Why do people think Recaro is making the Next Generation seats?

Andyw2100 · Jan 12, 2015

Everyone seems to be referring to the "Recaro Next Generation Seats" or even just "The Recaro Seats."

I know an early (perhaps it was the first) window sticker we saw from a P85D said Recaro on it, but mine doesn't. I did order the Next Generation seats, which I don't have yet, but no where on the Tesla website or on my window sticker does the brand name Recaro appear.

Before that window sticker that did say Recaro showed up, people were wondering whether the seats were really going to be made by Recaro, or whether they were just going to be made by Tesla in-house, or by another company, in the style of Recaro seats. I understand why everyone felt reassured that they were, in fact, made by Recaro when that P85D window sticker appeared, but now that most of us have window stickers (I'm assuming) without Recaro appearing on them, why are we clinging to the belief that our seats are going to be made by Recaro?

commasign · Jan 12, 2015

It says Recaro on my window sticker.

Alysashley79 · Jan 12, 2015

I don't have a D but maybe the stickers that don't say recaro on them don't because your car wasn't delivered with them....I know that you may have paid for them but it would be a little misleading if your car doesn't have them installed yet??

Andyw2100 · Jan 12, 2015

commasign said:
It says Recaro on my window sticker.

Interesting...

When did your car go into production? Edit--Never mind. I see it in your sig. You did have a very early build. Wondering about later builds, and also (as I get to below) people with colors other than black.

My P85D went into production around December 10, and I am 99% sure "Recaro" appears no where on my window sticker. I will check again on Wednesday night, when I will be where the sticker is. The other possible difference, other than production date, is that I have Grey Next Generation seats. Since "Black" is on the same line as Recaro, it could just be an oversight in how they made the line item description for grey, or it conceivably could be a real difference between the grey and the black seats, if, for example, they had a bunch of black ones that they really did get from Recaro first, and then started making them in-house or getting them elsewhere.

commasign · Jan 12, 2015

Alysashley79 said:
I don't have a D but maybe the stickers that don't say recaro on them don't because your car wasn't delivered with them....I know that you may have paid for them but it would be a little misleading if your car doesn't have them installed yet??

Mine came with the new seats in the front, and the standard leather seats in the rear. I guess that would have been too complicated to indicate on the window sticker.

Andyw2100 · Jan 12, 2015

Alysashley79 said:
I don't have a D but maybe the stickers that don't say recaro on them don't because your car wasn't delivered with them....I know that you may have paid for them but it would be a little misleading if your car doesn't have them installed yet??

Thanks, but that's not it. The sticker definitely indicates that I have the Next Generation seats. (They just don't say Recaro, unless I am wrong and I started this thread for absolutely no reason.) It has to show how the car was ordered, I believe.

commasign · Jan 12, 2015

Andyw2100 said:
Interesting...

When did you go into production?

My P85D went into production around December 10, and I am 99% sure "Recaro" appears no where on my window sticker. I will check again on Wednesday night, when I will be where the sticker is. The other possible difference, other than production date, is that I have Grey Next Generation seats. Since "Black" is on the same line as Recaro, it could just be an oversight in how they made the line item description for grey, or it conceivably could be a real difference between the grey and the black seats, if, for example, they had a bunch of black ones that they really did get from Recaro first, and then started making them in-house or getting them elsewhere.

Mine entered production 11/21. Other possibility is they decided after the first batch to just go with the terminology "Next Generation Seats" and avoid the Recaro brand all together. Tesla isn't actually listed on the Recaro website (View All - Models with RECARO Seats). That would be in keeping with Tesla's philosophy of not identifying their suppliers by name in any of their product marketing and literature.

Andyw2100 · Jan 12, 2015

commasign said:
Mine entered production 11/21. Other possibility is they decided after the first batch to just go with the terminology "Next Generation Seats" and avoid the Recaro brand all together. Tesla isn't actually listed on the Recaro website (View All - Models with RECARO Seats). That would be in keeping with Tesla's philosophy of not identifying their suppliers by name in any of their product marketing and literature.

Ahh, now THAT I like as a theory! That would mean my seats really will be Recaro! Excellent!

EarlyAdopter · Jan 12, 2015

Perhaps it went something like this:

Recaro: "We'll make these new seats for you, but you have to include our name in your literature."
Tesla: "You know, we really don't do that for anyone."
Recaro: "Your choice, we've got plenty of other people who will. We're not just anyone"
Tesla: "Ok, fine. We want those seats. We'll put it on the window sticker."

Months go by, the first batch of next-gen seats arrive, Tesla starts installing them on the first P85D's off the line, then the airbag problem is discovered.

Tesla: "You guys screwed up the seats. Fix it now, and send us replacements pronto."
Recaro: "Our bad."
Tesla: "BTW, we're pretty pissed so we're dropping your name from our literature from here on out."
Recaro: "..."

(note, this is entirely fictional, I have no information on who screwed up the seats, but I do seriously hope some heads rolled because of it)

Gizmotoy · Jan 13, 2015

EarlyAdopter said:
Months go by, the first batch of next-gen seats arrive, Tesla starts installing them on the first P85D's off the line, then the airbag problem is discovered.

Do you have a link for this? Curious about what happened, don't see any obvious threads.

darthy001 · Jan 13, 2015

commasign said:
Mine entered production 11/21. Other possibility is they decided after the first batch to just go with the terminology "Next Generation Seats" and avoid the Recaro brand all together. Tesla isn't actually listed on the Recaro website (View All - Models with RECARO Seats). That would be in keeping with Tesla's philosophy of not identifying their suppliers by name in any of their product marketing and literature.

Not entirely correct. They have from the beginning and still do list brakes being made by Brembo. It even says so in the designstudio.

Gizmotoy · Jan 13, 2015

darthy001 said:
Not entirely correct. They have from the beginning and still do list brakes being made by Brembo. It even says so in the designstudio.

Agreed. It makes sense to highlight partners when their brands carry weight in the industry. Brembo is practically synonymous with quality braking systems, just as Recaro is with seating. Those who care will appreciate the hat tip.

For example: I have posts back from November 2013 hoping Tesla would eventually partner with Recaro on improved seats, such as those that go into the Cadillac CTS-V.

EarlyAdopter · Jan 13, 2015

Gizmotoy said:
Do you have a link for this? Curious about what happened, don't see any obvious threads.

Oh man, where were you for the month of December? Search for "P85D black hole," this thread in particular, and emails from Jerome. All of us first P85D orderers had our cars held at the factory for weeks while they pulled the first batch of seats out. Its been an absolute mess (and still continues to be).

Gizmotoy · Jan 13, 2015

EarlyAdopter said:
Oh man, where were you for the month of December? Search for "P85D black hole," this thread in particular, and emails from Jerome. All of us first P85D orderers had our cars held at the factory for weeks while they pulled the first batch of seats out. Its been an absolute mess (and still continues to be).

I had been sporadically following that thread, but it's huge and I must have missed the initial cause. I knew there was a sudden holding of vehicles and not much communication, but I didn't realize it was due to seat airbags. That's no good. Thanks for the links!

Andyw2100 · Jan 13, 2015

I'm not sure that's an accurate description of the black hole issues. I don't think we were ever able to ascertain the exact reasons the cars that wound up in the black hole wound up there.

We do know that there is and was a shortage of the Next Generation seats, but I don't think it's ever been categorically proven it was an airbag issue. There have been rumors about safety issues, and that Tesla wanted them to be safer, and there have also been things said about the port issues. But I don't think we know anything definitively.

As for the black hole cars, I'm pretty sure the consensus is that their issues were more than just seat issues.

breser · Jan 13, 2015

I've noticed in several pictures of the next gen front seats that there is a little tag on the seats. What does it say? I've never noticed anyone posting detail on this.

NOLA_Mike · Jan 13, 2015

breser said:
I've noticed in several pictures of the next gen front seats that there is a little tag on the seats. What does it say? I've never noticed anyone posting detail on this.

My guess is SRS Airbag but since I don't have them yet it is a guess...

commasign · Jan 13, 2015

darthy001 said:
Not entirely correct. They have from the beginning and still do list brakes being made by Brembo. It even says so in the designstudio.

Good point. And obviously they've been very open about their partnership with Panasonic.

On the other side, they've been pretty quiet about their partnership with MobilEye despite it being the foundation of the whole Autopilot system.

Gizmotoy · Jan 13, 2015

NOLA_Mike said:
My guess is SRS Airbag but since I don't have them yet it is a guess...

Probably a good guess. Recaro puts a little airbag tag on their seats where the canister deploys the airbags, or at least they do in other OEM Recaro-equipped vehicles I've had.

Edit: For example, http://www.thewhatitdo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-Mitsubishi-Lancer-Evolution-MR-7.jpg

darthy001 · Jan 13, 2015

Gizmotoy said:
Probably a good guess. Recaro puts a little airbag tag on their seats where the canister deploys the airbags, or at least they do in other OEM Recaro-equipped vehicles I've had.

Edit: For example, http://www.thewhatitdo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/2011-Mitsubishi-Lancer-Evolution-MR-7.jpg

Pretty clear it only says "AIRBAG" in the third image in this post:
http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/show...nterior-Photos?p=858687&viewfull=1#post858687

Why do people think Recaro is making the Next Generation seats?

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