3rd row seats.

 

[Az_Rael]

Well, I will be interested to hear the results of the investigation. I am not a big conspiracy theorist, but the OP did experience an unusual failure.

 

[X Yes?]

Believe what you want, time will tell. NHTSA will make a determination on this issue that will become public information

Right you are sir, and sooner than you probably thought:
Safety agency warns Tesla over nondisclosure agreements with customers

 

[techmaven]

You Tesla owners also deserve all-new suspensions. But some of you prefer to rail against public discussion of this issue. Probably because you are desperate to protect your resale value which might plunge if the suspension problems become more widely known.

Talking about pre-judging. Please present your evidence that we all need new suspensions. No such determination was made. If there is a problem, I expect that Tesla will do the right thing. They have done so in the past. When there was a loose bolt in a seat belt, Tesla did a voluntary recall and checked the bolts on all Model S's. When there was a possible issue with battery pack penetrations, Tesla retrofitted us all with titanium battery shields. Tesla's history in dealing with safety issues has been top notch.

Again, you have understood nearly nothing in this thread and continue to demonstrate your ignorance.

 

[glhs272]

Well, I will be interested to hear the results of the investigation. I am not a big conspiracy theorist, but the OP did experience an unusual failure.

Yes, but no. The fact that one car had a ball joint failure at ~70K miles is not out of this world unusual.

The OP has used the fact that his one vehicle has had this issue to assume that ALL model S cars have this issue, and that furthermore Tesla is hiding it and placing all owners at risk due to the fact that all cars have this issue. He using pictures from obviously wrecked Telsas (wrecked for any and all kinds of other reasons, pictures assembled from an obvious tesla troll) to prove that all Teslas have this problem. He is also implying that Tesla is murdering it's owners and has already killed several people from other vehicles, again due to this issue and the fact that Tesla has not yet had a recall for it, as proved by said Tesla troll pictures. And the OP is using social media to attack Tesla under the vial of "protecting other owners", again because at least in his mind all Model S cars have this issue.

My take away from this:
-OP's car clearly had a problem (defective part most likely, not intentional abuse by the OP or unusual wear), that he didn't take care of before the ball joint completely fell out. (no warning it was failing?...Com'on that thing must have been clunking like crazy).
-Due to the fact that the ball joint didn't get replaced before it completely failed, it came apart while driving and caused additional damage (big surprise).
-Now that OP is on the hook for a big repair bill from this nasty surprise, he doesn't feel like he should have to pay for it. For which I can understand as the ball joint probably failed much too early. Telsa offering to pay half the bill didn't satisfy him and only enraged him further.
-Now he is on a mission...

 

[techmaven]

If anything caused that rubber boot to be dislodged such that grime and/or salt water got into the joint, then it's all over... that ball joint was going to fail soon. Hence it is important, especially if one drives around on roads with a lot of salt to have the various parts of the car inspected. We still don't know when his car was last inspected for this kind of thing.

However, this should have been noticeable to the driver. With that much corrosion, the steering feel should have been significantly impacted. It should be flopping around. And that level of flopping around could cause the other side to start to fail prematurely.

Clearly Tesla should not have tried to have him sign an NDA. They should have just denied him a special deal instead. It would be difficult for them to be extra nice to us if we all act in this manner.

 

[hockeythug]

Also, there is no "investigation"

 

[beeeerock]

Relax everyone... Seeking Alpha is all over it like a fat kid on a red smartie... I have the utmost confidence that the real truth will be revealed and justice served... just as soon as a few more shorts are covered.

LOL...

 

[CarlK]

At any rate, a proper repair approach with some degree of preventive maintenance in my thinking is swapping out all similar ball joints on both sides, as Tesla is
proposing.

The vehicle has been operated under what would probably be called "off road conditions" on a limited but regular basis?

Probably so. Op did state the problem happend when he was driving 5 mph with height set at max. Sounds like an off road or at least tough road situation. Op tried to clarify the question later by saying most of his miles driven are highway miles. He did not deny any off road use.

Nor is there a limitation re: "off road" operation. On the contrary, Tesla shows how a rural postal carrier is using a Model S in such operation every day here:

A mail man in Minnesota has been using a Tesla Model S to deliver mail for 2 years

You can always define what's not a normal use even when occasional uses can be considered normal. Porsche sells cars for fast acceleration but it's known to refuse warranty on engine failure when there are too many redline runs which itself is the normal way of driving the sports car.

 

[msnow]

Yes, but no. The fact that one car had a ball joint failure at ~70K miles is not out of this world unusual.

The OP has used the fact that his one vehicle has had this issue to assume that ALL model S cars have this issue, and that furthermore Tesla is hiding it and placing all owners at risk due to the fact that all cars have this issue. He using pictures from obviously wrecked Telsas (wrecked for any and all kinds of other reasons, pictures assembled from an obvious tesla troll) to prove that all Teslas have this problem. He is also implying that Tesla is murdering it's owners and has already killed several people from other vehicles, again due to this issue and the fact that Tesla has not yet had a recall for it, as proved by said Tesla troll pictures. And the OP is using social media to attack Tesla under the vial of "protecting other owners", again because at least in his mind all Model S cars have this issue.

My take away from this:
-OP's car clearly had a problem (defective part most likely, not intentional abuse by the OP or unusual wear), that he didn't take care of before the ball joint completely fell out. (no warning it was failing?...Com'on that thing must have been clunking like crazy).
-Due to the fact that the ball joint didn't get replaced before it completely failed, it came apart while driving and caused additional damage (big surprise).
-Now that OP is on the hook for a big repair bill from this nasty surprise, he doesn't feel like he should have to pay for it. For which I can understand as the ball joint probably failed much too early. Telsa offering to pay half the bill didn't satisfy him and only enraged him further.
-Now he is on a mission...

You're just making stuff up now. Try and calm down and see what the facts and results are when this is complete.

 

[techmaven]

You're just making stuff up now. Try and calm down and see what the facts and results are when this is complete.

The one correction I'd make is that it is Keef Wivaneff that made some of the most outrageous claims, but Mr. Cordaro is now a party to it since he's helping promote that letter.

 

[msnow]

The one correction I'd make is that it is Keef Wivaneff that made some of the most outrageous claims, but Mr. Cordaro is now a party to it since he's helping promote that letter.

Where is he claiming that all Model S's may have this problem as you claimed in your post?

 

[Gizmotoy]

There's also reports that the NHTSA is angry that Tesla is fixing the issues for owners, but making them sign NDAs that seemingly prevent them from discussing the issue with the agency. We actually saw some evidence of that here on the forum a few weeks ago.

Feds investigating potentially widespread Tesla Model S suspension issue - Roadshow

 

[Az_Rael]

Yes, but no. The fact that one car had a ball joint failure at ~70K miles is not out of this world unusual.

Well, i do this sort of thing for a living on aircraft (look at broken/failed parts and determine cause/repairs). We would be very suspicious of this sort of failure not being a one-off. I doubt that this is the service life the part was designed to. While we don't know how often this car was serviced (a big hole in the info and might have caught a torn boot earlier), I did note this comment by another owner that hints there might be a design issue here:

So the design is collecting salt and storing it in a trough in a steel part. This is going to cause the arms to self-destruct eventually. My mechanic said the arm should have been designed with a different physical shape so that there was no trough for the dirt to sit and fester in (e.g. convex on the top so dirt would slide off). He also suggested that if it were aluminum it probably wouldn't corrode. or at least not nearly as fast.

So it's good they are looking into it.