https://yle.fi/a/74-20186654
Teslas build quality is legendary, too bad about the kind of legend it is. I am really happy we have thorough inspection system in Finland.
If you bought a Tesla made in USA you are in for a wild ride. These cars were made in and for California and are falling apart after five years in harsher climate. The Tesla Y made in Germany seems to better, but we have to wait two more years to be sure.
I was there when the Model X was introduced in Germany and an interested buyer asked the salesman: „When it snows and the falcon wind doors open, won’t the snow drop down?“ „Those cars are designed for California, they don’t have snow.“
To be fair, if it’s snowing and you open the doors of any car, snow will get inside. Sure, with the falcon doors there’s more open area, but it’s not like non-Tesla cars have a magical force field that repels snow, and the wings will actually block more of the snow from getting in the car, unless it’s driving snow. I saw a review video where that was one of the criticism of the Tesla. “When it’s raining, water gets in the Tesla”. Yup, no denying it. Just like every other car. I wish he had just picked a serious criticism. There’s nothing I hate more. Like, Tesla tires are made of rubber and are vulnerable to tire punctures… yeah just like every other car.
Teslas keep making EVs look unreliable.
Let’s be fair here - It’s not “electric cars”. It’s Teslas that are the problem.
I'm not sure about the video you're referring to, but there are videos where water gets in the car even when all the doors are closed and the windows are up, so it could be a serious criticism.
Probably most of those are brakes issues. Heard same in other countries.
But Tesla tyre punctures are often not repairable. Much more so than other cars.
> “When it’s raining, water gets in the Tesla”. Yup, no denying it. Just like every other car. I have had cars where water gets in, and cars where humidity gets in. Water means I mop it up.
Brakes, suspension, everything related on keeping car off the ground. Then on 8 year old cars, rust is an issue.
All EVs fail more than their ICE counterparts, but Tesla is totally in its own shitty category. Edit: here are the inspection statistics https://tieto.traficom.fi/sites/default/files/media/file/Henkil%C3%B6autojen-m%C3%A4%C3%A4r%C3%A4aikaiskatsastusten-vuositilasto-2024.xlsx Despite already having a second EV, I find EV fanatics who pretend that EVs would somehow be more reliable than ICEs oh so damn annoying. EVs also have things that fail, and brands that make reliable ICEs tend also to make reliable EVs, but don’t yet have enough experience to produce as reliable.
Just took our 40k km model y in for EU inspection. Brake discs, rear and front bushings, front control arm all failed.
Hard to judge when they don’t say exactly what they are testing for. How do we know the tests just don’t map well to EV architecture?
From the article, the below brands beat the median failure rate for petrol cars. It really is just a few EV models which drag down the category. >EVs that fared best in inspections were the Kia Niro, Volvo XC40, Volkswagen Golf and Hyundai Ioniq, which all had failure rates of just four percent.
I tested the model y (made in Berlin) earlier this year. I found the build quality pretty good actually. Very quiet cabin, good suspension, nice steering, zero unwanted strange noises in the cabin. But they also changed like 40% of the car’s components compared to the previous modelY and the juniper got a redesigned suspension. Objectively, it’s a really good car in The classical sense of the word. I didn’t hear too many good things about the earlier Teslas tho. Most reviews say the highland and the juniper are a big step up. Sadly (or thankfully, bcoz its good for the EU manufacturers) the musk guy went crazy…
> To be fair, if it’s snowing and you open the doors of any car No, not any car. I've had a couple that let in a little when the doors opened, but most let in none. >I saw a review video where that was one of the criticism of the Tesla. “When it’s raining, water gets in the Tesla”. Now I get your ramble - this is a disingenuous comment. Of course the new falling water gets into every car, the point on some cars, and much more so the Tesla, the standing water on the vehicle gets into the car. Look at trunk design in modern sedans - specifically designed so when you open the trunk, the huge puddle of standing water in the lid doesn't flow into the trunk.
I don’t think I’m being disingenuous. Perhaps the reviewer I watched didn’t do a great job of explaining his position. I also read other comments where people are talking about bad seals in Tesla, where doors are closed but water still leaks in, that is also valid. But with the doors open on a car, and your question is about snow getting in, when the doors are open… it’s going to get inside any car with the doors open.
I wrote counterparts. Match those EV best performers against their ICE variants.
Quote from the article: "Car inspectors tell Yle that the root cause of the problem is that EVs are often built on platforms that do not sufficiently support the weight of the car, including the battery, and the wear and tear of the structures over time. Teslas particularly have suspension problems, they say. Few problems have been detected with EVs’ electrical technology."
It’s your claim. Why don’t you?
I did. All of the well performing EV brands are known to do well in in inspections in general.
What is this “EU inspection”? Is it mandatory? I’m in a progressive state (California), and the only inspection required is of the exhaust pollution - that’s not required in other places in the U.S.
In German TÜV inspections EVs do worse, until you take Teslas out and then EVs do better. IIRC the same pattern emerged in Norway too. Tesla's poor build quality smears the whole market sector and then the shit hides among the shitstains to argue that it's not their fault the inspections are so much tougher on EVs.
Most of Europe has mandatory safety inspections every year or two years (depending on country and age), once the car is 3 years old. In the UK it's annually, in Spain it's every two years until the car is 10 then it's every year. The test that the car is roadworthy, so they check brakes, lights, wipers, seatbelts, tyres, doors, locks, seats, suspension, windows, look for rust, oil leaks etc, etc, etc. And then emissions also. If these aren't all in good condition the car is banned from use until they're fixed. Crack on the windscreen? Fail Rear door sticky? Fail Airbag light on? Fail Tyre tread too low? Fail Wipers old? Fail. Etc.
We have a safety inspection as well (some us states has it as well) So anything dealing with steering, breaking, lights and crashing is checked every year for older cars. There is some rust checking as well on the frame. If your car is a danger to others you are not allowed to drive it. So you can't just ride along with shot link arms etc. This is a big reason US designed Fords are considered crap cars parts will break quickly and fail inspection but you can really keep riding them for years in the broken state. Then you pay for the expensive work and now the frame has turned to dust.
Tesla has a huge rust issue on everything around the wheel areas. Control arms that rust so hard they snap after 2 years isn't unheard of. A key part to remember we don't salt roads here at any large extent if we did things would be so much worse.
The California aspect doesn’t really matter, it’s Tesla cost cutting
Hey, at least they have car inspections. Utah just scrapped annual car inspections cause “small gub’ment”, so who knows what condition they’re in over here.
23% failure rate in Denmark for Tesla.
If anything the tests are less demanding for a EV car than ICE cars, emission tests arent required on a EV…
Even model X is making some strange noise after 6 years :(
Makes you wonder how many Teslas that drives around in the US with brakes and suspension waiting to fail. No mandatory service appointments made on them either..
It snows in California. However, Tesla designers tend to be young engineers that don't know anything or loser incels that don't get invited to Tahoe because they can't ski or creeped out everyone in the lodge.
My BMW does not let rain or snow in when I open the doors.
I'm in MA and there's a multiple point inspection to in we need to do every year. I assume it has a lot to do with the snow/salt usage that is pretty rough on vehicles. I've read that European inspection standards are stricter though.
New England states all require inspection, and suspension as well as brakes are fail points. Unsure if there's data I. How often they fail (or how strict to tests are), but if you're driving the vehicle legally anywhere in the northeast, you've passed an inspection, at the very least.
https://tieto.traficom.fi/sites/default/files/media/file/Henkil%C3%B6autojen-m%C3%A4%C3%A4r%C3%A4aikaiskatsastusten-vuositilasto-2024.xlsx
Sad but not surprising. I wish I could afford to get rid of mine. I need to convince some dumb fanboy that elno farted in it an it is worth way more than normal.
> EVs that fared best in inspections were the Kia Niro, Volvo XC40, Volkswagen Golf and Hyundai Ioniq, which all had failure rates of **just four percent**. To nobodys surprise
Rain does not get in my car when I open a door and snow almost zero. Some drops maybe but not flowing water. Get serious dude.
California has snow, just not in the most populated areas like L.A. or the Bay Area.
I took an Uber ride in a Tesla recently the cabin was anything but quiet. The road noise was heavy. In fact I think it was noisier than every car I've ever owned.
I'm sure those Chinese cars aren't much better.
The article states that the **best EV's** barely get better inspection results (4% failed) than the **average petrol** car (5% failed). And this is exactly why /u/Real-Technician831 is correct.
Me personally only drove the new model Y (I think on michelin tires), and there was barely any road noise. Might depend on road surface, tires, temperature, car sound deadening too. How much deadening is in the car might even depend on the market where the car is sold.
Some states have safety inspections to check things like brakes, etc., and some also have smog testing. Where I live we have neither though. There isn't really any consistency but cars are generally built for all the markets even though some cars have the "Calfornia Package" meaning the stuff they need specifically for compliance there.
It’s ridiculous that this is sub for laughing at Tesla, but people lap up one lie from Elon, which is that EVs somehow would be more reliable. In future that may be the case, but not yet, as companies need to learn what fails and how to improve.
We do, in lappi. Not only tires but evs too.
I don't think the issue is, when doors are open snow gets into the car, as you said this is normal, what isn't is when opening the doors excess snow gets into the car, tesla seem to have a massive issue other manus has mostly solved about water and snow, to an excessive amount, gets into the car when opening the doors If it's raining or snowing and you leave doors open, yes it will get inside but I don't think that is the issue here
Saw that, we know EVs weigh more, that’s what I mean by whether the test maps well to EV architecture. So what are they testing when they say ‘wear and tear’. What exactly are the suspension problems that are leading to failed tests? This would have been informative to include in the article.
That may be but of the ones that have higher failure rates, it is models that generally have low production rates. Tesla holds the top spots at about 45% failure rates in 2019 and 2020 (where the study stops). It is also there best selling car. If you compare their model that has a high market share to other cars with a high market share, they are way higher. The others sit closer to 15% failure rates.
Inspections are done at four year mark, so mostly we don’t know yet. After 2 more years there starts to be data.
It’s not a study it’s roadworthiness inspection statistics. First inspection is at four year age, so the statistics are always four years behind previous full year. And the failure rate is obviously relative to car volume, Teslas are shit, and lack of yearly or bi yearly service is not helping.
Zero doubt more people will die and be hurt - but, hey, each taxpayer probably saved enough for a taco bell dinner.
So you mean they are not million mile cars as many fans claimed?
Clearly much more of a Tesla problem than an EV problem.
wearing out brake disks in 40K is an impressive feat for any car, let alone one with regen braking.
Problem is the regen we were told. The discs rust and corrode because the brakes aren’t used enough. They told us to turn it off and slam on the brakes a few times to see if it helps.
That was kind of what I was saying. There are some other brands in close to the top spots but those are low volume vehicles. If you were to take gross vehicles failing inspection, Tesla is absolutely top by a large margin.
Have owned 7 cars in my lifetime. My 14yr old Japanese EV has been the lowest maintenance vehicle I’ve ever had - hands down. Still using it everyday for extensive city driving
This sub is a joke isn’t it.
What's more amazing is tesla have GPS location of the car that they could cross match with weather details like snow and probability of salt on roads and work out likelihood of callipers seizing and rotors rusting. Heck they can even use the GPS to work out if you are driving to a charge point and pick times when you have plenty of battery and wont notice the slight hit of not doing regen for a while. But no, they focus on farts.
Model 3 specifically.
What a manipulative post is this? If you are a shitty car owner, then no matter what car you have it will be in a poor condition. All cars need regular maintenance. For new ICE cars it’s mandatory (or you’ll lose the warranty), but for Tesla it’s optional and on customers. On good roads Tesla 3 suspension can last for 200 kkm with only supportive maintenance (alignment check). It’s very good!
Oddly specific…
Yeah I've met a few and they keep trying to recruit me. FUCK TESLA.
In Belgium too afaik. Lots of teslas not passing for suspension issues apparently.
I drive over a mountain pass in Colorado which averages 18' of annual snowfall every day for a100 mile round trip commute. I've done this for the past 3 years in a non Tesla EV which is now at 92,000 miles and I haven't had a single issue with it mechanical or otherwise. EV's are simply more reliable than ICE cars and better in winter driving conditions. Many EV owners have their priorities screwed up in what they value in a car. Tech nerds constantly complain about screen lag or app issues on the same level as someone may make an issue of motor going out or a transmission in an ICE car so you see tech complaints about EV's blown way out of proportion as if they have real mechanical problems.
Do an experiment, do a GPT query on common EV reliability issues, and you see what real problems people are frequently complaining about, and since it’s LLM the most prominent ones will be in the answer. Theoretically EVs are more reliable, and most likely will be so once manufacturers get enough experience. For most companies, EVs are still quite new tech. For example on my previous Skoda Enyaq, I had battery modules replaced twice during 60K km.
Why is the Tesla failing more often though, are these people driving the Tesla’s on different roads in the same cities? I also don’t see how regular maintenance comes into play. Tesla’s are overall pretty new cars, at most a few years old. I could see maybe tire rotation having an impact.
First of all, there is no data what % have real issues with suspension. For example, in other country the rejection was due to a headlights misalignment. Also tyre conditions. So, this is relatively easy to fix “issues” The second: EV weights much more than the same size ICE and neglecting of basic alignment and tire rotation leads to worse outcomes. Regarding warranty and ICE cars: you have to pass payed maintenance once a year or per mileage (what comes first), this is mandatory to have warranty (and that’s how ICE makers make money) and it includes full inspections. Normal owner of a car does it whenever it mandatory or not.
\#ProtectMusk
I think we're already there. Improvements are being made at a very rapid pace. The difference between 2021 and 2025 is extreme. I'm on my second ev and have yet to have a single problem. At 92,000 miles my battery degradation is only 3%. You bring up battery packs but e v battery packs last far longer than ice car engines. [EV batteries](https://www.topspeed.com/ev-batteries-last-longer-than-expected/)
So your argument is that new cars are reliable, no shit 🙄 We know of true reliability only after four years or so, the EVs that failed in Finnish inspection statistics are from 2021. Also about batteries, it’s not the wear, it’s the physical things that kill them. Seal failure and water seepage being one of the most common failures. Finnish environment is very hostile to electronics.
Any Legacy EV purchased today will be more reliable with a lower cost of ownership than a new ice car. I doubt if your environment is as harsh as mine.
Lower cost of ownership? Yes if we count fuel, that’s bloody obvious. But please stop pretending that EVs wouldn’t still have a ton of teething issues. That does a disservice for EV advocates credibility. I live in southern Finland on the coast, we have wild temperature swings for about half of the year, condensation and water damage issues are own their totally own level. Dry cold is much easier for electronics, but thanks to climate change, not much of that here.
Sadly nj doesn’t so safety anymore
Nj does emissions only.
The Chinese will have similar quality problems because the established manufacturers have already learned to build to a certain quality level while the emerging manufacturers have not. It took the Koreans decades to get to where they are now.
They're not unreliable I guess, the parts are too weak and the quality is shit
So there are lots of reasons for this but primarily these cars don’t go in for routine oil changes and other services. Good service mechanics will spot issues with failing steering and suspension components and recommend repairs. Without that intervention, it falls onto vehicle inspectors to discover these issues.
If the posts above are accurate, Teslas fail with much higher frequency than other brand EVs. That tends to argue against the inspection being biased against EVs, or that something in the roads or the routine maintenance of the vehicles is the issue.
In Sweden I once failed car inspection of my Tesla Model S because the guy inspecting it claimed that the brake discs are rusty and the rust is already deep inside them. I objected that it was raining and the car had just been parked for a couple of days, and I mostly use recuperation instead of braking, so it's okay and that if I ride around and push the brakes a few times, the rust will fall off. He denied it and said that I have to change the braking discs completely. So I "failed" car inspection, and drove out straight to another inspection company meanwhile pushing the brakes. When I arrived, the brake discs were shiny as new with no rust at all, so I passed the inspection with no issues. Always keep in mind that workers can be totally incompetent and completely do no understand what they're doing even when they are getting paid for it.
If this is anything like the TUV in germany its due to Tesla not having service intervals but indeed need to change bushings in front and rear. So its nothing too serious, but an annoiance.
People taking "no maintenance required" way too literally
The argument fanboys make that “Elon helped make EVs popular” appears on its last legs
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