Dead Calm

Peksman · Mar 25, 2013

After waiting for 1 whole week waiting for my MS 60 to be brought back from the service center in Menlo Park last Friday, I find my MS60 dead again in my garage.

Two Fridays ago it was dead and was towed out on a Monday morning. The service center was excellent, prompt, and conscientious in updating me. It spent 4 days in Menlo Park service. They replaced a faulty drive unit.

I was pleased to have it back last Friday delivered by 2 courteous Tesla employees.

I drove it sparingly over the weekend mindful of not venturing too far from home base.

This morning it is completely dead. Interestingly, the drivers window is open. I am unable to unplug the wall charger. The fob does not work near the wiper even to open the doors.

I was able to reach the Tesla help number but not the service center.

The wife gave me a quizzical look as she drove away in her Prius.

I am annoyed. I am disappointed.

steve841 · Mar 25, 2013

All I can say is I feel your pain. Mine is at the SC for a coolant leak.

Sorry. You can pm the boss if things aren't moving properly....

dtich · Mar 25, 2013

Peksman said:
After waiting for 1 whole week waiting for my MS 60 to be brought back from the service center in Menlo Park last Friday, I find my MS60 dead again in my garage.

Two Fridays ago it was dead and was towed out on a Monday morning. The service center was excellent, prompt, and conscientious in updating me. It spent 4 days in Menlo Park service. They replaced a faulty drive unit.

I was pleased to have it back last Friday delivered by 2 courteous Tesla employees.

I drove it sparingly over the weekend mindful of not venturing too far from home base.

This morning it is completely dead. Interestingly, the drivers window is open. I am unable to unplug the wall charger. The fob does not work near the wiper even to open the doors.

I was able to reach the Tesla help number but not the service center.

The wife gave me a quizzical look as she drove away in her Prius.

I am annoyed. I am disappointed.

very sorry to hear this peksman. what were the original symptoms? and when you say drive unit, what does that mean? the motor? did they also replace the 12v battery? it sounds like that might be your problem now...?

Peksman · Mar 25, 2013

Below is the technical jargon from the invoice describing the work performed:

Customer Concern: vehicle unresponsive, check and advise
Cause: verified HViL faults. performed HViL debug procedure. found HViL loop integrity is normal. removed and reinstalled battery. service engineering determined BMS is normal. installed drive inverter HViL bypass. vehicle now responsive. electrical short within drive inverter.
Correction: Drive Unit
verified HViL faults. performed HViL debug procedure. found HViL loop integrity is normal. removed and reinstalled battery. service engineering determined BMS is normal. installed
drive inverter HViL bypass. vehicle now responsive. electrical short within drive inverter. removed and reinstalled rear sub frame assembly. removed and replaced drive unit

I'm not sure what is a drive unit but it sounds like a very important hardware.

And no, the battery was not replaced.

mknox · Mar 25, 2013

Peksman said:
I'm not sure what is a drive unit but it sounds like a very important hardware.

I'm pretty sure it's the vehicle's "engine" consisting of inverter, motor and possibly the gearbox/differential if it was removed and replaced as a unit.

qwk · Mar 25, 2013

It sounds like you had a bad inverter, and from what I've read Tesla simply changes out the entire motor/invert/gearbox assembly. Now it sounds like the 12V battery needs charged/replaced, which would make sense since the car sat. Good luck

Benjam · Mar 25, 2013

qwk said:
It sounds like you had a bad inverter, and from what I've read Tesla simply changes out the entire motor/invert/gearbox assembly. Now it sounds like the 12V battery needs charged/replaced, which would make sense since the car sat. Good luck

Sorry, but this sounds like a lemon to me. Niceties aside for Tesla being a start-up, I would be very annoyed at this point.

qwk · Mar 25, 2013

Benjam said:
Sorry, but this sounds like a lemon to me. Niceties aside for Tesla being a start-up, I would be very annoyed at this point.

How is it a lemon? A lemon is defined as having the same problem multiple times. Having a 12v battery go flat is not that big of a deal.

ModelS1079 · Mar 25, 2013

Dear Peksman,

Guarantee Tesla will fix this and earn your trust back. Ye of faith hold on.

Kaivball · Mar 25, 2013

Benjam said:
Sorry, but this sounds like a lemon to me. Niceties aside for Tesla being a start-up, I would be very annoyed at this point.

Wouldn't conform with the "lemon" laws.

One repair does not a lemon make.

Benjam · Mar 25, 2013

Kaivball said:
Wouldn't conform with the "lemon" laws.

One repair does not a lemon make.

Wrong - I'm no lawyer and I'm not here to argue, but I know each state has their own statute. In some states, lemon applies if your car is out of service for a certain number of days. Also, I count 2 repairs...

scriptacus · Mar 25, 2013

Benjam said:
Wrong - I'm no lawyer and I'm not here to argue, but I know each state has their own statute. In some states, lemon applies if your car is out of service for a certain number of days. Also, I count 2 repairs...

They do, but they're reasonable and not made for knee jerk reactions. In CA it's 3 attempts at the *same* repair (including written notice from the car owner), or 30 days in the shop.

This case isn't even close to any of these... no where near 30 days and it appears to be 2 different issues, not the same one twice.

Grendal · Mar 25, 2013

I hear your frustration, Peksman. I recommend patience, Young Jedi. From your description it sounds like the first problem created the second problem. It doesn't mean the car is a throwaway.

Good luck.

Benjam · Mar 25, 2013

I honestly hope that everything works out for this person and the car. I just know that I would be as frustrated as he probably is plunking down a good deal of money and not being able to drive much at all in the first month of ownership. Fingers crossed this doesn't happen to me

kinddog · Mar 25, 2013

apparently every person whose Model S dies is going to create their own thread about the topic.

enough.

steve841 · Mar 25, 2013

kinddog said:
apparently every person whose Model S dies is going to create their own thread about the topic.

enough.

I think that is a foolish statement ... I believe it's important for owners to "know" issues and to bring them to the table. And if repeated issues are found, then results, improvements, actions can be intelligently brought to the attention of service folks with less resistance ...and the best example of this is the windshield cracking.

If we use your theory, then why have this forum at all?

ModelS1079 · Mar 25, 2013

kinddog said:
apparently every person whose Model S dies is going to create their own thread about the topic.

enough.

Dear Kinddog, seems unkind and not helpful. If the forum is packed with threads of owners whose cars are Dead Calm, the issue is the car, not the owners. Happy to note I do NOT see a forum here cluttered with dead Model S's; I see a dynamic forum of overall thrill for this car, and this very frustrated owner stands out.

This must be fixed and fully. Keep us posted. Ye of faith hold on.

kinddog · Mar 25, 2013

steve841 said:
I think that is a foolish statement ... I believe it's important for owners to "know" issues and to bring them to the table. And if repeated issues are found, then results, improvements, actions can be intelligently brought to the attention of service folks with less resistance ...and the best example of this is the windshield cracking.

If we use your theory, then why have this forum at all?

easy killer, i was just saying maybe we should have one "car unresponsive/asleep" thread that collects all these similar instances. instead of the main page having multiple "my car is dead" threads on the front page...

steve841 · Mar 25, 2013

kinddog said:
easy killer, i was just saying maybe we should have one "car unresponsive/asleep" thread that collects all these similar instances. instead of the main page having multiple "my car is dead" threads on the front page...

Entitled to your opinion....but, they say opinions are like ...... Everybody has one.

Mods can decide what's what.

dtich · Mar 25, 2013

Grendal said:
I hear your frustration, Benjam. I recommend patience, Young Jedi. From your description it sounds like the first problem created the second problem. It doesn't mean the car is a throwaway.

Good luck.

indeed, far from it i'd bet. i think you (the OP) have a simple issue that created another simple issue, they both happen to be 'no drive' issues, but i would sincerely have every hope that it will all be good as new in short order. out of 7500 cars, a couple are bound to have an inverter problem. i'm sorry it was you, but the car is very well made and a swap out of the bad component should do wonders. there's no reason, in my opinion, to be talking lemon laws or feeling too doom and gloom at this point. i think it's understandably super frustrating to have this happen out of the gate, but once it's sorted, you'll forget about it in short order. hang on, and thanks for keeping us posted. you have a large support group here.

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