Yellow screen? Force Tesla to Replace it!

[FlatSix911]

Update:

The MCU screen has officially been replaced (Revision C). It looks much better now. I noticed some scratches on the chrome trim that are new around where they replaced it, so I need to contact them on that as well soon. I am unsure if these are from the UV treatment or the replacement activities.

Tesla ultimately spent quite a bit of money fighting replacing the screen. This would have been quite a bit cheaper for them to have just replaced the screen to begin with. Instead, as a result of the 2 weeks they kept my car:

• Uber credits (just under $2,000, as my commute is 35 miles each way)
• initial rental days (at $100/day as well)
• Arbitration fees (they pay these 100%)

they spent somewhere in the realm of $3K. This doesn't even include the actual replacement cost.

For the main screen, I had to fight them again with the invoice to state that it was a warranty repair and NOT goodwill. I was also insistent that they put the fact they tried the UV twice. (I actually think they attempted this three times, as the extra length they kept my car before this replacement is suspicious, plus a service writer told me they tried it a third time, while the manager said they did not)

That portion of my invoice is here:View media item 120120. You will notice that mine is surprisingly "a resistant screen" that this did not work with (despite the fact it did not work on the IC either), which I find awfully suspicious. My assumptions are that the UV doesn't 100% remove for anyone.

NOTE: the ICU they only did the UV and it didn't work there either. I have not yet decided if I care enough to file another claim for that screen. They would not touch it without that, and claimed the UV they did there was "goodwill" as well.

Congratulations! I also had the MCU screen replaced with the revision C part number due to a bubble issue under warranty.
Let's hope that the latest version of the screen is not susceptible to the dreaded yellow border... only time will tell.

 

[jwlsh]

I received the following after significant back and forth with customer service. I had contacted them asking for repair, they said UV is only option and to contact service center to schedule appointment. I did that, service center reaches out and said they don’t have the repair kit nor do they have a timeframe for when it would be available. I asked to escalate issue to supervisor and then got this email:

“Hello xxxx,

Thank you for contacting Tesla Support. I am a member of our Tesla Support Leadership team and was recently sent your inquiry for review, I apologize for the delayed response.

To provide some clarification on what has been previously stated and what you have heard from our Service team: we are still working on the procedure that reduces the yellowing condition. While this will not permanently prevent the yellowing condition, we will provide this to owners still covered under warranty as a one-time goodwill gesture. More details on this procedure will be released soon, and working directly with your local Service team once it has been released will be the best process.

In general, based on your previous comments, I will absolutely pass up feedback about this experience, but we would have no other action to take at this time.

Best,

Nathan Pope | Tesla Support Leadership Team”

In short, it reduces yellowing but does not eliminate it, does not prevent it from reoccurring, is a one time courtesy only and there is no timeframe for general availability.

I’m going to pursue Arbitration. Would have waited a couple of months for a fix if it was effective but this is unacceptable.

 

[Mark_T]

As long as they try to claim this is ‘goodwill’ and not a warranty issue I don’t see any practical alternative to arbitration.

They also do not help their own case when they are unable to even schedule an appointment for the uv treatment.

It is helpful though that they have documented that the UV is not a fix and only reduces the problem.

Worth including all that in the arbitration papers.

 

[testhrowaway]

As long as they try to claim this is ‘goodwill’ and not a warranty issue I don’t see any practical alternative to arbitration.

They also do not help their own case when they are unable to even schedule an appointment for the uv treatment.

It is helpful though that they have documented that the UV is not a fix and only reduces the problem.

Worth including all that in the arbitration papers.

I'm sure you can use the above quote from the Tesla employee when the lawyer tries to argue they have the "goodwill UV fix"

 

[FlatSix911]

“Hello xxxx, Thank you for contacting Tesla Support. I am a member of our Tesla Support Leadership team and was recently sent your inquiry for review, I apologize for the delayed response. To provide some clarification on what has been previously stated and what you have heard from our Service team: we are still working on the procedure that reduces the yellowing condition.
While this will not permanently prevent the yellowing condition, we will provide this to owners still covered under warranty as a one-time goodwill gesture. More details on this procedure will be released soon, and working directly with your local Service team once it has been released will be the best process. In general, based on your previous comments, I will absolutely pass up feedback about this experience, but we would have no other action to take at this time.

Best, Nathan Pope | Tesla Support Leadership Team”

Again, another damming admission from Tesla regarding the temporary nature of the repair and the lack of warranty support.

 

[KArnold]

am a member of our Tesla Support Leadership team ... we are still working on the procedure that reduces the yellowing condition.

My face to face hearing is Wednesday. Glad to see the "Tesla Support Leadership team" confirm that:

1. They are still working in it, and
2. What that have simply reduces the yellowing condition. It's not a fix.

Thanks Tesla - added to my file.

 

[testhrowaway]

My face to face hearing is Wednesday. Glad to see the "Tesla Support Leadership team" confirm that:

1. They are still working in it, and
2. What that have simply reduces the yellowing condition. It's not a fix.

Thanks Tesla - added to my file.

Let us know how your face to face goes. I'm also curious who you will meet with, if it is the same Ryan everyone is dealing with. (and he has to go to Ohio..) Or if it is a local manager of a showroom or service center. Or some other lawyer they send out

 

[dannycamps]

I would think that this whole arbitration process is costing them more money than to replace the screen/MCU. Seems kind of silly for them to pay attorney fees (which are usually pretty expensive), airfare, lodging, etc... only to lose an arbitration case and have to replace the screen anyway.

For a company that is trying to stem the tide of cash loss, you'd think they would have a better approach.

 

[ucmndd]

For a company that is trying to stem the tide of cash loss, you'd think they would have a better approach.

Gonna take a whooooole lotta legal and arbitration fees before they spend more money than replacing a hundred thousand screens.

 

[re04586]

Gonna take a whooooole lotta legal and arbitration fees before they spend more money than replacing a hundred thousand screens

True, I think it’s a numbers game for them. They know they are in the wrong, but they are willing to gamble this is the cheaper route.

They should also consider the loss of repeat business and perhaps a customer for life. I could see instances where an owner is so turned off by having to go through arbitration to have something fixed that they turn sour on them and miss out on their next $100k purchase and any referrals from that owner.

 

[P100D_Me]

I'm surprised Tesla's response to the Takata airbag recall hasn't been just pulling the airbag fuse.....as a goodwill gesture.

 

[mvotb]

Tesla has in house attorneys, on salary, I doubt they are paying an outside firm to handle this. Appearance could cost more depending on who they send. It will be interesting to see who they send. Phone won't cost that much. I would guess the strategy is to hope they can blow off most people with the cosmetic, not covered answer, and hope that they don't get sued for a manufacturing defect.

 

[MSVroomVroom]

“Hello xxxx,

Thank you for contacting Tesla Support. I am a member of our Tesla Support Leadership team and was recently sent your inquiry for review, I apologize for the delayed response.

To provide some clarification on what has been previously stated and what you have heard from our Service team: we are still working on the procedure that reduces the yellowing condition. While this will not permanently prevent the yellowing condition, we will provide this to owners still covered under warranty as a one-time goodwill gesture. More details on this procedure will be released soon, and working directly with your local Service team once it has been released will be the best process.

In general, based on your previous comments, I will absolutely pass up feedback about this experience, but we would have no other action to take at this time.

Best,

Nathan Pope | Tesla Support Leadership Team”

In short, it reduces yellowing but does not eliminate it, does not prevent it from reoccurring, is a one time courtesy only and there is no timeframe for general availability.

Seriously, at what point can Tesla be considered negligent with this issue? The issue has been going on for years. They have been knowingly selling cars that would develop this issue for a long time. They now have a "fix" that isn't really a fix but just a temporary bandaid (and it doesn't seem to work on all screens anyway). Lets call a spade a spade here, the UV 'fix' is what is best for Tesla, not us consumers. They did not develop a replacement screen that would never have this issue reoccur because they didn't want to foot the bill for that. Instead, they developed a quick hack that cost them almost nothing to implement to get customers off their backs for a bit with the intention to just push customers around when the yellowing reappears ("We gave you a one time goodwill UV fix... what more could you possibly want from us?").

If my screen yellows once my warranty is up why should I not still be eligible for the UV treatment? Tesla sold me a car with a screen that they knew would develop this problem (or would likely develop it). They then did a UV treatment that they knew was only temporary. At no point during the purchase of my car or during the warranty period did Tesla act in good faith on this issue.

 

[KArnold]

If it's helpful to anyone I'd be happy to try to repeat that process. I'm no longer intetested in updates. Of course I have no idea when that might be.

Wifi-enabled wifi and got an update. I started it immediately.

First screen is "starting update". Car would drive and I went for a 10 minute drive - message remained.

About 20 minutes into the update (now parked) received a message saying the update failed. But the update was still staged and I restarted it.

Now the message changed to "update in progress'. Again I could drive without affecting the update.

Back parked and watching, the screen changed to "car off" and the MCU was unresponsive - no "update" message. The MCU rebooted twice. Car will now not restart but MCU is on, but unresponsive. I can still hear various components making noise. I can still connect with the app which says "installing update".

Another 20 minutes and I get an error that says "software update required, contact service". But the software tab also says "downloading navigation update".

So I guess this is debunked - doesn't sound like a reliable means to defer an update. Sorry.

 

[umamahesh9999]

Seriously, at what point can Tesla be considered negligent with this issue? The issue has been going on for years. They have been knowingly selling cars that would develop this issue for a long time. They now have a "fix" that isn't really a fix but just a temporary bandaid (and it doesn't seem to work on all screens anyway). Lets call a spade a spade here, the UV 'fix' is what is best for Tesla, not us consumers. They did not develop a replacement screen that would never have this issue reoccur because they didn't want to foot the bill for that. Instead, they developed a quick hack that cost them almost nothing to implement to get customers off their backs for a bit with the intention to just push customers around when the yellowing reappears ("We gave you a one time goodwill UV fix... what more could you possibly want from us?").

If my screen yellows once my warranty is up why should I not still be eligible for the UV treatment? Tesla sold me a car with a screen that they knew would develop this problem (or would likely develop it). They then did a UV treatment that they knew was only temporary. At no point during the purchase of my car or during the warranty period did Tesla act in good faith on this issue.

At this point, I think only widespread bad press for this issue will force Tesla to act responsibly.
Seriously, why do we owners need to go through all this arbitration pain for an issue that should be completely covered under warranty?
In fact, this should be addressed after the expiry of warranty as well, since it is clearly a design\manufacturing defect.

 

[P100D_Me]

Lets call a spade a spade here, the UV 'fix' is what is best for Tesla, not us consumers.

Absolutely it is the cheapest way out for them and I think not only that it is also designed to appease some owners until the warranty is up.

They have an opportunity to ease the pain a little with some compromise on both sides. What if they offered MCU upgrades to the Intel based MCU's for older cars that also have the new screen fitted. Me as the owner pays 'cost' price for the new MCU with updated screen + labour, Telsa isn't getting stung on the labour costs (which I am sure is a big concern for them) and they aren't giving away tens of thousands of new MCU's and screens.
So even though I have had to pay out I for what is really a warranty issue I actually got an upgrade at the same time so I feel better for having to do so. Problem is I am sure there is a 99.9% certainty Tesla would not supply a new MCU + screen at cost.

 

[Locash]

All of my arbitration documentation has been submitted and awaiting a reponse in a few weeks, as I did a documentation only claim. We shall see how this ends up, as the next step is court. I refuse to just accept that my brand new car has a "cosmetic anomaly", when in fact the "anomaly" is a newer car without the problem in short order.

 

[ucmndd]

At this point, I think only widespread bad press for this issue will force Tesla to act responsibly.

Sadly, this is the sort of thing successful class actions are made of.

 

[jwlsh]

Sadly, this is the sort of thing successful class actions are made of.

The only people who make out from class actions are the lawyers...

 

[ucmndd]

The only people who make out from class actions are the lawyers...

Don’t disagree, although in this case the class is well defined as is the remedy (replace the damn screen). I’m frankly surprised none of the ambulance chasers that play in this space have caught on yet.