I love EVs. My other car is a PHEV and I traded in a normal hybrid for a Model 3 SR+. It's the most expensive car I've ever bought. I was super excited to get my first full EV and obsessively checked the order page every day for a VIN. My car was delivered on July 24 2019.
Within less than 2 weeks its first issue appeared.
The rear passenger side window loves to drop about 3" on its own overnight in my garage, and sometimes at the office. It's done that at least 8 times since the first occurrence.
My first thought was that this was human error. I made a point of being super careful to ensure that neither my body nor my clothes came into contact with the window switches when exiting the car. After closing the door, I walked around the car to make sure all windows were closed.
Despite those precautions, the window still dropped on its own. Also, the fact that it only dropped about 3", and not all the way down, further suggests that this wasn't human error, since hitting the switch by accident on a one-touch system would make the window go all the way down.
Additionally, the rear passenger side door doesn't swing out very smoothly - there's more resistance than with the front doors. This suggests that the door is misaligned and there is excess pressure being exerted against the frameless window, causing it to mistakenly sense an obstruction and lower itself for safety (this is a standard feature in all one-touch systems to prevent fingers from getting crushed). Just a hypothesis until I can get an expert to confirm.
I booked an appointment with the only SC in town (a half hour drive away) and brought my car in today (August 16). Before bringing in the car, I emailed a Tesla rep about the problem and we exchanged messages many times, where I documented the exact time and date I parked and locked my car, and the time I came back to find the rear window lowered by 3" on its own. The rep told me that this info would be communicated to the SC techs.
When I brought the car to the SC, the technician was absolutely uninterested and inept. He had not received any communication about my issue from the rep as promised, and tried dismissing the problem as human error. After I showed him the stiffness of the door swinging, he relented and agreed to work on the car. I picked up a rental from a nearby Enterprise and went on my way.
4 hours later, the app notified me that the car was ready. Overjoyed, I returned the Enterprise rental and returned to the SC... only to be told that since the problem "couldn't be replicated", nothing was done. They didn't even try. Yet the battery charge had dropped at least 10 km, indicating they'd driven the car around a bit, despite the problem having nothing to do with motion. The technician said that a mobile tech would be sent out at a later date (why didn't they do this earlier?!) but didn't provide an exact date.
My first Tesla service experience was hands down the WORST I've ever had - I've received superior service from poorly-reviewed Ford dealerships! This is unacceptable and undermines any argument that Tesla-owned stores/SCs are better for the consumer than franchised dealers. In fact, when there is literally only 1 Tesla SC for the entire province (an area 6x that of Great Britain), that kind of creates a monopoly, doesn't it?
The car is beautiful and fun to drive. But the fact that such a basic feature (a window staying closed when the car is parked and locked with no one inside) doesn't work properly is simply unacceptable. Furthermore, I live in the Pacific Northwest which sees frequent rain for at least 1/3 of the year - what if the window rolled itself down outside and allowed rain to get inside and ruin the interior? I'm also far from the only one with this problem - a simple Google search reviews it's happened to others since at least early 2018.
I want Tesla to succeed as that means EVs in general are succeeding. But if this is the experience that first-time buyers receive, that doesn't bode well for the future.
Within less than 2 weeks its first issue appeared.
The rear passenger side window loves to drop about 3" on its own overnight in my garage, and sometimes at the office. It's done that at least 8 times since the first occurrence.
My first thought was that this was human error. I made a point of being super careful to ensure that neither my body nor my clothes came into contact with the window switches when exiting the car. After closing the door, I walked around the car to make sure all windows were closed.
Despite those precautions, the window still dropped on its own. Also, the fact that it only dropped about 3", and not all the way down, further suggests that this wasn't human error, since hitting the switch by accident on a one-touch system would make the window go all the way down.
Additionally, the rear passenger side door doesn't swing out very smoothly - there's more resistance than with the front doors. This suggests that the door is misaligned and there is excess pressure being exerted against the frameless window, causing it to mistakenly sense an obstruction and lower itself for safety (this is a standard feature in all one-touch systems to prevent fingers from getting crushed). Just a hypothesis until I can get an expert to confirm.
I booked an appointment with the only SC in town (a half hour drive away) and brought my car in today (August 16). Before bringing in the car, I emailed a Tesla rep about the problem and we exchanged messages many times, where I documented the exact time and date I parked and locked my car, and the time I came back to find the rear window lowered by 3" on its own. The rep told me that this info would be communicated to the SC techs.
When I brought the car to the SC, the technician was absolutely uninterested and inept. He had not received any communication about my issue from the rep as promised, and tried dismissing the problem as human error. After I showed him the stiffness of the door swinging, he relented and agreed to work on the car. I picked up a rental from a nearby Enterprise and went on my way.
4 hours later, the app notified me that the car was ready. Overjoyed, I returned the Enterprise rental and returned to the SC... only to be told that since the problem "couldn't be replicated", nothing was done. They didn't even try. Yet the battery charge had dropped at least 10 km, indicating they'd driven the car around a bit, despite the problem having nothing to do with motion. The technician said that a mobile tech would be sent out at a later date (why didn't they do this earlier?!) but didn't provide an exact date.
My first Tesla service experience was hands down the WORST I've ever had - I've received superior service from poorly-reviewed Ford dealerships! This is unacceptable and undermines any argument that Tesla-owned stores/SCs are better for the consumer than franchised dealers. In fact, when there is literally only 1 Tesla SC for the entire province (an area 6x that of Great Britain), that kind of creates a monopoly, doesn't it?
The car is beautiful and fun to drive. But the fact that such a basic feature (a window staying closed when the car is parked and locked with no one inside) doesn't work properly is simply unacceptable. Furthermore, I live in the Pacific Northwest which sees frequent rain for at least 1/3 of the year - what if the window rolled itself down outside and allowed rain to get inside and ruin the interior? I'm also far from the only one with this problem - a simple Google search reviews it's happened to others since at least early 2018.
I want Tesla to succeed as that means EVs in general are succeeding. But if this is the experience that first-time buyers receive, that doesn't bode well for the future.
