Yellow screen? Force Tesla to Replace it!

[whitex]

I don’t know who ‘they’ is, but in my experience it’s not the manufacturer in the dealer model. In my one experience filing (and winning) a lemon law case, the manufacturer did everything they could to dissuade me from pursuing that path. Right up to the end, within minutes before entering the arbitration room, the manufacturer’s (Mazda) rep said, “You seem like a nice couple, but you won’t win this case”. Instead they tried offering an insulting cash settlement. That simply made my wife and I more determined to win, which we did. Supportive? Hardly.

So I see no difference in filing a lemon law claim with either the Tesla model or the dealer model. Neither model results in a manufacturer who is eager to help you down the lemon law path.

"They" was referring to dealership. While they (the dealer) will work with you and the manufacturer, they (dealer) will side with you if the problem cannot be repaired. I had an experience with a Lexus dealer over a bluetooth noise issue. On the third repair attempt, they (the dealership repair shop) worked hard with the manufacturer (Toyota) engineers and they (the dealer) finally fixed the issue. They (the dealer) also told me that it was going to be their (the dealer's) last attempt, and if it had failed, they (the dealer) would assist me with the lemon law claim.

The math is simple, dealer make money on warranty repairs, manufacturers lose money. If manufacturer refuses to fix issues, the dealers are on customer side as they don't save any money by not fixing things, they actually lose money (directly by not being able to perform the repairs and indirectly by losing future customers).

 

[Ken7]

Well then, your experience is different than mine. Yours is one case, mine is another with quite different results. In my case the manufacturer tried to dissuade us and was not at all cooperative/helpful in our path toward the lemon law. We had our car in for the service of the same defect on 5 different dates. If it was up to them, I'd be on service visit #25 attempting to repair an issue they were clueless about. So no, I'll disagree with your assertion that dealers & manufacturers in the non-Tesla formula are cooperative and/or helpful. As I mentioned, right up to the point we walked into the arbitration room, the manufacturer was negative.

So it is very difficult to generalize based on one isolated case, whether it's positive or negative. You're in a mode, as evidence by virtually all your posts, that the Tesla experience & model is negative and every other model/approach is better. I think, in some cases, you've lost your objectivity. When was the last time you gave a thumbs up to someone posting something positive about their Tesla experience? If you have, I most certainly missed it.

Look, again, I'm not apologist for Tesla or Elon, but good grief, there are still some good things about the Tesla experience. Approaching this with some degree of objectivity is a more prudent approach IMO.

 

[MP3Mike]

"They" was referring to dealership. While they (the dealer) will work with you and the manufacturer, they (dealer) will side with you if the problem cannot be repaired. I had an experience with a Lexus dealer over a bluetooth noise issue. On the third repair attempt, they (the dealership repair shop) worked hard with the manufacturer (Toyota) engineers and they (the dealer) finally fixed the issue. They (the dealer) also told me that it was going to be their (the dealer's) last attempt, and if it had failed, they (the dealer) would assist me with the lemon law claim.

And there are also cases where the dealership won't help and actively refuses to participate in a lemon case. I saw one case where a person with a Dodge won the lemon law case, with no help from the dealer, and then the dealer refused to accept the car back to complete the lemon law claim. he had to find another Dodge dealer that would accept the car back. (So the dealership model at least has that for it, that you can go to a different dealership if one refuses to help.)

 

[CA_MD]

Any chance you could write some more about the details of your lemon law claim? Information on the process would be great reference for anyone dealing with this in the future.

I encountered the yellow border issue less than a year into ownership and also experienced Tesla kicking the can down the road with some vague promises of a fix. I no longer own the car and it is past the lemon law period anyway, but in hindsight, I should have gone after it. At the time, I did not know that it also applied simply for value-reducing defects - at least in California. Another factor was that Tesla would cancel my service appointments for the screen. That technically does not satisfy the lemon law criteria if they won't even attempt to fix the problem. I wouldn't have known how to deal with that.

Thank you!

Due to the terms of my 'courtesy buyback', I am not allowed to encourage anyone to go through the lemon law or buy back process. I am happy to discuss the facts of my case privately. What I can say is that I took my car in for other issues in addition to the yellow screen so that the car was 'serviced' and their refusal to address the issue was documented. I then went through their arbitration process asking for a lemon law buyback and after some negotiation, we reached an acceptable resolution.

 

[markb1]

I'm not sure whose side a dealer would take in a lemon law case (if they would even be involved), but when it comes to warranty repairs, the dealer's interests definitely align with the customer's, because the dealer gets paid, while the manufacturer does the paying, so the manufacturer has a financial interest in denying warranty claims (as was pointed out).

I will say I've had a lot of positive experiences with Tesla service, and a few negative ones. I'll put the screen repair in the negative category, but only mildly, just because it took so damn long! I haven't had to wait nearly that long for any repair at a dealer.

One thing I really like about the dealer model is being able to walk into the parts department and buy any part, usually in stock, and without having to prove I own the right car. I haven't actually tried this with Tesla, but I've heard of lots of situations where they don't want to sell parts.

 

[Mediocrates]

The criteria for number of repair attempts and time out of service are simply guidelines to presume that a vehicle is a lemon. So my plain-English understanding is that a vehicle can still be declared a lemon regardless of the number repair attempts, depending on the severity of the situation. Would it have been enough for me to show that Tesla was evading service of my vehicle? A lemon law claim could have at least resulted in them addressing the problem if not forcing them to buy back the vehicle completely.

It's not that vague. The Song-Beverly Act is specific about what determines "lemon" status:

Law section.

In summary, there are three possible triggers within the first 18 months or 18,000 miles of ownership (whichever comes first):

1. At least two unsuccessful attempts under warranty to repair the same defect that could cause serious harm/death if failure occurred while driving.

2. At least four unsuccessful attempts under warranty to repair the same defect (non-serious).

3. At least 30 days out of service (need not be consecutive) due to warranty repairs.


I came close to triggering #3 on my first Tesla, and I spoke with my local Tesla Service Center general manager about all of this back in 2017.

 

[NoMoGas]

Tesla has limited the range of certain older cars under the guise of "safety" is to limit battery replacements under warranty. Tesla has limited the number of screen replacements under the guise of "cosmetic issue" is to limit screen replacements under warranty. I was told that squeaky fans are no longer covered under warranty even though they were replaced three times previously, under warranty, for the same reason.

Why is Tesla doing this? Simple. To boost its quarterly numbers after a devastating last 6 months. Elon is better at managing crises than he is at managing a successful, profitable company.

I wish this wasn't true but I fear it is.

 

[titus65]

Is the yellow screen known to be fixed in new cars delivered these days?

 

[SucreTease]

Is the yellow screen known to be fixed in new cars delivered these days?

How would we know? It takes as much as a year or more before the yellow border appears.

 

[doctordoak]

I am currently at a Tesla service center, getting my 4th replacement screen installed (January 2017 Model S).

 

[doctordoak]

I am currently at a Tesla service center, getting my 4th replacement screen installed (January 2017 Model S).

edit: or potentially a UV fix...not sure which

 

[BulldogsRus]

I wish this wasn't true but I fear it is.

It is, no company strips BACK what is covered nor what they deem "normal" as they grow. The problem I see is that Tesla seems to be leaving it up to individual SCs to determine what is "in spec", because then it creates this system they wanted to get away, which was different prices, different service = bad. I also recall seeing some posters claiming that Ludicrous being stripped from used vehicles upon delivery or removed from the listings, which would support this claim.

 

[dannycamps]

How would we know? It takes as much as a year or more before the yellow border appears.

My 2019 (build date 1/2019) which I purchased as new inventory in 6/2019 was delivered to me with a yellow border (now fixed via the UV treatment). At least one other person here had a car with a build date of 3/2019 and a yellow border.

 

[Naekuh]

My car is going into service tomorrow for the yellow borders.
I also addressed issue to my drivers instrument cluster having yellow boarders, but was told there is no machine for that yet.

I am also getting HW3 upgrade done on my car.
I will let u guys know how much fail/success i get.

 

[Mediocrates]

My 2019 (build date 1/2019) which I purchased as new inventory in 6/2019 was delivered to me with a yellow border (now fixed via the UV treatment). At least one other person here had a car with a build date of 3/2019 and a yellow border.

Mine was built April 2019 and started showing signs of yellowing after 3-4 months, which is now a prominent ring (and also some yellowing around the edge of the instrument cluster panel).

 

[vexige]

My car is going into service tomorrow for the yellow borders.
I also addressed issue to my drivers instrument cluster having yellow boarders, but was told there is no machine for that yet.

I am also getting HW3 upgrade done on my car.
I will let u guys know how much fail/success i get.

They replaced my IC under warranty

 

[kkillebrew]

Mine was built April 2019 and started showing signs of yellowing after 3-4 months, which is now a prominent ring (and also some yellowing around the edge of the instrument cluster panel).

Mine was built 3/19 and I have already had the UV treatment. Nothing around the instrument panel yet.

 

[Naekuh]

They replaced my IC under warranty

your one of the lucky few.

Just came back from service.
They got rid of the yellow borders, the screen is clear again.

I got my HW3 update, had to calibrate the sensors all over again which was a pain in the butt, but just took the car driving on the freeway for about 20 miles and that calibrated it.
(i highly recommend you calibrate it on the freeway, as on local streets, the sensors seem to crawl vs the freeway)

Was told no fix for the IC, i could try back in a few months, but meh, honestly the yellow borders on the IC is very faint and almost unnoticeable compared to the MCU. So i guess i can wait, my car is warranted for the next 7 yrs anyhow with the tesla extended warranty.

 

[vexige]

your one of the lucky few.

I'm trading my car in on Friday if things go as planned. I am lucky, because I purchased it for so cheap in march, that 8 months and 10k miles later, the trade in value is still almost $2k higher; even more with tax savings...
It was not a happy 8 months... As much as I loved the car dynamics, I hated the build quality and especially customer care. I'd rather not to go into details.

 

[MP3Mike]

I'm trading my car in on Friday if things go as planned. I am lucky, because I purchased it for so cheap in march, that 8 months and 10k miles later, the trade in value is still almost $2k higher; even more with tax savings...
It was not a happy 8 months... As much as I loved the car dynamics, I hated the build quality and especially customer care. I'd rather not to go into details.

What are you getting to replace it?