Tesla cripple model S stranding family

[whitex]

So much more wrong with it that the family decided to use it as their only car and take it on a multistate trip?

I don't think that passes the sniff test. What's wrong with it that they could use it for several months and go on a multistate supercharging trip and not be bitten by the supposed issues left in the car?

Some guy using or deciding to put his family in it doesn't mean it's safe. People drive unsafe cars all the time, and only some of them die or get hurt. It's Tesla charging network and they have the right, if not obligation, to keep it safe. Imagine if the car in question caught on fire at the supercharger and family got hurt, what would the headline be then?

Another way to think, would you want the FAA to let anything that can get in the air fly over cities or even your house? Or would you prefer they only let certified aircraft fly and revoke the certification for any aircraft that have been in an accident until re-certified?

 

[ReversePolarity]

I'm sure if Tesla wanted to, they can run vehicle history report for every single VIN and systematically "disable" every single vehicle with a unclean history. But yeah, pumping 100kw of power into a vehicle that you don't know whether it was fixed properly could be a big liability event. But at the same time, don't give the owners who legitimately want to drive/enjoy the Teslas that maybe they otherwise couldn't afford, the cold shoulder, or middle finger... someone in corporate is probably being ignorant so its unfortunate that issues like this need vloggeds, media outlets and/or forums to work thru.

 

[whitex]

I'm sure if Tesla wanted to, they can run vehicle history report for every single VIN and systematically "disable" every single vehicle with a unclean history. But yeah, pumping 100kw of power into a vehicle that you don't know whether it was fixed properly could be a big liability event. But at the same time, don't give the owners who legitimately want to drive/enjoy the Teslas that maybe they otherwise couldn't afford, the cold shoulder, or middle finger... someone in corporate is probably being ignorant so its unfortunate that issues like this need vloggeds, media outlets and/or forums to work thru.

I'm sorry but you if you cannot afford it, you just cannot afford it. Safety should not be compromised just because someone cannot afford it. I cannot afford a jet plane, that doesn't mean FAA should let me fly a jet I can buy dirt cheap in some poor countries but with no maintenance logs of any kind and with me saying "hey look, it flies, so it's fine - you have to let me fly it because I cannot afford anything better".

 

[Krazaak]

Owner knowingly purchased a salvaged vehicle, presumably aware that warranty and supercharging were void. Was pleasantly surprised that supercharging still worked and that the SC thought the warranty was intact.

Owner takes the car in for service and has work performed under the expectation of warranty. Tesla was obligated at this point to notify the owner before work was performed that it was out of warranty, so covering the work after it was performed was the correct course of action.

Tesla disables supercharging per standard policy for a salvage vehicle that hasn't been re-certified. Owner now has exactly what they thought they were paying for in the first place, plus they got some repairs covered for free.

Tesla should have been clear that supercharging was being deactivated, owner probably should have confirmed it was still working after knowing the SC invalidated the warranty.

The owner thought they were slipping through a crack and is bitter that Tesla corrected the glitch when they tried to get work performed on a warranty that was ultimately void.

Bad communication here, but it may not be one sided. Did the owner explain to the SC that it was a salvage vehicle when they called to confirm the warranty or did they give a VIN, year and mileage and the SC simply responded because that age and mileage was in warranty?

If it was a great deal and the car was really that easily fixed, consider getting it re-certified.

 

[Yaro]

No, they'd have no justification to do so.

What Apple actually did was to make it so that you can't use it with their high-speed chargers, even though you can otherwise use the phone as normal. Sorry you were depending on get a high-speed charge at the time. Also hope that nothing else goes wrong with it, unless you know somebody who can fix it. Of course, you can fix it or you know someone who can, because you bought it knowing that it was so broken that a previous owner's insurance paid for a replacement and you got it running.

Tesla has previously fully disabled cars also.

To complete this thought consider the scrap value of a Tesla is very high. Insurance companies are aggressive with depreciation. These combine to total cars that "ordinary people" would not. Perhaps the cost of a loaner car, one door, one fender are enough to make this car a total. The only way for Tesla to know if that is the case or if the car has real damage is to inspect it very closely.

Exactly like this car - https://www.copart.com/lot/29600438

Barely has any damage but was totaled?

 

[Evoforce]

the issue was not about finding a alternative charging point, the issue was while midtrip with his wife and small children the charging times provided by lvl 2 or lvl 1 were a major issue to time and pressure constraints.

In the US, there is an adapter that you can purchase that will allow you to charge using a Quick/Fast charge stations that is called a chademo adapter. Is there an adapter that works in other countries as well?

 

[Jpballer88]

As someone who has owned 2 salvage title Tesla's, one of which the accident happened during my ownership, I am not understanding why everyone is so quick to judge owners that buy "cheap" Tesla's. These cars are not stupid. If there is an issue with the battery or drivetrain, they are quick to alert you... Just because my Tesla was in a front end collision, doesn't mean it touched any of the battery/charging hardware.

In fact both of my Tesla's were driven for 20K+ miles each with ZERO issues. Yet they are still "unsupported" by Tesla.

To those saying, "Why don't you just get it recertified", well because it comes out to be around 4-6K when all said and done. Not that cheap.

Btw, I am 21 and paid cash for both of the Tesla's, buying salvage was the only way I was able to afford one. And I love them, I will never drive an ICE.

I CAN CALL TESLA RIGHT NOW AND THEY WILL TELL ME WARRANTY STILL STANDS FOR BOTH THE TESLA'S. What kind of *sugar* is that? I bought my first salvaged Tesla under the assumption that it had FULL WARRANTY as that was what 2 different Tesla service guys told me.

They even did 'warranty' work on my salvage Tesla for FREE. They changed the DU, if they were really concerned about the safety and potential other damage done to it, why did they work on it? What if their employee had a mishap due to a damaged wire or something and died? All because they don't have their *sugar* together? Hmm.

So at the end of the day, I understand supercharging is a privilege, but someone paid money for that service, and to shut it off due to "SAFETY" reasons is not enough for me. Because if that was the case, my salvage Tesla, that could potentially explode right now while supercharging, should not have supercharging capability... which it has as of now.

MY PROPOSAL: Reduce the recertification prices. Paying 1600 for round one of inspection and 2000 for round 2 which if it fails you have to pay some more is stupid. Main safety concerns would stem from battery/charginghardware/driveunit which all could easily be diagnosed with their toolbox. Making sure the frame is in good condition is reasonable. Not to mention the time it takes to do this process... I know people who have been waiting 6 months for this process. One of them had to replace the windshield which had a chip in it due to safety reasons, they waited 4 months for that windshield. It's hilarious. Just wait till the cheap M3 owners start realizing all of this.

 

[swegman]

The copart vehicle from post 89 appears to have more damage than the pictures appear to show. A careful review of the interior photo shows that the driver's airbag had gone off. Copart is known for "dressing up" their auction cars to make them appear to be in better shape than they really are.

 

[Jpballer88]

The copart vehicle from post 89 appears to have more damage than the pictures appear to show. A careful review of the interior photo shows that the driver's airbag had gone off. Copart is known for "dressing up" their auction cars to make them appear to be in better shape than they really are.

Of course the airbag went off, did you expect it to not have? If there was damage done to the battery/DU, I am 99% positive there would be a error message on the dash. Not sure what else they have dressed up on that car...

 

[Ofarlig]

I think it is nice enough to have them able to be recertified, 6k is a low fee for something like that to begin with. Over here a totaled car can never be road legal again as we do not take chances when it comes to safety.

Salvage cars being a way for people who can't afford them normally isn't really an argument, if you can't afford something you can't buy it, easy as that.

 

[whitex]

The copart vehicle from post 89 appears to have more damage than the pictures appear to show. A careful review of the interior photo shows that the driver's airbag had gone off. Copart is known for "dressing up" their auction cars to make them appear to be in better shape than they really are.

Enhanced vehicle?

 

[whitex]

Tesla has previously fully disabled cars also.



Exactly like this car - https://www.copart.com/lot/29600438

Barely has any damage but was totaled?

I just went through the totaling of a Tesla. The insurance company has a threshold of repairs for each car. Ours was a 13 month old 75D and they got to $65K in repairs estimate before declaring it a total loss. When cleaned up, it also didn't look so bad. As a matter of fact the preliminary visual estimate by the Tesla certified body shop was $16.7K including all the aluminium body work. Not until the dug in deeper did they come up with $65K, and it wasn't even a complete estimate - they stopped because they hit the repair threshold.

 

[hacer]

...Main safety concerns would stem from battery/charginghardware/driveunit which all could easily be diagnosed with their toolbox. ...

You could have a nick in the HV cable insulation caused by a piece of metal getting (temporarily) compressed into the wire, but springs back enough that there is no electrical short. No "toolbox" is going to be able to detect this, but it is definitely a safety concern because now water can penetrate the cable and cause a short. There is no way to know whether this has happened or not except through careful visual inspection. There are many other similar kinds of hidden damage that a collision can cause which also can only be discovered through visual inspection.

 

[hacer]

Of course the airbag went off, did you expect it to not have? If there was damage done to the battery/DU, I am 99% positive there would be a error message on the dash. Not sure what else they have dressed up on that car...

Very likely that no error messages are going to show up (at auction) because the emergency HV-battery disconnect is fired when the airbag went off and it's likely the 12V battery is long dead now.

 

[Jpballer88]

I think it is nice enough to have them able to be recertified, 6k is a low fee for something like that to begin with. Over here a totaled car can never be road legal again as we do not take chances when it comes to safety.

Salvage cars being a way for people who can't afford them normally isn't really an argument, if you can't afford something you can't buy it, easy as that.

If you can't afford something you can't buy it? So if I can't afford 70K a year medical school tuition I should have not matriculated? If I couldn't afford a 500K home, I shouldn't have gotten a loan?

Not how things work buddy, that policy might apply to a select few who rather not have something than try to figure out a way to get it. Fortunately, that type of person is not me. Sure I'll buy a brand new P100D when I begin working, but for now, given my situation, a salvaged title Tesla that has been driving (and supercharging LOL) perfectly for the past 30K miles is more than enough.

If I followed your logic, I wouldn't have made it anywhere. It's called being stuck in a box, if you can't do something don't do it. Couldn't be me.

 

[Mark_T]

Not how things work buddy, that policy might apply to a select few who rather not have something than try to figure out a way to get it. Fortunately, that type of person is not me. Sure I'll buy a brand new P100D when I begin working, but for now, given my situation, a salvaged title Tesla that has been driving (and supercharging LOL) perfectly for the past 30K miles is more than enough.

That's great and all credit to you for a creative solution, but you have to own the consequences of that creativity which includes the fact that you may not have Supercharger access without getting the vehicle recertified...

 

[Krazaak]

I don't see anything inherently wrong with people salvaging cars. As long as they're repaired properly, there should be no safety issues. Tesla has no way of knowing however if that vehicle was repaired properly without inspecting it. A vehicle that isn't repaired right could be a massive liability and I don't blame Tesla for not wanting it to be plugged into their infrastructure. If the $1,600 and $2,000 phase 1 and 2 numbers quoted above are accurate, that's really not all that crazy, given the hourly service rate.

I suspect the service situation for Tesla will mature as there's more and more out of warranty cars on the road and 3rd parties start servicing them, but there's not a lot of mystery surrounding Tesla's treatment of salvaged vehicles. Have people that called to verify warranty on their salvaged Tesla told the SC that it was salvaged? I'd consider any warranty or supercharging to be a lucky perk that could go away at any time.

 

[Ofarlig]

If you can't afford something you can't buy it? So if I can't afford 70K a year medical school tuition I should have not matriculated? If I couldn't afford a 500K home, I shouldn't have gotten a loan?

Not how things work buddy, that policy might apply to a select few who rather not have something than try to figure out a way to get it. Fortunately, that type of person is not me. Sure I'll buy a brand new P100D when I begin working, but for now, given my situation, a salvaged title Tesla that has been driving (and supercharging LOL) perfectly for the past 30K miles is more than enough.

If I followed your logic, I wouldn't have made it anywhere. It's called being stuck in a box, if you can't do something don't do it. Couldn't be me.

Who said anything about not financing things with loans or things like that? Having to take a loan has nothing to do with affording something or not. You were the one saying you couldn't afford anything but a salvage one.

All I said was that you can't argue that Tesla should allow potentially dangerous vehicles to use their superchargers without a complete inspection (that costs money of course) just because some people can't spend that much money on a Tesla. To me it is unsafe enough they are road legal, I would not want to have an uninspected one next to me at a supercharger. Some might always slip through the cracks but if it was left unchecked the risk of an incident would be higher.

But yeah, if you want to attribute some logic to what I said although I said nothing like it, go ahead. Just a fun question, where exactly have you made it as a 21 year old student? I mean no disrespect but when people say that to me it usually entails them being 10 year into a great career, finally getting that company they created to reach proper profitability or maybe selling off their company for tens of millions.

I can't really say I have made it anywhere, still well below what I want to achieve so any progress so far wouldn't be worth counting.

 

[Cram collision]

Something that's overlooked here is at the rate insurance company's are totaling Tesla's not even the rish will be able to afford insurance on a tesla soon. A model 3 will be like a teenager trying to get full coverage on mustang gt.

 

[The Duke]

Exactly like this car - https://www.copart.com/lot/29600438

Barely has any damage but was totaled?

Given the angle of the wheel and probable impact force that caused the air bags to deploy that one has a bent frame. If that is "barely has any damage" your frame skills are better than mine.