How embarrassing ! Did I get a lemon

scott jones · Oct 1, 2014

I've had my car hauled to the Service center 6 times in 3 months and it's 120 miles away. Big hassle.
The latest happened just now. I gently pushed the horn to warn a chipmunk you're about to be squished. The horn didn't work. I proceeded without killing it and then pushed my horn again normally to test it, thinking I just pushed it poorly. THIS TIME IT WORKED, BUT IT STAYED ON!!! No matter what I did it wouldn't shut off and with no place to pull over in traffic. People must have thought I was a rude SOB! 2 miles later I pulled into my driveway with it still going. After hitting park it finally quit. And yes I passed people in my addition with it blaring. I could have stopped a bit sooner but I just wanted to get home and I feared it would do something else if I shut it off.

The ranger is coming by soon as I'm afraid to start it again for fear it won't stop the continual honk the next time,even if I turn it off.

Other problems so far:

1. Seatbelt was installed twisted, digs into my waist
2. Interior lights on door, never plugged in at factory
3. My drivers side mirror had plastic or paper coming out of the seam where it meets the body panel
4. My 12 v battery died 1 month in.
5. It had a few scratches at delivery
6. There'ssomething banging around inside the rear passenger door panel when I turn quickly... Probably another part not installed.
7. Past 35mph, my drivers side windows sound like they're open with rushing air noise.

Thats just off the top of my head. The horn, seatbelt, door banging and window air will be addressed in this visit.
The other stuff WAS fixed. People at Tesla are great, but it's spent half of its short life with me at the shop!
DID I GET ONE OF THOSE CARS MADE ON A FRIDAY, or whatever day workers slop stuff together? I'm now driving my Genesis which has had almost no problems in 5 years and 96,000 miles!

PLEASE... just one month without something breaking.

hockeythug · Oct 1, 2014

Seems like Tesla did a very poor pre-delivery inspection.

iadbound · Oct 1, 2014

Yikes. Hard to say whether you have a true lemon, on just a long list of bad fit and finish items (12V battery excluded obviously). I think you should have the service center really go top to bottom on your car and get things squared away. If that doesn't work, then it may be time to escalate it up the chain. As you mentioned, Tesla folks are usually willing to go the extra mile, but you may need to point them in the right direction.

BlueTan85 · Oct 1, 2014

Scott Jones as in founder of Cha-Cha and Escient fame? If so, hi Scott!

Wow, awful about your car. Serious QA lapse on Tesla's part, sounds like.

scott jones · Oct 1, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
Scott Jones as in founder of Cha-Cha and Escient fame? If so, hi Scott!

Wow, awful about your car. Serious QA lapse on Tesla's part, sounds like.

Sorry to disappoint, but not the same Scott Jones, although living in the same city and going to a few of the same functions, we know each other. Nice guy!

Grendal · Oct 1, 2014

Lemon is too strong a word for your issues. You've really had 2 mechanical issues and a series of fit and finish issues that weren't caught on final inspection. Unless the mechanical issues escalate then I'd let Tesla do their job and correct them. It is annoying that they happened in the first place. Good luck.

scott jones · Oct 1, 2014

"Lemon" just seemed like the quickest word to describe a never ending date with the repair center, whether big or small issues.
Luckily I was only trying to forewarn a chipmunk rather than someone driving at me head on with a horn that didn't work!
And yes I have had to alert other crappy drivers who like to text and drive into my lane. In those THREE cases... 2 of them would have been bad accidents as there was no place to go to avoid the truck and SUV! Ranger in T minus 25 minutes.

JohnQ · Oct 1, 2014

I agree, apart from the legal definition I consider a lemon to be a vehicle that has consistent mechanical problems that prevent you from driving the car. This isn't to make any excuse for all the issues you're encountering. You have a right to enjoy your vehicle when you get in rather than cringe while awaiting the next nuisance problem.

I would insist that the service center do a full inspection, test drive and remediation of outstanding problems that they discover. That should include everything body panel gaps, rattles, seals and other fit/finish issues. Plus diagnostics for other potential issues like the 12V, etc.

I consider my vehicle to be rock solid after 17 months but I had a rock chip on the quarter panel at delivery, the steering click, a faulty 17" screen that was replaced and most recently the 12V proactively replaced. They've requested the car next week to fix an issue with the cooling louvers not opening early enough. One advantage is that I'm 20 minutes from the service center rather than 2 hours.

Let them shake through these nuisance issues (be assertive about it) and then judge the overall mechanical quality of the vehicle.

ckessel · Oct 1, 2014

Tesla keeps saying they're improving quality as they go along, quality meetings every week, but much of this is the same type of thing I had within the first few months after I got my car 20 months ago. I'd expect better if Tesla is continually improving quality.

AmpedRealtor · Oct 1, 2014

These are minor annoyances, nothing serious. The 120 mile distance to service probably exacerbated the negativity. There is a service bulletin for addressing door rattles and various other items. Your car is fine.

scott jones · Oct 1, 2014

AmpedRealtor said:
These are minor annoyances, nothing serious. The 120 mile distance to service probably exacerbated the negativity. There is a service bulletin for addressing door rattles and various other items. Your car is fine.

I'd almost agree except an all of a sudden non functioning horn is not an annoyance but a big safety issue as I mentioned in my last post. Had I not had it on 2 occasions I would have been smashed because of texting drivers!

UPDATE: tech just left. Horn didn't do it again. He took it apart and didn't see anything immediately wrong despite multiple tries to make it reoccur. That is something that will always be in my head... What if my horn doesn't work again all of a sudden. But not much else he could do as he tested it for a long time. HAS ANYONE HERE had the horn issue. A search came up with nothing.

Window noise issue will have to be taken in to the shop. Door rattle also couldn't be replicated... No big really on that one.

seatbelt was twisted but he showed me a tensioning trick to fix it. Was that way since I bought it, so that is a pleasant surprise.

skboston · Oct 1, 2014

Hey, sorry about these little issues you're having so early on after delivery, although honk issue is fair safety issue, I tend to use mine often as there are so many not paying attention drivers around here.

On the seat belt issue, how did you fix it? I have mine twisted and I've tried everything my brain could think of to fix it, but with no sucess.

dsm363 · Oct 1, 2014

Sorry to hear about these issues. See if they can drop off a loaner while they go over your car at the service center.

Canuck · Oct 1, 2014

I swear those little chipmunks are suicidal. We have tons of them on the roads to and from my cabin and they seem to wait to run out just as you approach. It can be dangerous to swerve but I have done that many times, and also hard braking, trying to avoid them. I've never honked at them though. It's usually too late for that to make any difference.

Sorry to hear about your car. I've had mine for 6 months with no problems so hopefully they can get your car squared away.

Rothgar · Oct 1, 2014

Wow...sorry to hear of so much troubles.

tezzla · Oct 1, 2014

You honk at chipmunk's?

roblab · Oct 1, 2014

scott jones said:
I'd almost agree except an all of a sudden non functioning horn is not an annoyance but a big safety issue as I mentioned in my last post. Had I not had it on 2 occasions I would have been smashed because of texting drivers!

UPDATE: tech just left. Horn didn't do it again. He took it apart and didn't see anything immediately wrong despite multiple tries to make it reoccur. That is something that will always be in my head... What if my horn doesn't work again all of a sudden. But not much else he could do as he tested it for a long time. HAS ANYONE HERE had the horn issue. A search came up with nothing.

Window noise issue will have to be taken in to the shop. Door rattle also couldn't be replicated... No big really on that one.

seatbelt was twisted but he showed me a tensioning trick to fix it. Was that way since I bought it, so that is a pleasant surprise.

My horn requires a fair amount of force. If I don't push, it doesn't honk. Don't know if that's your issue or not. Just sayin'.

AmpedRealtor · Oct 1, 2014

tezzla said:
You honk at chipmunk's?

I honk at pigeons, squirrels, and anything else that is in my path of travel if freaks them out and moves them out of the path of harm. If the animal doesn't move, I go around it or I slow down and turn on my blinkers to warn others. I try to live in harmony with all living creatures, especially those who can't hear my silent car!

- - - Updated - - -

scott jones said:
I'd almost agree except an all of a sudden non functioning horn is not an annoyance but a big safety issue as I mentioned in my last post. Had I not had it on 2 occasions I would have been smashed because of texting drivers!

UPDATE: tech just left. Horn didn't do it again. He took it apart and didn't see anything immediately wrong despite multiple tries to make it reoccur. That is something that will always be in my head... What if my horn doesn't work again all of a sudden. But not much else he could do as he tested it for a long time. HAS ANYONE HERE had the horn issue. A search came up with nothing.

Window noise issue will have to be taken in to the shop. Door rattle also couldn't be replicated... No big really on that one.

seatbelt was twisted but he showed me a tensioning trick to fix it. Was that way since I bought it, so that is a pleasant surprise.

Oh I agree, I just meant that the issues were minor in terms of the components and fixes involved. By the way, I have not had this issue with the horn. I did have a song get stuck once on Slacker (screeching sound through speakers) and it would not go away even after hitting the left scroll wheel to kill the audio. I had to reboot the system to make the sound stop. I don't know if the horn is also controlled by software, but if it is, that may explain what you experienced as well as the tech's inability to reproduce the problem.

skboston · Oct 1, 2014

It would make no sense to control the horn through the center console, but who knows since you can activate it through the app. Putting non-essential systems like the horn thought software control is not so good of an idea sometimes.

AmpedRealtor · Oct 1, 2014

skboston said:
It would make no sense to control the horn through the center console, but who knows since you can activate it through the app. Putting non-essential systems like the horn thought software control is not so good of an idea sometimes.

Most features in the Model S are controlled by software. One example is your high beam stalk. It's just a software switch, as is everything else in the car. Even though the switch for the horn is in the steering wheel, the actual sounding of the horn - delay after pressing, length of honk, etc. - are most likely all controlled by software. It doesn't have to be on the touch screen in order to be controlled by the car's software.

How embarrassing ! Did I get a lemon

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