The full System shut down while driving and HV replacement experience

[artc6688]

On Jan 1st, approx 6 PM (completely dark), I was driving my 2019 MX (41K miles) traveling at 65MPH on I5. All of a sudden, I noticed a series of dashboard warnings popped up with warning sounds -> "Acceleration/top speed reduced", "Performance Reduced", "Service Require", and "Vehicle system shutting down". I had to pull over to the left shoulder due to limited control of my MX and I was only able to coast without any control of my power padel.. It was a scary moment hearing the beeping warning sound and the cars flying by in the express lane. feeling the MX shaken every time when car passes by. I tried to call Tesla roadside assistance and waited for >40 min without anyone picking up the call. Decided to call the highway patrol and we were EXTREMELY LUCKY when the patrol car pulled up to protect us with its flashing warning lights. Because within five minutes of highway patrol arrival, ALL POWER shut down!! My warning light blinker and headlights were out COMPLETELY!!! We could have been in a detrimental situation if the patrol car did not show up and ended up with cars/semi running into our parked MX.
After the tow truck (summoned by the officer) towed our MX to the nearest SC (4.5 miles away), we paid the outrageous $930 fee.

We were able to connect with the SC rep the following day and they were "supposed" to debug the issues immediately. We had to wait for four days before the SC rep informed me the technician have not started the "debugging" process. After the SC rep (who was very friendly and trying to help) informed me the HV battery needs to be replaced. The SC rep also confirmed that a NEW battery will be installed (via our text message exchange).

This afternoon (Jan 18th), I received notice via my Tesla app that the repair was complete!! YEAH!!! However, I noticed the invoice indicated a "refurb" battery was installed, not the new HV battery as the SC rep informed me. Also, I noticed the SC charged the car to the max and the range is less than my max range capacity before the accident!!!

Questions to the forum:
1. Am I able to hold the SC accountable for the new battery pack (kept the text messages)
2. I am very concerned the replaced battery is delivering a lower range than my original battery - prior to the accident.
3. Are there ways to check the integrity of the replaced battery pack? I am very concerned the capacity/range is lesser than what I had before.
4. Any experience or recommendation on how to deal with this situation??

 

[henderrj]

It was my understanding that the warranty states the replacement battery would equal or exceed the capacity of the one that they replaced. You'd have to be able to show that your battery charged to a higher state, I suppose. But Tesla should have the logs. I would certainly tell them that you're unhappy with the battery and want one that matches or exceeds what you had.

They are not under obligation to replace it with a new battery, in spite of what the text says. What he could have meant by new was simply replacement, is I'm sure what their argument would be.

Please do keep us updated on how it goes. Good luck!

 

[artc6688]

It was my understanding that the warranty states the replacement battery would equal or exceed the capacity of the one that they replaced. You'd have to be able to show that your battery charged to a higher state, I suppose. But Tesla should have the logs. I would certainly tell them that you're unhappy with the battery and want one that matches or exceeds what you had.

They are not under obligation to replace it with a new battery, in spite of what the text says. What he could have meant by new was simply replacement, is I'm sure what their argument would be.

Please do keep us updated on how it goes. Good luck!

Thank you for your feedback sir.... love the level of innovations Tesla has delivered but this is just a crazy scary experience when your car decided to stop working without any pre-warning while you are driving in the middle of the highway....

 

[artc6688]

Just a quick update the battery SC installed is a -> 100KWH,SX,REMANUFACTURED,RAVEN(1107679-01-E) battery pack.
SC just informed me that the battery data was reset, I need to drive the vehicle to acquire more battery data and allow the battery to gain realistic data.
Based on my understanding from the past experience posts here, the range should be showing range capacity that is higher than before the HV was replaced. Is this a correct assumption? Thanks!

 

[henderrj]

Just a quick update the battery SC installed is a -> 100KWH,SX,REMANUFACTURED,RAVEN(1107679-01-E) battery pack.
SC just informed me that the battery data was reset, I need to drive the vehicle to acquire more battery data and allow the battery to gain realistic data.
Based on my understanding from the past experience posts here, the range should be showing range capacity that is higher than before the HV was replaced. Is this a correct assumption? Thanks!

Anything can fail, of course. It's rare for those batteries to die like yours did so I don't think you need to worry about that again. Someone like Jason Hughes could probably answer the technical questions as to the battery's capacity. But I think you are correct, it should do better than what you had.

If you charge it over 90% (100 is better) and then immediately take a drive and get it down fairly low, say under 10%, that should allow the BMS to get a pretty good grip on what your battery can do.

Thanks for the update!

 

[artc6688]

Anything can fail, of course. It's rare for those batteries to die like yours did so I don't think you need to worry about that again. Someone like Jason Hughes could probably answer the technical questions as to the battery's capacity. But I think you are correct, it should do better than what you had.

If you charge it over 90% (100 is better) and then immediately take a drive and get it down fairly low, say under 10%, that should allow the BMS to get a pretty good grip on what your battery can do.

Thanks for the update!

great idea.. thank you!!! Any suggestion on the best way to reach out to Jason Hughes??

 

[artc6688]

@wk057 Love to gather your input on how to assess the replaced battery's efficiency and if the comments from SC are credible. Thank you!!

 

[wk057]

I've not actually heard of Tesla resetting the BMS internal data during reman... that's news to me if true, because usually this causes the BMS to freak out after a few charge cycles worth of use since nothing matches up with what it expects standard deltas from new settings to be... so, I don't know. I doubt they've started doing that.

If it's reading lower than expected for the pack type, the reset claim is nonsense, since resetting the BMS internal data puts it back to "new" and it reads higher than what's actually available until it figures out its missing capacity. If it's reading higher/like-new... then it's possible they reset it and, honestly I'd be careful for a while in case it decides to freak out and shutdown. I've never successfully reset one and had it last more than a few hundred miles on a non-new pack.

Hope this helps.

 

[artc6688]

I've not actually heard of Tesla resetting the BMS internal data during reman... that's news to me if true, because usually this causes the BMS to freak out after a few charge cycles worth of use since nothing matches up with what it expects standard deltas from new settings to be... so, I don't know. I doubt they've started doing that.

If it's reading lower than expected for the pack type, the reset claim is nonsense, since resetting the BMS internal data puts it back to "new" and it reads higher than what's actually available until it figures out its missing capacity. If it's reading higher/like-new... then it's possible they reset it and, honestly I'd be careful for a while in case it decides to freak out and shutdown. I've never successfully reset one and had it last more than a few hundred miles on a non-new pack.

Hope this helps.

Thank you Jason... called your shop and talked with Ruff (sp?)... he was awesome and I left my phone number with him. I really do not know if I am comfortable accepting a battery capacity that is lesser than what I had before the accident; not to mention the SC rep told me in writing (text) that I will receive a new battery pack! Given I purchased the MX new, this is a very concerning experience on how SC is resolving my battery issues... thanks again Jason

 

[Rocky_H]

I really do not know if I am comfortable accepting a battery capacity that is lesser than what I had before the accident; not to mention the SC rep told me in writing (text) that I will receive a new battery pack! Given I purchased the MX new, this is a very concerning experience on how SC is resolving my battery issues...

Those are two completely separate things, and don't mix them up. I am going to reiterate what @henderrj said. Someone saying we'll get you a new battery is really more of just human colloquialism, meaning you'll get a replacement. (Like, "I got a new jacket", even if it was second-hand) That wasn't a published service quote. Warranty replacements are never required to be actual brand NEW condition.

However, the warranty documentation for battery pack replacements DOES guarantee that the replacement must have at least the capacity your failed pack had at the time it failed. So that is where you do have a legitimate complaint if it has less range. They are not fulfilling the terms of the warranty language, and that's not acceptable.

 

[artc6688]

Those are two completely separate things, and don't mix them up. I am going to reiterate what @henderrj said. Someone saying we'll get you a new battery is really more of just human colloquialism, meaning you'll get a replacement. (Like, "I got a new jacket", even if it was second-hand) That wasn't a published service quote. Warranty replacements are never required to be actual brand NEW condition.

However, the warranty documentation for battery pack replacements DOES guarantee that the replacement must have at least the capacity your failed pack had at the time it failed. So that is where you do have a legitimate complaint if it has less range. They are not fulfilling the terms of the warranty language, and that's not acceptable.

Thanks Rocky. Agree and great advice... thank you

 

[Tronguy]

Pretty scary experience, no joke.

But just wanted to point out that a complete failure at speed isn't just something that happens to Teslas.

One Valentines Day in 1989, I was a-chugging up the Garden State Parkway in the center lane heading north, just south of the Driscoll Bridge in a Toyota Camry. Just Like That, the car lost all power. There was just enough momentum and (luckily) nobody on the right so I could get all the way into the breakdown lane and then some.

The engine would turn over, but clearly nothing was trying to work. Looked under the hood, nothing obvious. Put on the 4-ways and left the hood open, this being in pre-cell phone days. After about 45 minutes a State Cop pulled up, called for a tow, and got me out of there. And my ill, pregnant wife had to come and get me, not a nice present for Valentine's day.

This was back in the day when auto manufacturers had discovered serpentine belts that would loop around the crankshaft pulley, the water pump, the oil pump, and (importantly) the overhead camshaft gear. Wowsers, that reduced the cost of building a car. Not-so-wowsers, it turned out that these belts needed to be replaced every 50k miles or so, and that important little maintenance item had not made it into the maintenance-and-repair sections of the owner's manuals of innumerable cars.

Once alerted to this maintenance item, I started noticing in the newspapers the relatively high numbers of cars with this problem getting stuck in awkward places, like just past the toll booths across the George Washington Bridge.

So, relatively speaking, we're living in Early Days for BEVs. And, being early adopters, we get to see the Early Failures, that, in a dozen years or so, people will be saying, "What!?! That happened to you?!?"

Sucks that it did happen, hope it doesn't happen again.

 

[ps004ynos]

Similar experience last week, pretty miserable. 2 adults, 2 kids, X packed full of clothes, food, gear for Mammoth trip. Car was supercharging at Hesperia, went inside to Target, came out to screen of BMS errors. 2019 Raven. about 40k miles. Screen, lights, doors, HVAC worked, car refused to shift into D or R but was able to engage Tow mode.

Tesla sent a tow truck. Family member had to drive 3 hours (MLK holiday traffic) to come get us since 4 people and luggage wasn't going to fit in tow truck. Tow truck arrived in 2 hours, so we spent an hour waiting in parking lot. Was freezing so family went inside Target while I put all our stuff into 4 Target shopping carts and waited outside. Shopping mall security thought I was homeless and asked me to move, but let me stay after I pointed at the tow truck. Had to borrow brother's car to salvage the trip last minute, lost a day of hotel/ski lifts/equipment rental.

Diagnosed as HV battery failure, 4 week ETA for replacement. No mention of new or remanufactured pack but I assume remanufactured since several battery iterations since 2019. Got a model 3 standard range loaner.

Silver lining is we did not pay for tow unlike OP. Sorry to hear this.

 

[Operator64]

Please explain more about this “accident” you keep referring to

 

[Benito1283]

Please explain more about this “accident” you keep referring to

Pretty sure he means the incident where his car broke down, not a crash. But you knew that, right?

 

[brainhouston]

Wife is screaming into my ears why we spent all that money on the MX? Electrified Roadkill?

This is probably scarier than incident itself

 

[SO16]

Benito is correct. Not sure what else I can call it? Near-death experience? Complete failure of the EV system while driving? Wife is screaming into my ears why we spent all that money on the MX? Electrified Roadkill? it was the overall heartwrenching experience we encountered.

Seems like a good idea to carry emergency flares seeing as how it’s not always guaranteed that the emergency flashers will work.

Fleet Safety Kit H-6137 - Uline

Accidents happen. Keep drivers safe during emergencies. Meets CFR49 requirements. Sturdy metal case stows behind cab. Non-returnable. Cannot ship via air/next day. Includes: (3) 20-minute Flares (3) Warning Triangles (1) 2 1/2 lb. Fire Extinguisher (1) Hold-Down Strap ULINE offers over 41,000...

www.uline.com

 

[artc6688]

Seems like a good idea to carry emergency flares seeing as how it’s not always guaranteed that the emergency flashers will work.

Fleet Safety Kit H-6137 - Uline

Accidents happen. Keep drivers safe during emergencies. Meets CFR49 requirements. Sturdy metal case stows behind cab. Non-returnable. Cannot ship via air/next day. Includes: (3) 20-minute Flares (3) Warning Triangles (1) 2 1/2 lb. Fire Extinguisher (1) Hold-Down Strap ULINE offers over 41,000...

www.uline.com

You are sooooo right... I actually purchased few LED flares from AMZ immediately! I got a LED version of the flare -> https://amzn.to/3WlCiOR and a stack of circular warning lights -> https://amzn.to/3wf91L1

 

[SO16]

You are sooooo right... I actually purchased few LED flares from AMZ immediately! I got a LED version of the flare -> https://amzn.to/3WlCiOR and a stack of circular warning lights -> https://amzn.to/3wf91L1

Ooh… I like those! Thanks!

 

[artc6688]

Ooh… I like those! Thanks!

I purchased few other LED flares but these seem to be the better units. I like the magnet base, which allow me to stick these items on the side, rare or top of the car to provide the warning indicators. Bought these for kids and other family members after the experience of blinkers not working on my MX....