The story with my Model X all started when my wife and I tried to take it to dinner on Saturday night, about 2 weeks after we took delivery of our Blue with white interior / 6 seater with console 100D. When we went to the X to go, I tried to put it in gear and an alert came up for Parking Brake Needs Service and IU could not get it out of Park. We took my Model S to dinner and the next morning I called Tesla Roadside Assistance.
Road Side Assistance was very nice and offered to get me a vehicle to use, but I did not need one, and they told me it might be Monday before I heard back once the local Service Centers were open then and Engineering would be back in the office. This was fine for me, but I expected some urgency now.
After notifying Tesla early Sunday morning I did not hear from anyone Monday, so I called again at 10 am EST, and was transferred to the local service center in Springfield, NJ. They stated at that time that they had a car with the same issue at the center and were working with engineering to try to remedy the situation. They told me they would call me back in an hour. I waited for an update and did not receive one, so I called again at 12 pm and was told engineering thinks it is a firmware issue, and they should have an update in an hour that should remedy the situation and they will call me back. 3 ½ hours later I still did not hear from anyone, so I called again for the third time and was then told they managed to get the car they have in drive by disconnecting and reconnecting the 12V battery but do not have a firmware update that will fix it. They are now sending a technician to my house to disconnect and reconnect the 12V battery on my Model X to see if they then can drive it back to the service center, but they have no idea what is causing the issue and no remedy really in mind at this point.
While the experience was not stellar so far, I was happy to have them at least picking the car up to repair it. The Technician arrived at my house at about 6 PM and he brought me a loaner Model S. He disconnected the 12V battery on my Model X, I filled out some paperwork for the loaner and he left with my Model X.
This is where things got strange, and about 8:15 PM I decided to check where my car was in the App and found it traveling south at over 80 MPH on the Garden State Parkway over 70 miles from the Service, it turned around and headed North and exceeded 90 MPH and stopped. At this I called Tesla Roadside Assistance and notified them about what was happening and they told me they would try to reach the service manager, and I told them I was leaving to recover my Model X and calling the police to report it stolen if I did not hear form them in 15 minutes.
10 minutes later the Service Manager called me and told me they had contacted the technician who had my car and he was bringing it back to the service center. After a heated discussion (me yelling) I agreed to meet him at the Service Center to recover my car.
I met the Service Manager at the Service Center and he could not have tried more to make the situation better, but at this point there was nothing he could say that would have improved this. My car arrived 20 minutes later and I did a cursory inspection to ensure no major damage and left it with Tesla as I was not sure yet whether this was considered a theft and recovery, or just an employee with bad judgement. One thing I also noticed during my inspection of the car was that my dashcam was uninstalled, but the Service Center Manager assured me they always do that which I found odd.
When I got home I checked Teslafli to see what actually happened with my car.
In the first leg of the journey, for some reason the car was driven about 4 miles from my house and parked for about 3 minutes along the road (probably to remove my dashcam – see below comment about vehicle inspection):
It was then driven to a QuickChek in Bayville, NJ, almost 80 miles from my home (and about 70+ miles from the Springfield Service Center) at speeds up to 93 MPH. I do not eat or drink in any of our cars and to be honest avoid even parking at places like QuickChek as I do not want my car damaged by other inconsiderate drivers:
The car was then driven and parked along the road in Bayville NJ, where I can only guess the Tesla employee lives. The car stays there only 3 minutes because at this point I am already on the phone with the Service Manager at Springfield NJ Center and he has already contacted the person with my car as I was just leaving to retrieve the car myself, when I saw it stop, and was planning to call the police at that point:
At this point I enacted Valet Mode on the car to ensure that it would not be driven at high speeds again. Here is the final drive back to the Service Center, where it arrived at 9:46 PM and the Service Manager and I were both there at this point.
I did a cursory inspection of the car and could not see any obvious damage or issues, but it was dark and even in the service bay it was tough to see everything. I left the car with the Service Manager and took a loaner with me back home. As another aside, I had a dash cam installed on the car and it was uninstalled when I inspected the car. My guess is that when the Tesla employee stopped for 3 minutes along the side of the road it was to uninstall the dash cam, so I would not have the video of where the car went.
I went back to the Service Center the next day to discuss the situation and the options. My Model X was still not repaired at this point and there was now the additional issue of an employee joyriding with my car. The Service Manager did everything he could to try and make the situation better and we agreed that a complete inspection by them including a detailed safety inspection and detailing. The Service Manager was clear that he would do everything he could do to restore my faith in Tesla and in the Springfield Service Center.
While I was there the Service Manager brought in a senior Technician that was visiting for training and he explained what they believed was causing my original issue and my X needed a FWD sensor replacement and then a FW update and then it should be fixed. In addition I met the Technician who would be inspecting my car and repairing any additional issues and he outlined the safety inspection they were planning to do. I was starting to feel a little better and more confident that I would get my new Model X back in good condition.
While inspecting the car they found a small ding in the C pillar of the Model X and repaired it using paintless dent removal. Cannot be sure where that came from honestly, may even have been there at delivery as I would not have easily seen it, but they owned up to it and had it repaired.
It took 2 days to complete everything, including the detail of the car and I picked it up this evening. After inspecting it completely (as best that I could) and taking a test drive I agreed to take back possession of the car. The guys at Tesla Springfield did the best they could with a very bad situation and tried to make it right and I appreciate that.
Road Side Assistance was very nice and offered to get me a vehicle to use, but I did not need one, and they told me it might be Monday before I heard back once the local Service Centers were open then and Engineering would be back in the office. This was fine for me, but I expected some urgency now.
After notifying Tesla early Sunday morning I did not hear from anyone Monday, so I called again at 10 am EST, and was transferred to the local service center in Springfield, NJ. They stated at that time that they had a car with the same issue at the center and were working with engineering to try to remedy the situation. They told me they would call me back in an hour. I waited for an update and did not receive one, so I called again at 12 pm and was told engineering thinks it is a firmware issue, and they should have an update in an hour that should remedy the situation and they will call me back. 3 ½ hours later I still did not hear from anyone, so I called again for the third time and was then told they managed to get the car they have in drive by disconnecting and reconnecting the 12V battery but do not have a firmware update that will fix it. They are now sending a technician to my house to disconnect and reconnect the 12V battery on my Model X to see if they then can drive it back to the service center, but they have no idea what is causing the issue and no remedy really in mind at this point.
While the experience was not stellar so far, I was happy to have them at least picking the car up to repair it. The Technician arrived at my house at about 6 PM and he brought me a loaner Model S. He disconnected the 12V battery on my Model X, I filled out some paperwork for the loaner and he left with my Model X.
This is where things got strange, and about 8:15 PM I decided to check where my car was in the App and found it traveling south at over 80 MPH on the Garden State Parkway over 70 miles from the Service, it turned around and headed North and exceeded 90 MPH and stopped. At this I called Tesla Roadside Assistance and notified them about what was happening and they told me they would try to reach the service manager, and I told them I was leaving to recover my Model X and calling the police to report it stolen if I did not hear form them in 15 minutes.
10 minutes later the Service Manager called me and told me they had contacted the technician who had my car and he was bringing it back to the service center. After a heated discussion (me yelling) I agreed to meet him at the Service Center to recover my car.
I met the Service Manager at the Service Center and he could not have tried more to make the situation better, but at this point there was nothing he could say that would have improved this. My car arrived 20 minutes later and I did a cursory inspection to ensure no major damage and left it with Tesla as I was not sure yet whether this was considered a theft and recovery, or just an employee with bad judgement. One thing I also noticed during my inspection of the car was that my dashcam was uninstalled, but the Service Center Manager assured me they always do that which I found odd.
When I got home I checked Teslafli to see what actually happened with my car.
In the first leg of the journey, for some reason the car was driven about 4 miles from my house and parked for about 3 minutes along the road (probably to remove my dashcam – see below comment about vehicle inspection):
It was then driven to a QuickChek in Bayville, NJ, almost 80 miles from my home (and about 70+ miles from the Springfield Service Center) at speeds up to 93 MPH. I do not eat or drink in any of our cars and to be honest avoid even parking at places like QuickChek as I do not want my car damaged by other inconsiderate drivers:
The car was then driven and parked along the road in Bayville NJ, where I can only guess the Tesla employee lives. The car stays there only 3 minutes because at this point I am already on the phone with the Service Manager at Springfield NJ Center and he has already contacted the person with my car as I was just leaving to retrieve the car myself, when I saw it stop, and was planning to call the police at that point:
At this point I enacted Valet Mode on the car to ensure that it would not be driven at high speeds again. Here is the final drive back to the Service Center, where it arrived at 9:46 PM and the Service Manager and I were both there at this point.
I did a cursory inspection of the car and could not see any obvious damage or issues, but it was dark and even in the service bay it was tough to see everything. I left the car with the Service Manager and took a loaner with me back home. As another aside, I had a dash cam installed on the car and it was uninstalled when I inspected the car. My guess is that when the Tesla employee stopped for 3 minutes along the side of the road it was to uninstall the dash cam, so I would not have the video of where the car went.
I went back to the Service Center the next day to discuss the situation and the options. My Model X was still not repaired at this point and there was now the additional issue of an employee joyriding with my car. The Service Manager did everything he could to try and make the situation better and we agreed that a complete inspection by them including a detailed safety inspection and detailing. The Service Manager was clear that he would do everything he could do to restore my faith in Tesla and in the Springfield Service Center.
While I was there the Service Manager brought in a senior Technician that was visiting for training and he explained what they believed was causing my original issue and my X needed a FWD sensor replacement and then a FW update and then it should be fixed. In addition I met the Technician who would be inspecting my car and repairing any additional issues and he outlined the safety inspection they were planning to do. I was starting to feel a little better and more confident that I would get my new Model X back in good condition.
While inspecting the car they found a small ding in the C pillar of the Model X and repaired it using paintless dent removal. Cannot be sure where that came from honestly, may even have been there at delivery as I would not have easily seen it, but they owned up to it and had it repaired.
It took 2 days to complete everything, including the detail of the car and I picked it up this evening. After inspecting it completely (as best that I could) and taking a test drive I agreed to take back possession of the car. The guys at Tesla Springfield did the best they could with a very bad situation and tried to make it right and I appreciate that.
