Tesla 3: Second drive unit failure in under a year

[ca_driving]

We received our Tesla 3 last Dec/Jan, and just had the rear drive unit fail for the second time. This time, it failed on the highway, creating a dangerous driving situation for us.

First time, Tesla said, 'oh, extremely rare, will not happen again.' No one is returning my calls this time :-/.

We use it for infrequent commuting and it has 6K miles on it. Would love to hear others' perspectives on this. So disappointed in our lemon.

 

[novox77]

did you schedule a new service appt with the app? they'll likely replace the motor if they didn't do that last time.

 

[ca_driving]

did you schedule a new service appt with the app? they'll likely replace the motor if they didn't do that last time.

Yes, thanks! This will be the second replacement.

 

[KenC]

Buy a lottery ticket, because two rare events, 1 in 10,000, is super rare, 1 in 100,000,000!!!

 

[GreenHokie]

Man, sorry to hear. At this point, I would try to push for a brand new 2021 as the remedy/replacement. May be a long shot, but depending on the sales or general manager at your local sales center (and your relationship with that person), it just might work...

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[KenC]

Man, sorry to hear. At this point, I would try to push for a brand new 2021 as the remedy/replacement. May be a long shot, but depending on the sales or general manager at your local sales center (and your relationship with that person), it just might work...

Good luck and keep us posted!

Motors should be plug and play. No reason why it wouldn’t be 100% as good as new after replacement. Just bad luck.

 

[Casmium]

i would be interested to know if they both failed for the same reason or not. Just wonder if it's a mechanical failure and bad luck or if its something else in the car that is causing some electronics in the motor to fail. Our of spec inverter or something, that still will let it run but cause more stress then usual.

 

[GreenHokie]

i would be interested to know if they both failed for the same reason or not. Just wonder if it's a mechanical failure and bad luck or if its something else in the car that is causing some electronics in the motor to fail. Our of spec inverter or something, that still will let it run but cause more stress then usual.

Exactly. Failure of a second motor could mean the root cause of the problem is somewhere else. If so, then the argument/case for a new 2021 replacement might be a little stronger. Couldn’t hurt to ask...

 

[XLR82XS]

Man, sorry to hear. At this point, I would try to push for a brand new 2021 as the remedy/replacement. May be a long shot, but depending on the sales or general manager at your local sales center (and your relationship with that person), it just might work...

Good luck and keep us posted!

Check state lemon laws. 3 time failure and X amount of days out of service are some of the stipulations.

 

[F14Scott]

It's probably because of something you did...

 

[Gasaraki]

Lottery winners do happen.

 

[Fernand]

Extremely rare. Actually chance of 2nd unit going out is not affected by the odds of the first failing.

 

[F14Scott]

It's probably because of something you did...

I actually included the joke, and at least three people still didn't get it. I think we may be becoming too dependent on emojis to detect sarcasm.

 

[EnrgyNDpndnce]

Really sorry to hear this story. I’m at 101k miles on my Model 3 and zero issues to report. Please keep us posted on how Tesla resolves this other than simply replacing the motor...again. I’m also wondering what warranty they provide on the replacement. Factory drivetrain warranty is 120k miles on a LR, so does that mean this replacement motor is warranted for 120k Miles?

 

[Needsdecaf]

Contact lemon law attorney. Send letter.

 

[Apone]

I actually included the joke, and at least three people still didn't get it. I think we may be becoming too dependent on emojis to detect sarcasm.

literally has Jack Handy's name on it - definitely funny man. Maybe we are getting old

 

[baylife650]

wow, sorry to hear this has happened to you twice! I am curious to hear other's who have experienced this issue with their model 3. I have approximately 17k miles on my 2018, and outside of a few minor cosmetic issues, I haven't had any major problems so far **knock on wood**

 

[Wennfred]

What Service Center did you take it to the first time?

 

[jsmay311]

I feel your pain, having experienced a drive unit failure on my second day of ownership.

But talk of invoking lemon laws or involving lawyers at this point is misguided and premature at best. Lemon laws typically apply when a vehicle is “defective and cannot be repaired after a ‘reasonable’ number of attempts”. (I took this quote from a State of California website before realizing that your location of “Ca” probably meant Canada, but I suspect the laws are similar across North America.).

So far there’s only been one unsuccessful repair attempt, which seems far from “unreasonable”. But hopefully Tesla will do a thorough investigation to determine if there are any underlying issues at play in this repeat failure.

 

[Sunshine State]

Lemon law stipulation is different in different states but this doesn’t sound like a case unless they can’t fix the car. Typically they get a final attempt after 3 safety related failures or a specific number of days out of service. That said if they can’t fix it, which is highly unlikely, I don’t believe any decision about replacement is left up to anyone local unless you are from Fremont.