Warnings, More Warnings and then car "Unable to Drive"

[GuyGadois]

Car is 4 months old, 5000 miles. I was driving home Tuesday evening just cruising about 30 mphs when suddenly I got a message that the emergency brakes were disabled. Within 10 seconds a barrage of warnings came on. I noticed my power steering went out but the air condition was still good. I called Telsa Roadside service and continued to drive slowly (about 40 mph to home which was about 4 miles away). At home they first tried the screen reboot and then turned the car off and back on. When the car came back on the P R N D lights were red and the list of errors came up. The car was unable to drive at all. Tesla picked up the car within an hour or so and took it to the service center. It has remained there. Has anyone had something like this happen? I am a bit concerned because I bought this car thinking it would be a good road trip car (safe, big and comfy) but now I am having second thoughts about the reliability with three young kids as passengers. Also, I am a bit concerned that the car is being opened up in they are looking for shorts. Should it concern me when the car is taken apart to try to fix it. I have always assumed (maybe falsely) that the assembly at the factory is best and now to have your car unscrewed and screwed back together again.

Service center is being very good to us and working hard to fix it! I don't blame them at all.

Cheers,

GG

 

[mechapreneur]

It's difficult to advise since all that might have happened is a wiring harness came loose and the computer lost touch with a bunch of sensors. Assuming Tesla fixes it and returns it to you, you'll have to regain some confidence in the car by driving it. However, you've already experienced the phenomenal roadside assistance and that should reassure you for road trips.

We had a drive failure on day one. Reset cleared it. Drove for two more months with no issues before the SC replaced the front drive unit. Now two months later with no issues. I think it's very likely you are going to be fine.

 

[GuyGadois]

Just got a call this AM to say they found the wiring harness came loose. I can see they worked on the car until 9:30pm last night! I am a bit concerned about how much things have been unscrewed and screwed back in.

 

[taldric]

Just got a call this AM to say they found the wiring harness came loose. I can see they worked on the car until 9:30pm last night! I am a bit concerned about how much things have been unscrewed and screwed back in.

It depends a lot on where the wiring harness came loose. If it was just in the dash (the back of the computer) then it is nothing to be concerned about at all - that is made to be able to be fixed. As are things inside the frunk area where the relays and fuses are - easy to access and then close back up. In fact, I'm not even sure there is anywhere on the car that should cause you concern about being opened and closed again.

 

[AB4EJ]

Connectors in wiring harnesses have traditionally been the largest single category (or one of them) of warranty work industry-wide. What you have experienced is unfortunate, but also unfortunately fairly common (although the car shutting down entirely is not that common), Many carmakers identify what we call "walk-home" circuits (i.e., if this circuit goes out, the driver will have to walk home), and apply extra attention to it. Tesla needs to have a look at this, and maybe add process steps to check that these connectors are more tightly seated during assembly.

 

[Mike K]

Just got a call this AM to say they found the wiring harness came loose. I can see they worked on the car until 9:30pm last night! I am a bit concerned about how much things have been unscrewed and screwed back in.

With regards to worries of a car not being the same after having major work done, a Tesla is probably the last car that should concern you. That's a somewhat founded concern on a traditional car where an engine replacement might take the tech a few days and have him replacing hundreds of bolts, a bunch of components, all of the vehicle fluids and the engine itself. Between component alignment, torque levels, etc there's a lot of potential failure points.

On the other hand, Tesla's drive units just pop out on a subframe. It's such a fast, un-obtrusive process that you'd never know it was done. If I got an ICE car under warranty the received a new engine or other really major service that might concern me long term. On the Tesla the thought doesn't even creep into my head.

 

[Electric700]

With regards to worries of a car not being the same after having major work done, a Tesla is probably the last car that should concern you. That's a somewhat founded concern on a traditional car where an engine replacement might take the tech a few days and have him replacing hundreds of bolts, a bunch of components, all of the vehicle fluids and the engine itself. Between component alignment, torque levels, etc there's a lot of potential failure points.

On the other hand, Tesla's drive units just pop out on a subframe. It's such a fast, un-obtrusive process that you'd never know it was done. If I got an ICE car under warranty the received a new engine or other really major service that might concern me long term. On the Tesla the thought doesn't even creep into my head.

Agreed, though I don't think they needed to take out the drive unit to fix the wiring harness for GuyGadois. It may have been as simple as taking one of the panels off, seeing the issue with the wiring harness, and then permanently reattaching it.

 

[Mike K]

Agreed, though I don't think they needed to take out the drive unit to fix the wiring harness for GuyGadois. It may have been as simple as taking one of the panels off, seeing the issue with the wiring harness, and then permanently reattaching it.

Agreed, it was more of a response to his statement about feeling as if the car was better from the factory.

 

[GuyGadois]

Thanks everyone. I won't worry about it. Now we are off on our San Diego, Palm Desert road trip!

 

[ggr]

Connectors in wiring harnesses have traditionally been the largest single category (or one of them) of warranty work industry-wide. What you have experienced is unfortunate, but also unfortunately fairly common (although the car shutting down entirely is not that common), Many carmakers identify what we call "walk-home" circuits (i.e., if this circuit goes out, the driver will have to walk home), and apply extra attention to it. Tesla needs to have a look at this, and maybe add process steps to check that these connectors are more tightly seated during assembly.

This has happened to me twice... both times in a Mercedes CLK63 AMG!