Under Investigation by Engineering?

[TonyJag]

One of the items in my list for the first service appointment, as written in the invoice, was:
"Concern: Customer states: Left Rear Door Jamb at rear (above dogleg) scrapes in paint near weather seal.

Technician confirmed customer concern. Issue is under investigation by engineering. In the interim protective film was

added to stop paint wear.

Correction: Miscellaneous Labor..."

This is what it looked like before the service appointment:

It appears to be damage from something dragged across the door jamb during assembly or prep. But Tesla claims that it may be caused by the door molding; however that is nothing but soft rubber, thus seems unlikely.

This is what it looks like after the first (and second) service appointments at Watertown, MA:

I discussed it with my service advisor, who I never actually met because it was his day off for both appointments. To be fair, COVID measures further degraded communications. I noted that it looks worse now because of the wrinkles in the PPF. They also did the right side, which has no damage, but now also looks much worse due to the wrinkles. We agreed that perhaps a mobile visit would allow a technician to trim the PPF, or re-do it without the wrinkles, So I made an appointment. Then Tesla notified me that Mobile technicians can't deal with paint issues, so I would need to bring it back to Watertown again. So I made that appointment and did another 42 mile round trip. But they did absolutely nothing to improve it. Nor can they say how long the "investigation by engineering" will take or what will happen next. They claim that other cars have this same problem.

Questions for TMC:
1. Has anyone encountered an "investigation by engineering" for any issue?
2. Has anyone seen this same problem in their Model 3?
3. Does it seem that Tesla service is neither well coordinated nor communicative?
4. The Tesla app, since March 5, 2020. has an Inbox claiming that "We'll send you important updates here". Has anyone seen anything appear there?

Disclaimer: I still love my Model 3 Performance.

 

[TonyJag]

Well, a month has gone by and there has been no response here from TMC nor from Tesla Service on this issue. Comments or advice welcome. Thanks.

 

[n2mb_racing]

Looks like paint damage. Was it there at delivery? Is it getting worse? Seems like they need to repaint.

 

[UnderCharged]

That last picture looks like a piece of plastic that's wrinkled, maybe better pics would rule that out

 

[TonyJag]

Looks like paint damage. Was it there at delivery? Is it getting worse? Seems like they need to repaint.

Thanks. Yes, it was there at delivery and acknowledged by Tesla service. They touched it up and put clear tape over it. Then deemed it under engineering evaluation, but they have done nothing since. It has not gotten worse. But the wrinkled tape looks worse than the original damage.

 

[TonyJag]

That last picture looks like a piece of plastic that's wrinkled, maybe better pics would rule that out

Thanks. It is wrinkled clear tape that Tesla put over it...see previous post.

 

[OCR1]

I think you are being held up by Tesla’s inertia when it comes to resolving problems. They probably don’t know what to do about it so they provided a generic message like under investigation. I’d say it really means absolutely nothing. You are going to have to push them to resolve your issue, and most likely tell them what it is you expect them to do about it.

I generally don’t recommend accepting cars with paint damage because Tesla is notorious for being a real pain to deal with when it comes to getting things corrected.