My recent Tesla repair experience or Tesla is trying to kill me

My X would randomly have the falcon wing doors opened up when I would go back to it from the office and when it rained the driver side window would stop working. First and last for me. That was 6 years ago. Their QC sucks ass

"Sounds like it's within spec" Seriously though, my wife has had a 2019 P100 model X and a 2023 Model X Plaid and collectively, they have been in for service 27 times....and counting. Leaks, doors that wouldn't close. Failed 12V batteries, not charging. And don't even get me started on how many tires she has had to replace because of the weight. I have an LX570 and never had any real issue (oil changes and tire rotations). There is something to well established, time tested car designs. And Tesla is neither.

Why do you ”love the S” after all that? It sounds like a lemon and the company service people are doing dangerously sloppy work.

I can’t understand the love people seem to have for Teslas. It does not seem rational.

This is par for the course for Tesla from my experience. Most of their service centers suck. They will damage stuff during repairs and not say anything. I am lucky my local one is good. Doesn't make up for the garbage build quality though. I'm getting more seals replaced and my steering wheel started peeling on schedule. (\~2.5 years) Also glad they don't wash cars. Saw a video of a service center that uses a push broom looking brush on them. I'd rather be the scratching up my car.

I expect a lot of people got jobs with Tesla for ideological reasons. Most of these people will have, to say the least, likely found Musk's recent political antics distasteful, which, along with his erratic behaviour, which certainly seems to impact his management style, will cause those that can easily do so to seek work elsewhere. There is quite a lot of evidence that this has been happening. I doubt it will have been easy to hire equally competent people. Hence your experience.

Probably trying to kill you

Same experience. Traded my problematic Model S for an RX500h. The difference in the build quality is striking.

> No other luxury car dealer... Just lol.

“Luxury car” is a stretch. Expensive sure, but luxury?

Unfortunately if you fire half your workers because your mood changes or need to show who the boss is, that is what happens. The place turns toxic and you have some incompetent people working at the service centers. Last year Elon fired even the most successful department and the manager who was responsible for superchargers, because she refused to fire 25% of her workforce.

Tesla insurance is starting to lose money now, but not sure if that’s related, with them being dodgy like this.

They forgot to bolt back in the seatbelts on the rear of my Model 3 after fixing a failed PCS. Just shoved the brackets down between the seat cushions and sent it on its way. TWICE Discovered both times while yanking on the belts trying to install child seats.

This is how the cult is formed, reinforced, and grows. Bringing in the Tesla for repairs and meeting other Tesla stans that defend the company to the end.

I like performance cars and the plaid is that. Model S is definitely not a luxury car (I agree with you!) but it costs like one.

May brother loved his. UNTIL. The electrical wires got eaten by rats, who apparently LOVE the vegan wire insulation Tesla used.

It isn’t. Many of these customers got caught up in the hype surrounding the brand when it was at its peak. I’ve known about Musk being a major sociopath for quite a few years, so I never understood people actually wanting to buy his product.

Elon says they’re not a car company and Elon is such a genius engineer maybe he can make an app that fixes all your Tesla problems.

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It was the first EV car maker. People loved that and there was a lot of momentum.

>No other luxury car dealer like Porsche, Mercedes, etc makes you do this. Tesla no longer washes your car when you take it in for service either. I love the S but we will not be getting another one or any other Tesla again. You don't have a luxury car. You just paid the price for one.

Tesla owners seem to be some of the least informed consumers.

The first commercially viable EV was most likely the Electrobat, from 1896. That's not a typo. In the late 1800s, there were quite a few. There was even a 25 mile EV race in Germany in 1899. Quite a lot of them commercially on sale into the early 1900s but ICE won out. Cheaper. The mid 1990s saw the GM EV1, due I think to a California mandate at the time for zero-emission, but it was still lead-acid based initially, then later switched to Li-Ion. Likewise, the actually decent-looking and interesting tzero from AC Propulsion in 1997 - an actual sports car - 0-60mph in 3.7 seconds. And involved in that? None other than Martin Eberhard, who would go on to co-found Telsa (in which Elon Musk was an investor, not a founder). While the Tesla Roadster in 2008 evolved the tzero idea and caught a lot of headlines, the bigger shift arguably came with the Nissan Leaf - way back in 2011. A usable, lower cost, everyday car, decent specs. Telsa Model S in 2012 made things _desirable_, but that's not the same as being first.

Needs to vent but until they switch brands they're still stuck in the Tesla ecosystem where the company they're complaining about also controls their service, repairs, insurance and remote charging networks. They're already looking at an insurance rate hike because Tesla is monitoring their driving and going to ding them for not using their non-working FSD.

really i did not know they did that, just gets dumber

I think a lot of the service and sales people left (just like their customers) because of Elon: the service people who were at Tesla Collision last June are no longer there. I walked by what use to be a Tesla showroom in Washington, DC yesterday. It’s now going to be a fancy boutique selling handbags and stuff. Guess they can no longer justify paying the rent on prime real estate. Tesla service has always been hit or miss but they got a pass bc of their effort to fight climate change. Now that Elon has gone full Nazi, crazy and supports Trump, most Tesla customers are not going to put up with this shit.

It's part of their brainwashing, or else the cult will come after you.

They left before that. Their financials have been squeezing their cost of service for years so the people have become overworked and underpaid.

Tesla is not a luxury car, at all. Performance? It's a brick that can accelerate like a racing car, but can't corner and has terrible shocks Brand? Well, Elmo torched that and the brand is effectively in the toilet Pricing? It keeps getting cuts, and when a car gets cuts, the quality, finish, service and post sale service suffers, which has happened to you Technology? Every modern EV has equally or better interior design, finish, self driving and battery performance.

Until Musk revealed himself…

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 you bought a tesler! In 2023!

The EVs that are currently in the same class are the Taycan Turbo S and Lucid Sapphire but those cost at least 2x to 3x as much…. And didn’t exist in 2023: lucid sapphire was just a concept and Taycan didn’t approach the acceleration or range of the plaid that year

Well… I mean… if your Tesla kills you, you can’t sell it…

What stops Tesla owners from using lemon laws?

I think it’s really hard to care anymore if you work for Tesla.

Hey serious question. Which other EV that I can buy with self driving comparable to Tesla?

the service manager actually offered me this. apparently every penny i've paid including monthly payments the reservation fee and the down payment can be refunded. i declined and told him MUST FIX THE DAMN CAR. it seems fixed now.

i don't think any are Tesla FSD level.

Not to defend Tesla, but many manufacturers switched over to soy oil based plastic insulation and many had problems with rats eating the insulation. As soon as they heard that, they should have just switched back to regular plastic insulation. Not worth the minor environmental savings in the long run.

Tesla isn’t a real luxury brand, they are a wanna be luxury brand that cheaps out on everything.

I never understood why people are calling Teslas "luxury" cars. A price sticker is not what makes a car luxurious. Have they never sat in a true luxury car? Actually, just opening and closing the doors will tell you everything you need to know about the level of luxuriousness. ;) Performance car? Yes, but drive it like one and you will get nowhere, fast. Tesla makes no sense as an autobahn cruiser, no sense as a performance car, no sense as a practical car, and no sense considering value for money. I don't get what, besides the hype, draws (drawed) people to buy them.

Drive Pilot available on only Mercedes S and EQS is level 3 autonomous driving better than Tesla’s FSD which is only level 2. True self driving is level 5. The Mercedes S class is a hybrid not an EV. Also available in the AMG version. Really nice, a true luxury car! Some Mercedes and Porsches have augmented reality on the front window so driving directions/GPS are pretty much idiot proof even if you are driving yourself. I think Hyundai may also offer this but not positive.

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Sorry, I forgot this common argument. It might seem valid at first glance and I understand your concerns, but it is probably just another nonsense, used to promote Tesla. Why? The CO2 emissions from producing a Tesla battery can equal several years of driving a small gas car. And if you charge your Tesla in an area where electricity comes from coal (large parts of the US) Tesla’s indirect emissions can be similar to, or even worse, than a fuel-efficient petrol car.

Classic "I love my Tesla but" post. I can't believe people still have this mentality, especially after their shit box of a car almost caused harm to them or others on the road. Congratulations on financing a nazi though.

Tesla aren't a luxury brand....

A coworker had a 3 year-old Model S that got in a pretty minor parking lot accident. The local body shops wouldn't touch it, so they sent it to the nearest a Tesla body shop which was hours away. Tesla wanted $28K to fix it. Insurance totaled it. The guy at the local shop told her if it were a Toyota or Honda it would have been around $8K to fix it...guess what, she didn't replace it with another Tesla

Sorry for your troubles OP but the last paragraph is the main problem.. Tesla is NOT a luxury brand. Yes, even the Plaids are sub-standard compared to the Porsches and Mercs. I had a friend who's Plaid got delivered in a remote car park under a tent. He said that a young guy with an iPad gave him the keys and that's it. No way a Merc or any other luxury brand car is delivered like that. In addition, we all know the build quality of Teslas. Another friend had received his Juniper recently. There was a super visible bulge in the driver-side carpet. Basically, this car had no quality control check done on it otherwise anyone with a pair of eyes could see the bulge (*or they have seen it and not cared about*).

Yes, most are better.

Oof. I think you should have taken that option. Teslas are so.. Musky and gross

Tesla is not at all a luxury brand

They suck anyway. They have 1 of the worst blinding headlights and the 1 who owns this company is helping to blind us. There is something evil going on toward us.

Tesla’s get worse by the day. Buy a proper car i would suggest.

Other luxury car dealers like Porsche and Mercedes AMG will pick up the car from your driveway and return it when it's fixed.

Serious answer...well not really, just another question: Why on God's green earth would you want a self driving system that bad?

I’ve used Tesla’s FSD since 2018. It’s always been bad. Like terrible until about 3-4 months ago. FSD version 13.2.9 is pretty good. I use it for about 98% of my driving like driving to the grocery store, taking my kids to school, airport, etc. However, I live in Southern California where Teslas are ubiquitous and everything is well mapped. It’s still nowhere near autonomous however. I have kids who are learning to drive and have their learning permit and they drive a lot better. In 2018 when we bought our first Tesla, it was the only FSD system available - while it’s useless for local driving, the FSD was great for long distance driving on freeways: we’ve made 8 roundtrips from the East Coast (MA/DC) to the West Coast (San Diego) using FSD. Fun times! Nice not having to pay for gas too.

Wise choice !

It's a lifestyle brand, like Apple or Harley. It doesn't matter if the product is good or shitty - the adherents will love it and insist that it's the best.

Lol! Keep rubbing it in;). No more kids and pet haulers since the kids can drive themselves and all the pets. I was thinking a Porsche, maybe a Ferrari or the new Corvette ZR1X although I prefer an EV. Mercedes has AMG GT XX EV which is still a concept but Mercedes is trying to catch Porsche Taycan Turbo S. I want something with similar acceleration as the Plaid.

An actual answer? based on their car choice, it's fast as fuck and requires minimal maintenance to do so regularly, the other brands they mentioned are ones they considered, all performance luxury brands, all more costly to upkeep and truly beat on. ETA: think I got the gender wrong first time and I found more of their replies, yeah they just like to go fast without having to see the dealer

They are probably new / recent money and never actually owned other luxury brands.

No, they just want you to think it is.

To each his own. I have a 2019 and have had zero, let me repeat, zero issues. So 6 years of driving no oil changes, no repairs. Will I buy another? No because of Elon. But the car itself has been good.

Yeah seems like inconsistent quality… guess you got lucky. Or 6yrs ago they were doing better builds. Gotta say… door opens during driving? Car is history right then. No way my kid goes out the door in motion… F that.

For many, like in Norway from 2013 or so, the model S was the ONLY real ev-alternative, it was dirt cheap (intense ev credits) as far as cars in Norway where priced, and you got free supercharging for life. Bugs and quality issues where glossed over as it was a new brand with new cars. This on top of a smørbrødbord of ev benefits like no road tax, very expensive gasoline, drive in taxi and bus lanes, no toll on roads or tunnels, free ferries, free parking. Many people has this as their only interaction with the tsla brand, they don't watch debunks, they don't think about it as anything else than a car, an electric car. They only open their eyes if really excessive issues pop up, and then the stans tell them THEY are the problem or that it is normal, and even if it is not normal they should just suck it up. It is only just recently, after elmo did the full mask-off with twitter unbanning and liking neo-nazi and white supremacy accounts and sided with trumpet that some have started questioning tsla, and then only because it is all over the place.

Yes. I understand people who got a model S a decade ago still being happy with Tesla if they don’t actually follow what is happening in the EV market space (and politics). That is fine. I still see a ton of people defending Tesla here and now, and glossing over faults that would sink any other automaker. That’s the sort of brand-loyalty that makes no sense to me. Tesla are not good cars in the here and now. Buying a model 3 in 2025 would seem crazy to me.

>No other car dealer like Toyota, Hyundai, GM, Porsche, Mercedes, etc makes you do this I don't mean this unkindly so please don't take it that way but; you've discovered the reason, as many have before you, why the 'stealership' model is actually far superior for customers. Vertical integration *sounds* great on paper until you get stuck in the sorts of situations you were: you're a captive market, they don't have to give a fuck about making you feel like a valued customer or doing more than the bare minimum. Where else are you going to go? Roadside assistance will only tow you to a Tesla service centre, if you get anything at all done to it at a non-Tesla place because, say, it's a 3 week wait otherwise, good luck with any future warranty work and if you're lucky you'll get uber credits, too bad so sad if you live two hours away. Once they have your money they don't care. Traditional dealerships actively work to keep customers happy and coming back and I've always considered it *deeply* ironic that fanboys will talk up how great it is that there's no having to negotiate against an inflated MRSP, the price is just the price in the app its like...at one point the margins on Teslas were 30%! How is that better?! Not to mention, and yes I know this does vary, but many service centres won't even let you open the car door before accepting delivery, versus every traditional dealership encouraging you to take a test drive before buying