What's gone wrong with your Roadster?

[SByer]

Adding two really minor items for me:

The trunk-open button has gone slightly askew - I'm assuming it's one of those on-two-rails buttons and one side has squiggled out. It still works, so no worries yet.
The driver's side sill cover has developed a crack, near where I sometimes put my weight to lower myself down. Clearly, I'm consistent and the repeated stress was too much for the plastic.

Sadly, these developed after the car's third annual service.

 

[slcasner]

The trunk-open button has gone slightly askew - I'm assuming it's one of those on-two-rails buttons and one side has squiggled out. It still works, so no worries yet.

The driver's side sill cover has developed a crack, near where I sometimes put my weight to lower myself down. Clearly, I'm consistent and the repeated stress was too much for the plastic.

I've had both of these problems, too. In fact, the trunk-open button broke when the car was in for some other service and the tech pushed the button, perhaps a little too hard. They did not have the replacement part in stock, so they made an alternative repair that I did not see but would imagine to be something like tying a wire tightly around the switch to hold the finger in place. The tech commented that this repair was probably stronger than the original part. It's been fine since then.

There must be something wrong with the design of the plastic door sill cover because it is not supported at the point where it cracks. Mine was replaced once, but the new one has cracked again.

 

[benji4]

Adding two really minor items for me:
The driver's side sill cover has developed a crack, near where I sometimes put my weight to lower myself down. Clearly, I'm consistent and the repeated stress was too much for the plastic.

My sills, both right and left also got some small cracks in the center toward the rear of the sills. Basically right around where you would put your hand down to lower yourself into the car. The suspicious thing of course was that the cracking was in the exact same spot on both sills.

I took them off to have a look under them, and as I suspected there is a protruding bolt head right where the damage took place! I'd suggest especially with the carbon fiber sills the addition of a couple extra layers of thick double-side tape on the are around the bolt. This needless damage to the door sills could have easily been prevented.

 

[daniel]

The tight door was only a minor issue with me until I struggled to open it to show strangers the plug inside. Then it was less than ideal.

I have told people, "You can open that if you like. I can't because of my arthritis. It's sticky, so you have to pull hard." Other times I've just told people, "That's where it plugs in. But the door is sticky so I use a tool at home to open it."

 

[W.Petefish]

I guess that I can add A/C blower replacement. I just had the assembly replaced, and it is broken again. (Ranger Richard already replaced it once, and to have the new one break within a month?! He already escalated that one to engineering.) I just wonder if there isn't a QC issue. (first the blower motor, then the temp sensor, and now another motor. What's next?!)

 

[markwj]

I can add 12V battery to my list. Also, ignition lock was sticking - but some WD40 resolved that.

 

[jory]

i have a longer list of mostly small issues, but the thing that keeps recurring for me is tire pressure monitor failures. it seems like i am killing one every month or so. not sure if it is the rough san francisco roads or just bad luck.

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

My Roadster (VIN 272) is 2 years old today :smile:

In total I've driven 31,868 miles and range has dropped ~6 miles to 226 miles.

I don't have a daily commute and most of my journeys are in the range 150 to 300 miles. A significant proportion of my driving is using 100% renewable energy from Good Energy. From next month we will supplement this with 7kWp PV system on our house.

I've driven through extremes of heat and cold and over the Alps... our next EV will be a ZOE. I'm also working on ideas for my Roadster upgrade (3 Phase charging and larger battery), a custom performance sports EV, or possibly a FURTIVE-eGT. What I know for sure is that I'm never going back to the ICE-Age!

Here's my Roadster issue list as best I can remember (I don't keep a detailed list);

Battery cell replacement
Indicator light assembly replacement
HV unit replacement (water ingress and heating failure)
Front brake pad failure and disk/caliper write off
Water leakage through door windows (unresolved)
Tyre Pressure Monitor replacement (intermittent and unresolved)
Boot lock replacement
PEM cooling upgrade
Front fan upgrade
Radio aerial upgrade (unresolved)

 

[smoothoperator]

My Roadster (VIN 272) is 2 years old today :smile:

In total I've driven 31,868 miles and range has dropped ~6 miles to 226 miles.

You were only getting 232 miles in range mode when your roadster was brand new?

 

[Kevin Sharpe]

You were only getting 232 miles in range mode when your roadster was brand new?

As far as I remember and certainly the notes I have for the last 12 months rarely exceed that figure. Note that it's hard to be precise here because I've had fairly regular visits to the workshop or by the ranger and that always includes a software upgrade which throws everything out for a while.... I also have no pattern to my driving.

Remember also that the US Tesla website lists Roadster range as 245 miles whereas the UK website lists it as 211 miles. Clearly we are using different test cycles to measure range.

Edit: here's a photo I found from 17th January 2011 when the car was just over 7 months old...

 

[Ben W]

My Roadster 1.5 originally showed Range-mode charges up to 247mi, but now in its old age (3.5 years old, 32k miles) typically shows 226mi after a full Range charge. That's about a 2.5% drop per year, which seems about right.

 

[SByer]

Maybe. Don't forget that the firmware updates have affected how the range is calculated, and generally in more conservative direction.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[wiztecy]

My 1.5 roadster that has 6k gets 236 miles in range mode and 186 in standard mode. Car went live on the road in April 2009. I just did the range mode charge and allowed it to sit overnight to help equalize the battery pack. Curious to see if the balancing bought me more standard mode miles although I feel I should have left it sitting there for 1 or 2 more days equalizing in range mode to get the best results.

 

[W8MM]

Our Roadster 1.5 was delivered in March, 2009.

1) The door latch hardware backed off and the latch bits got scrunched between the door and the jam -- body shop repaint time. Tesla paid for the body shop. Ranger said not enough Loctite on the fastner threads.

2) The HVAC control knobs break like crazy with gentle handling. The way they were designed wasn't the best. I sourced my own alternates from military radio hardware. Looks nice, silver colored, but no back-lit pointers, now.

3) The air conditioning didn't break, it just wasn't designed for Ohio summers. So it acts broken. No fix available at any price.

4) The ABS system didn't break, it just doesn't do well in Ohio winter road conditions. I had a minor accident when the ABS wouldn't let me slow down at the accustomed rate in winter stop and go driving. So, sometimes in the winter, the brakes act broken, but they're working as designed. No fix is contemplated.

5) There were minor things that the Ranger fixed as a surprise update by calling out of the blue and asking to update the car. Very nicely done. The yearly services always included a general freshening, as well. Good job, Tesla.

6) A few weeks ago, the message panel said "Battery Service Required" and the red "fault" light came on in the instrument cluster. After downloading and sending a service log, it was determined that the Roadster needed a trip to a service center to have its battery pack replaced. This was the cause of some anxiety, but they made every effort to reduce any inconvenience to us and vectored a Plycar transporter to our home to pick up the car within a few days.

While it's in New York, I am having them add Xenon headlights and the sound damping kit. It should be on its way back later this week.

 

[jordanthompson]

After downloading and sending a service log, it was determined that the Roadster needed a trip to a service center to have its battery pack replaced. This was the cause of some anxiety, but they made every effort to reduce any inconvenience to us and vectored a Plycar transporter to our home to pick up the car within a few days.

OUCH! From your calm demeanor, I assume that the car is still under warranty?

 

[smoothoperator]

Our Roadster 1.5 was delivered in March, 2009.

1) The door latch hardware backed off and the latch bits got scrunched between the door and the jam -- body shop repaint time. Tesla paid for the body shop. Ranger said not enough Loctite on the fastner threads.

2) The HVAC control knobs break like crazy with gentle handling. The way they were designed wasn't the best. I sourced my own alternates from military radio hardware. Looks nice, silver colored, but no back-lit pointers, now.

3) The air conditioning didn't break, it just wasn't designed for Ohio summers. So it acts broken. No fix available at any price.

4) The ABS system didn't break, it just doesn't do well in Ohio winter road conditions. I had a minor accident when the ABS wouldn't let me slow down at the accustomed rate in winter stop and go driving. So, sometimes in the winter, the brakes act broken, but they're working as designed. No fix is contemplated.

5) There were minor things that the Ranger fixed as a surprise update by calling out of the blue and asking to update the car. Very nicely done. The yearly services always included a general freshening, as well. Good job, Tesla.

6) A few weeks ago, the message panel said "Battery Service Required" and the red "fault" light came on in the instrument cluster. After downloading and sending a service log, it was determined that the Roadster needed a trip to a service center to have its battery pack replaced. This was the cause of some anxiety, but they made every effort to reduce any inconvenience to us and vectored a Plycar transporter to our home to pick up the car within a few days.

While it's in New York, I am having them add Xenon headlights and the sound damping kit. It should be on its way back later this week.

Why not sell it and get a late model roadster?

 

[W8MM]

OUCH! From your calm demeanor, I assume that the car is still under warranty?

Fortunately, yes!

 

[W8MM]

Why not sell it and get a late model roadster?

That wouldn't fix the ABS weird brakes, since they're all the same -- as I've been told.

Since I'm an off-the-scale-affluent SOB, and can do what I wish, I've decided that two successive depreciations are a penalty too far for being a Tesla early adopter.

I've adjusted to the Roadster being a Spring- and Fall-only car in this climate. Winter and Summer belong to other of our autos.

 

[ElSupreme]

... I'm an off-the-scale-affluent SOB, and can do what I wish ...

I would like to join your club! :biggrin:

 

[daniel]

I would like to join your club! :biggrin:

Trap a few of those velociraptors, open a dinosaur park, take out a hundred million dollars of insurance on it, and stay the hell away. When the angry little things go berserk, collect the insurance money, and voila, you're in the club.

Sorry for the OT. I couldn't resist. :biggrin: