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Flurry of recent NHSTA complaints filed over the last few days

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well within a 7 day span (12/23-29) there were 5 complaints on the NHSTA site filed. All about the same thing - melted adapters, hot charging cords, etc. http://www.safercar.gov/ (searched for 2013 Tesla Model S)

Ok first, aside from the fact that Tesla is already in the process of addressing this via their 'semi-recall' (if you even want to categorize it as one), those complaints seem a little suspicious to me. First suspicious thing is the fact that they were all basically submitted within a short period of time. Only one included a VIN number. All of the summaries seem to be in a third-person narrative talking about other owners rather than whether or not they themselves had a problem. The one even straight up links these TMC threads. I feel like it's one guy that just submitted a bunch of different complaints to make it 'seem' like many owners are complaining (deceptive).

Also interesting is a new complaint submitted two days ago (01/13/2014), saying that there may be a bug in the recent firmware rollout (the one where they now reduce the current if a problem is detected) and that if you "dial down" the amps it actually "dials up" instead, aka bad programming, and that it'll increase the chance of an overload and cause a fire. The funny thing is that I know of one NJ owner that is saying the same thing...or at least having the similar issues where he is finding that it randomly "jumps up" in amps, and occasionally seems to spike too high and the MS cuts out and stops charging completely thus never finishing. (well I wonder if he's the one who submitted it... doubt it but perhaps there is actually a problem here?) I do remember seeing another post on here from someone in Norway saying this is a huge problem over there since the last firmhere update (failing to charge/stopping abruptly), and that person did provide a link to forum over there with all the chatter about this (its not in english). I don't seem to be having any issues and I always dial down the amps to 20-24 instead of 40. How about you all? Anyone having related issues like this complaint?

AN INDIVIDUAL CLAIMS THAT WHEN HE CHARGES AT A LOWER RATE, THAT IF THE NEW SOFTWARE DETECTS A PROBLEM IT INCREASES THE CHARGE RATE RATHER THAN REDUCING IT. IF IT IS TRUE, UNDER SOME CIRCUMSTANCES THE UPDATE CAN INCREASE THE CHANCE OF AN OVERLOAD AND FIRE. IT SEEMS IN SOME CASES THAT THE TESLA SAFETY SOFTWARE UPDATE SAFETY "FIX" MAY BE CREATING FIRE HAZARDS. THERE MAY BE A GLITCH, BAD PROGRAMMING IN THE TESLA SOFTWARE UPDATE. PART OF THE NHTSA CAMPAIGN NUMBER: 14V006000 RECALL, HAS A SOFTWARE UPDATE THAT BY AN ALLEGATION MIGHT INCREASE CURRENT WHEN THE SOFTWARE DETECTS A PROBLEM WHEN IT IS CHARGING AT A LOWER CHARGE RATE. ALLEGEDLY IN SOME CASES THE TESLA CHARGER WILL CHARGE FASTER THAN IT IS SET.
 
well within a 7 day span (12/23-29) there were 5 complaints on the NHSTA site filed. All about the same thing - melted adapters, hot charging cords, etc. http://www.safercar.gov/ (searched for 2013 Tesla Model S)

Ok first, aside from the fact that Tesla is already in the process of addressing this via their 'semi-recall' (if you even want to categorize it as one), those complaints seem a little suspicious to me. First suspicious thing is the fact that they were all basically submitted within a short period of time. Only one included a VIN number. All of the summaries seem to be in a third-person narrative talking about other owners rather than whether or not they themselves had a problem. The one even straight up links these TMC threads. I feel like it's one guy that just submitted a bunch of different complaints to make it 'seem' like many owners are complaining (deceptive).

Also interesting is a new complaint submitted two days ago (01/13/2014), saying that there may be a bug in the recent firmware rollout (the one where they now reduce the current if a problem is detected) and that if you "dial down" the amps it actually "dials up" instead, aka bad programming, and that it'll increase the chance of an overload and cause a fire. The funny thing is that I know of one NJ owner that is saying the same thing...or at least having the similar issues where he is finding that it randomly "jumps up" in amps, and occasionally seems to spike too high and the MS cuts out and stops charging completely thus never finishing. (well I wonder if he's the one who submitted it... doubt it but perhaps there is actually a problem here?) I do remember seeing another post on here from someone in Norway saying this is a huge problem over there since the last firmhere update (failing to charge/stopping abruptly), and that person did provide a link to forum over there with all the chatter about this (its not in english). I don't seem to be having any issues and I always dial down the amps to 20-24 instead of 40. How about you all? Anyone having related issues like this complaint?

Nope. Smells fishy.
 
Yes, this happens..amperage goes up from set point after a fault

I was trying to charge at 5A and it jumped to 30A after a fault (crappy UMC handle)... only complained to Tesla though.
Just this morning I charged at 10A and my charge was complete to 50% where it was set. I moved the app slider to 60% before taking a shower and when I looked at the app the car was now charging at 40A!

my wiring is all good but my UMC handle is bad so no real concern besides crazy TOU power rates in CA
 
Yes, this happens..amperage goes up from set point after a fault

I was trying to charge at 5A and it jumped to 30A after a fault (crappy UMC handle)... only complained to Tesla though.
Just this morning I charged at 10A and my charge was complete to 50% where it was set. I moved the app slider to 60% before taking a shower and when I looked at the app the car was now charging at 40A!

my wiring is all good but my UMC handle is bad so no real concern besides crazy TOU power rates in CA

Seems like something that should be fixed by a very small update.
 
I haven't looked at the complaints, but FWIW, look at the chart at It's All Your Fault: The DOT Renders Its Verdict on Toyota's Unintended-Acceleration Scare Car and Driver when the whole Toyota SUA media fiasco happened. They were in the news in the US (in a bad way) everyday for weeks.

It's apparently normal for there to be spike in safety complaints when there's media attention.

Interesting article. I liked this:
Audi didn’t help itself by blaming the crashes on the cars’ owners, who didn’t appreciate the suggestion that they were incompetent drivers. Toyota avoided that approach last year.
"We can't possibly blame those at fault! It would hurt their feelings!" And it worked. Toyota sales weren't impacted nearly as severely as Audi's. People are kind of ridiculous.
 
well within a 7 day span (12/23-29) there were 5 complaints on the NHSTA site filed. All about the same thing - melted adapters, hot charging cords, etc. http://www.safercar.gov/ (searched for 2013 Tesla Model S)

Ok first, aside from the fact that Tesla is already in the process of addressing this via their 'semi-recall' (if you even want to categorize it as one), those complaints seem a little suspicious to me. First suspicious thing is the fact that they were all basically submitted within a short period of time. Only one included a VIN number. All of the summaries seem to be in a third-person narrative talking about other owners rather than whether or not they themselves had a problem. The one even straight up links these TMC threads. I feel like it's one guy that just submitted a bunch of different complaints to make it 'seem' like many owners are complaining (deceptive).

Also interesting is a new complaint submitted two days ago (01/13/2014), saying that there may be a bug in the recent firmware rollout (the one where they now reduce the current if a problem is detected) and that if you "dial down" the amps it actually "dials up" instead, aka bad programming, and that it'll increase the chance of an overload and cause a fire. The funny thing is that I know of one NJ owner that is saying the same thing...or at least having the similar issues where he is finding that it randomly "jumps up" in amps, and occasionally seems to spike too high and the MS cuts out and stops charging completely thus never finishing. (well I wonder if he's the one who submitted it... doubt it but perhaps there is actually a problem here?) I do remember seeing another post on here from someone in Norway saying this is a huge problem over there since the last firmhere update (failing to charge/stopping abruptly), and that person did provide a link to forum over there with all the chatter about this (its not in english). I don't seem to be having any issues and I always dial down the amps to 20-24 instead of 40. How about you all? Anyone having related issues like this complaint?

I guess I could be the NJ owner you are referring to but no, it was not me reporting it on safecar.gov. I did report it to Tesla though and they are investigating.