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Petition to force Tesla to come up with a retrofit for AutoPilot

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first and foremost, THIS IS NOT MY PETITION. I didn't see anyone post a link to this yet, but I just wanted to make people aware of this change.org petition. Personally, you will NOT find me signing it. My honest opinion is that I feel a lot of people are whining about the dual motor & autopilot announcement bc they feel like they got ripped off. Sorry people, but I totally disagree with you. I side with Tesla's model of continuous improvement throughout the year. This allows people to get new features earlier than waiting for the turn of the next year. How do you think people felt with the "+" announcement was made right after they just took delivery of their P85? How do you think people felt with the major P85 price changes that occurred last year when they split previously included options out into separate options that were no longer free? Ordering one day late for the exact same configuration cost you an extra $15k. So in that case you should have ordered EARLIER vs LATER. How do you think people felt when electronic folding mirrors started to be included? How do you think people felt when parking sensors were added? or the newer better fog lights? or the softer seating? I could keep going, and going, and going. SORRY PEOPLE THIS IS JUST PART OF THEIR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT MODEL AND THERE IS NOTHING YOU CAN SAY OR DO ABOUT IT. You cannot predict whether ordering now or later will net you better prices vs more options etc. Please stop whining and making these stupid petitions. You should be happy with your purchase. If you are not, just sell it back to Tesla and order another one. If you don't have many miles you'll get a good price. Else go private, you'll still get a very good price in the used car market.


Petition · Petition to force Tesla to come up with a retrofit for the new AutoPilot features for existing owners who were early supporters of the company/product · Change.org
 
Wow. People really do associate with Tesla when they get that angry for them. :)

I don't personally need this petition. Retrofitting such a complex beast is hard. But improving comms and ramp-up of new features to increase customer satisfaction, that is a petition I would sign.
 
Looking at the comments it seems that a lot of people were lead to believe by Tesla employees (and in some cases Elon himself in Amsterdam) that the features would be retrofitable before. If this is the case I can see how they are upset and that is the kind of thing that Tesla needs to get a handle on with their employees.

As for Elon, well there really is no controlling him.

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It shows 0 supporters but according to a Mercury News story there are 98 people who signed the petition. So my question is are there 98 greedy and stupid people or are there none?my

Shows 137 supporters when I open the link.
 
To the petitioner...

Gee ...

I guess Microsoft should give everyone on Windows 95 a free update too.

People are just crazy on the "gimme gimme gimme" handout theory. ....

I guess they've come to expect it over the past 6 years.

Great points. Isn't this the time of year car manufacturers announce upgrades for the next year? So, if you would like to get the next best thing, order in the December - February time frame.

It's just too cost prohibitive to allow free upgrades for everyone, plus there may be significant engineering problems with this. However, if the engineering to do the upgrades is feasible, Tesla might offer this for free or even minimally with a discount to the first 50 Tesla Roadster owners who also purchased the Model S, depending on how the costs work out for Tesla.
 
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Wow. People really do associate with Tesla when they get that angry for them.

I'm just sick of of clicking on "What's New?" and seeing my UI cluttered with 'upset with the "D" announcement' or "get together for people angry with Tesla's announcement" or "salespeople lied to me" or "my new or yet to be received P85+ suddenly lost $xxxxx in value" or "I should get a freebie upgrade to the D" threads....(which I just added to that thread count by one...lol...)
 
I'm just sick of of clicking on "What's New?" and seeing my UI cluttered with 'upset with the "D" announcement' or "get together for people angry with Tesla's announcement" or "salespeople lied to me" or "my new or yet to be received P85+ suddenly lost $xxxxx in value" or "I should get a freebie upgrade to the D" threads....(which I just added to that thread count by one...lol...)

Well these types of things were bound to happen once Tesla started selling to "mainstream" consumers and broke away from the enthusiast. It very well may be the future of this site.
 
I'm just sick of of clicking on "What's New?" and seeing my UI cluttered with 'upset with the "D" announcement' or "get together for people angry with Tesla's announcement" or "salespeople lied to me" or "my new or yet to be received P85+ suddenly lost $xxxxx in value" or "I should get a freebie upgrade to the D" threads....(which I just added to that thread count by one...lol...)

I get that feeling - and don't think I'm unsympathetic towards you either. But let's face it: the D announcement was bad news for some people, who felt their purchase experience - rightly or wrongly - take a hit. This forum is just reflecting what that subset of the Tesla owner community is going through.

It will subside over time. If a petition helps some people, let them have it I'll say. And if Tesla decides to act on it, kudos to all involved.
 
Is there anything on that petition asking for a FREE retrofit? I don't see that being asked (I see critical comments to that effect).

IF they offer it, I expect a huge price premium that would likely make a trade in a better option.

Im pretty sure Tesla will hold the line at "no." This time around I'm quite sure the retrofit won't be offered at any price given the complexity involved. Parking sensors and folding mirrors were trivial if wiring harnesses were in place, but the autopilot is a whole other beast.

Still, I see no harm if people want to ask for it - it would take few resources for Tesla to officially state this is not possible.

(I'll admit that I'd consider a retrofit if it were offered at some reasonable price (but haven't decided what is "reasonable").
 
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One of the signers said he ordered the car in May and it was delivered in June, and he wants to have autopilot retrofitted. It's not just people whose car was delivered a week before the announcement. Where does it end?

Does he say he wants it for free or are you just assuming that? I'm sure there are plenty of people that would pay for a retrofit if one were to be offered.
 
Well, actually, Apple sent out MacOS X upgrades (when they still were cost upgrades on CD) for free to people who had purchased a new Mac in the last so and so many days before the announcement of the new OS.

It isn't impossible to innovate around solutions that could help alleviate customer dissatisfaction related to product changes.
If the autopilot and AWD features could be distributed on CD I'm sure Tesla would do so. Actually it wouldn't need a CD, it would be an OTA upgrade. But of course that's not possible. It's more like expecting Apple to upgrade my iPad to the retina display. MacOS X upgrade is not a valid analogy, it's Apples and oranges, pardon the pun.
 
I am sorry but I think this is an extremely unreasonable request. Do you realize how much effort is involved in retrofitting 12 separate sensors into the car? It is going to be more cost effective to sell your car and buy a new one.

What Tesla should so is roll out their CPO program now and purchase back cars at a reasonable price for those who want to place a new order with all the new goodies.

For those of you who are crying foul, when is this going to end? Will there be a new petition when the battery capacities go up? When next year they do a body restyle/facelift of the Model S? Tesla sold you the car you paid for. If you want a new car, buy one.
 
This is a shame. I feel this retrofit request is absolutely unreasonable. Tesla can turn this whole thing around by offering a reasonable upgrade migration path for those who want to return their Model S vehicles in exchange for a new one. This gets more vehicles on the road, allows customers to upgrade to the latest features, and makes everyone happy. This way customers can continue to buy the cars knowing they can always trade them in for a new one.

What do you feel about Tesla purchasing cars back from those who buy a new Model S for a $5,000-%7,5000 fee + $1K/month + $1 per mile? They can then make a small profit and turn the car around and sell it as an inventory car. Someone who wants a deal on a slightly used car gets to buy one and someone who wants to upgrade to a car with the latest features has a clear migration path. Everyone wins.

Picked up by the media and listed on the front page under Yahoo stock news for TSLA...

Model S owner launches petition demanding retrofit; Tesla stock continues slide | SiliconBeat

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And just FYI, if I were to buy the same configuration today that I ordered last June, it would cost me over $7,000 more. I would never have paid that kind of a premium for the autopilot sensors. No way. I'm a happy camper!
 
What do you feel about Tesla purchasing cars back from those who buy a new Model S for a $5,000-%7,5000 fee + $1K/month + $1 per mile? They can then make a small profit and turn the car around and sell it as an inventory car. Someone who wants a deal on a slightly used car gets to buy one and someone who wants to upgrade to a car with the latest features has a clear migration path. Everyone wins.

I don't know about the calculation, but I do agree that a robust and fair trade-in program will go a long way to address the unhappiness that we are seeing. Retrofits are not a sustainable model.
 
They are NEVER going to do a RETROFIT.

It's never going to happen.... just for the liability reasons alone.

A retrofit is never going to be as good as the real thing and thus problems could occur and that's the last thing you want to happen with Autopilot.