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Is this normal, or an unusual amount of issues for a 3 week old car?

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Hi guys,

I'm just posting this to see if I'm crazy or not. Over the course of the last 3 weeks (and about 2,500 miles) I've noticed several minor issues with my brand new 85D. If you could chime in and let me know which ones are "problems" and which ones are "normal" that would be great. In no particular order:


  1. The hood is not properly aligned with the front bumper and sticks up considerably above the bumper when closed. Enough that people have asked me if I forgot to close it. I thought this was “normal” until I went on my road trip and saw 10+ other Teslas at supercharger stations with totally seamless/flush hoods.
  2. Front bumper is not properly aligned with right fender, so the wheel arch is not smooth/continuous. It’s jagged where the bumper meets the fender. Also thought this was “normal” until I saw other cars. Then I noticed the left side of my car basically fine, and only the right side looks like this.
  3. Pano roof makes a ticking/rattling sound even on smooth roads. Opening and closing it can make it go away, only for the rattle to return later. Apparently this is a common issue and people just put velcro on their pano roof. There is already some felt pre-installed from the factory on my car in the location people put their velcro, ironically.
  4. Front passenger window weather stripping doesn’t seal properly and passengers think their door or window is open due to excessive wind noise. Pinching and pulling the weather stripping to try to plump it up seems to help for a day or two, only for the wind noise to return. In general, my car also just seems to have considerably more wind noise than I remember when test driving.
  5. Front driver small triangle window is not sealed properly, as I found after going through a touchless car wash a few days ago. My door panel was wet (~20 drops of water?) enough that I had to dry it with a towel.
  6. Front driver door handle is somewhat sunken in, unlike the other 3 door handles. The other door handles sit relatively flush with the door, whereas the driver door handle is recessed in further.
  7. This has since been fixed, but the day I picked up my car, the driver side door card (interior leather piece of the door) was not fully attached to the door. Every time I opened or closed the door I’d hear a weird noise, and it wasn’t until the 2nd or 3rd day that I realized it was the door card separating from the door and then smacking back in to it. I pushed the door card in certain areas until I heard the clips click back in to place, and all is well. Is this related to #6? During my final inspection was someone messing with the door handle and forgot to push the door card back on all the way?
  8. When opening my front doors, the window glass makes contact with the chrome trim. I’m not sure if this is “normal” as I haven’t opened the door on another Tesla since I’ve had mine. It’s like the glass doesn’t go down fast enough and hits the trim, making a pretty loud glass on metal noise. The rear doors do not do this. It seems like it shouldn’t happen, or if it’s supposed to make contact, you’d think there would be rubber on the inside of the trim or something so it wouldn’t hit glass on metal. If there’s supposed to be rubber there and there’s not, perhaps that is the source of my wind noise too. Not sure.
  9. After about 1,500 miles, I started occasionally hearing a clunking sound from the front left wheel area. It happens when going over certain large bumps or when the wheel drops suddenly in to a dip. It’s particularly easy to reproduce when turning left over a speed bump or dip. It sounds like a loose swaybar endlink, but I can’t say for sure.

So, am I crazy, and or is that a ton of crap to be wrong with a $100k car that's 3 weeks old? The craziest part is even with the above, I wouldn't trade this car for anything else. My BMW 550 never had a single minor issue in 3 years, but I'd still take the Tesla knowing everything I know now. Damn you Tesla and your mind control. :D
 
Ugh, that sucks. Seems like a lot of those should have been caught by the service center. A car should not be delivered to a customer in that condition. If it was me I would drop it off at the service center and I wouldn't take it back until they fixed all of them.

The only thing I've noticed on my 70D is the windows (especially the rear ones) don't go down fast enough to be smooth. But, like you I haven't tested it on any other Tesla. It was certainly way smoother on the Audi's/Porsche's I've had that did the same thing.
 
None of these sound normal.

Also sorry that's your first experience with the car. Take it in and have them fix the issues. Since none are "undrivable" issues, try to work out a time where you can get a loaner while they're fixing yours. I know how hard it is to let go of a new baby like that without getting a similar loaner while it's gone.

Also: If any of these issues were present at delivery, I'd make a polite formal complaint. I agree that a high end car shouldn't be delivered to the customer in that condition.
 
Also: If any of these issues were present at delivery, I'd make a polite formal complaint. I agree that a high end car shouldn't be delivered to the customer in that condition.

Almost all (besides the clunking noise in front and pano roof rattle) were present at delivery, but I didn't notice until after I drove away. I was just so excited to pick up my car I foolishly didn't look at things like the hood not lining up, the fender not lining up, the handle being sunken in, the windows hitting the chrome trim, etc. They just aren't things you think to look for on a brand new car. :(
 
One wonders if your car was the last built on the last day of the working week.

Well I remember anxiously waiting for my car to change from "in production" to "in transit" and watching tons of cars ordered before mine get shipped and delivered. My car was in production for 22 days compared to most people at 7-10 days. Of course my delivery specialist assured me that nothing was wrong, and every car takes different amounts of time, but now I have to wonder what the hell was going on for those extra 2 weeks.

- - - Updated - - -

Take it in and have them fix the issues.

Do you think they'll give me **** about my aftermarket wheels? I just put them on today finally, not really thinking that I'd be taking the car in for service soon. I can always throw the stock ones back on, but would rather not.

I can't imagine for most of the issues they could really say anything, but the last thing I want is for them to blame the clunking noise from my front left on me changing my wheels, even though it has been happening for almost 2k miles before the wheels went on.
 
Yeah I agree with those saying take the car in and have tesla fix those issues

My hood and bumper are perfectly aligned so what you're describing is not normal, as far as other issues I've only had a door rattle which was fixed by tesla.

Enjoy your car!
 
Do you think they'll give me **** about my aftermarket wheels?

They shouldn't. I have aftermarkets and haven't ever received any grief about it.

- - - Updated - - -

Almost all (besides the clunking noise in front and pano roof rattle) were present at delivery, but I didn't notice until after I drove away.

To be expected. I had a few minor issues I didn't notice until days later. There's too much excitement to be able to recognize issues with the car, especially since you expect the car to be almost perfect at delivery.
 
I have had my car about four weeks now (90D), and I had none of those issues. Some slight "spaceship" whining noise, like in some airplanes during take of, but I don't mind at this point. You definitely should take it to a SC and fix all these issues. Also let them check the door panel again, even though you clipped it in. At least mention it.

Please keep us updated.
 
I had one of these issues (sort of) with my 85D. I was hearing excessive wind noise out of my driver side window, near the front. I lived with it for a month or two until I took the car in for annual service. I asked the SC to look at it. It took them literally 4 days to diagnose it and another day or 2 to get a part and fix it. Apparently on some of the 85Ds the front triangle window was installed with the using the wrong window. Mine was a rounded cut / bezel but it should be flat. Once they figured out I had the wrong window and replaced it with a new one, the noise basically disappeared. You might want to mention this to the SC as the Houston SC did not know this.

Good luck - PS, too many problems for sure...
 
Oh goodness, no - not normal. I suspect you unfortunately got caught by the end of year production and delivery rush. These are all things that should have been caught in a final quality control check at the factory, and again at your delivery center. Schedule a service appointment and they should be able to fix those all right up.
 
Definitely not normal. You should definitely notify your nearby SC.

I'm guessing my MS was also got caught up in the end-of-the-year production and delivery rush. I picked up my car from the factory on December 14th with a 10 inch crack in the rear pano roof. :scared: My mom was sitting in the backseat and only discovered the crack when we got back to my house in San Jose, 10 mi away from the factory. I immediately notified the service center and my delivery specialist and they were totally on it and very, very apologetic. It took about a 1.5 days to replace the pano and make sure it was cured before I got it back. No big deal. They loaned me a P85D to play with while they had my Carmen.

As I've been driving the car these past 2.5 weeks, I've also noticed some minor alignment/cosmetic issues that you and others have experienced, such as hood and trunk door alignment, trim and other things not completely flushed, and the little triangular mirror on the passenger side doesn't look like it's sitting correctly on the rubber tubing. They're a little annoying, but they don't interfere with the way the car drives.

Other than those minor issues, the car drives so smoothly and I'm totally in love with it. :love:
 
I took delivery on 12/26 in Rocklin of a 90D Red @$116,000. The car had been there since 12/21. Overall the car was decent but definitely not detailed. I had to ask for the windows to be cleaned and a part in the rear seat was hanging off.

The driver and passenger door chrome trim is not aligned with the rear door chrome. It's about 1/4 inch lower which breaks your eye as you look at the car from the side.

The front side triangle blinker in the front fender is not seated. It's sticking out 1/4 inch from the car when the other one on the passenger side is flush to the car.

I've notified Tesla and that offered me a full detail of the car. I've since emailed and asked about fixing the blinker. I think I need to ask about the door chrome trim as well. Anyone know if these should line up or if it's slightly lower on your Model S???