Two New Teslas - Terrible Reliability Hits New Records

[NewTMSMan]

Tesla has now acheive a number of new records.

Record #1 and #2 - As of today my Model S which I took delivery of 30 days ago and my Model X that we took delivery of 16 days ago have both now individually each spent more days in the Service Center (5 days each, but S clock is still running as it is still there) than the combined total days of all new cars I have bought in the last 30 years.

Record #3 - Tesla service has put more miles on my Model X than my wife and I have since delivery.

Record #4 - I have now had 7 different Tesla loaner cars over the past month. That is 7 more than any car I have ever bought (although I tend to wait for service even when Porsche oil change took 4+ hours).

That is quite an amazing streak over such a short period. When I drive my Telsas I love them, just wish I got to more often.

Joking aside it has come to the point where I worry about my wife taking her X too far right now and I am docmuenting everything on both cars in the case I have to Lemon Law them. Really a shame and starting to feel foolish for purchasing two in such a short time period.

 

[Tam]

...Lemon Law them...

If you don't mind, what are the repairs?

 

[NewTMSMan]

Wow, who changed the title of my Thread? I did not label it Lemon Law.

If you don't mind, what are the repairs?

Model S - Air Suspension Leak - Brought it in on 10/10 for Service and notified Service that the air compressor went on for long period of time after car sat at rest for while. They kept it overnight and they claimed could not replicate the issue. Picked the car up on Wednesday the 11th and the next morning when I went out to the car it did the same thing, so I videoed it and then later in the day when I went to drive the car I got a warning "Air Suspension Needs Service". I called service and they were going to send a flatbed, but given my last experience when they picked up my X, I decided to drive it there after the code cleared when I next went out and started the car. Dropped the car off Thursday the 12th. They replaced a stuck air valve on Friday and tested over night on Friday and Saturday they said Drivers side strut leaked completely down so needs to be replaced and part will not arrive until Monday the 16th.

Model X - Parking Brake Needs Service - Fully documented in my other thread where the Technician who picked up my X decided to take it home 70 miles from the Service Center. Tesla Service Experience Takes a Strange Turn

 

[BrettS]

Wow, who changed the title of my Thread? I did not label it Lemon Law.

I’m sure one of the mods changes it since “New Tesla Record!” isn’t super clear and is kinda click baitish.

 

[NewTMSMan]

I’m sure one of the mods changes it since “New Tesla Record!” isn’t super clear and is kinda click baitish.

You are correct sir!

 

[Tam]

...
Model S - Air Suspension Leak...
Model X - Parking Brake Needs Service...

I am sorry that yours broke down.

Let's take a look at lemon law:

• The warranty for the vehicle must be current:

Checked for both S & X

• The vehicle must be taken in for repair to an authorized dealer, for the same problem, at least 3-4 times. NOTE: For California law specifically, the law includes that if a certain repair may cause death or serious injury, 2 attempts to repair is sufficient cause to qualify a vehicle as a lemon. For example, brake failure would qualify after two repair attempts, as it is a major safety defect.

May be not 3 to 4 times so far?

• The vehicle must have been inoperable for a total of 30 days (the days do not need to be consecutive).

May be not. Yours have been in the shop since October and now is still the same month.

• The defect or malfunction in the car must be of severe impact either impairing the safety, value or use of the vehicle.

Checked for both S & X

• In order to qualify, all cars must be leased or purchased in California and used for personal, family or business use.

Checked for both S & X

So, for Lemon: You got 3 checked off but the other 2 are not?

 

[Brass Guy]

I recently saw a thread about parking brake messages. There's a firmware glitch that as far as I know Tesla's still working on.
"Parking Brake Needs Service"
All the service centers really should know about this, no surprise if they don't though.

 

[NewTMSMan]

I am sorry that yours broke down.

Let's take a look at lemon law:

So, for Lemon: You got 3 checked off but the other 2 are not?

Ok, appreciated, but I am located in NJ so California law is not the basis.

 

[NewTMSMan]

I recently saw a thread about parking brake messages. There's a firmware glitch that as far as I know Tesla's still working on.
"Parking Brake Needs Service"
All the service centers really should know about this, no surprise if they don't though.

Yes, you will also note my posts in that thread as well regarding resolution.

 

[whitex]

When buying Tesla's, it may be a good idea to space the purchases out and let the first one go through the break-in period, fix everything, before buying the next one. For all 3 Tesla's that we bought the break-in period was under 6 months (actually, the oldest - 2013 - was the best in that respect). Knock-on wood, once all fixed they've held up great so far.

 

[Aieukl378]

Workin toward 25000 mi and not one problem.

 

[Super_Popular]

Welcome to Tesla!

I learned with my first Tesla to always have a back up car. I bought a 2004 Toyota Corolla to drive when the Tesla was in the shop or I was in between Tesla's.

 

[cwerdna]

Wow, who changed the title of my Thread? I did not label it Lemon Law.

Gotta love the ninja-edits by mods w/no notification nor record viewable by us users of it happening. This isn't first time I've seen this happen on TMC.

 

[DrivingRockies]

Glad you have an expected return date. I'm not so lucky... Been nearly a week of who knows when the air suspension module will be shipped. :-(

 

[Bebop]

When buying Tesla's, it may be a good idea to space the purchases out and let the first one go through the break-in period, fix everything, before buying the next one.

The fact this is even a thing is really such a shame and unfortunate for Tesla. For a car this expensive you don't expect for "repairs" to be part of the normal buying process.

 

[Hugh Mannity]

Holy crap, that is unbelievably bad luck with not one but both your vehicles.

 

[cwerdna]

@dhanson865 What am I looking for in the source? I glaned thru it and saw a ton of HTML and script (no surprise) but not sure what text I search should be searching for. And, funny enough, by the time I clicked reply, I got an error, and poof, your reply is (magically?) gone.

Did you delete your own reply or was it ninja-deleted by someone?

 

[whitex]

The fact this is even a thing is really such a shame and unfortunate for Tesla. For a car this expensive you don't expect for "repairs" to be part of the normal buying process.

It's the unfortunate fact of Tesla. Amazing service I got is what kept me coming back for more cars, but I agree it's going to bite Tesla once there are competitive products available on the market. I water till end of last year to get my wife a Tesla, hoping they got over their early adopter issues, but then got stuck with a brand new side mirror design which would not unfold or go limp while driving. Tesla's continuous "improvement/progress" model is really what makes keeps their cars in a constant state of early adopter pain. It seems every single car off the like is an early adopter car as they keep on changing the design. Rather than slowing down and perfecting what they got, they keep on adding new, untested, sometimes completely vapourware features (auto-wipers anyone, they had a working design and replaced it with one that hasn't worked in a year!). Sadly, combine that with Elon's ever increasing ego which promises stuff his employees cannot deliver (because they are too ambitious or simply impossible but nobody has the guts to tell Elon if his idea is just plain stupid - like using ultrasonic sensors for body side monitoring at 60mph) and we are where we are.

 

[Electroman]

What's wrong with ultrasonics monitoring your surroundings? I thought every car did that.

 

[182RG]

It's the unfortunate fact of Tesla.

Depressing. After the OP dropped a cool quarter million $$ with Tesla.